Night at the Museum

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Night at the Museum
First promotional poster for the film
Directed by	Shawn Levy
Produced by	Chris Columbus Stephen Sommers Bob Ducsay
Written by	Ben Garant Thomas Lennon
Starring	Ben Stiller Robin Williams Owen Wilson Dick Van Dyke Mickey Rooney Bill Cobbs
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Guillermo Navarro
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	December 22, 2006
Running time	108 minutes
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	over $110,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Night at the Museum is a 2006 American comedy film. It is based on The Night at the Museum, a 1993 children's book by Milan Trenc.

Released on December 22, 2006, the film was written by Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon of Comedy Central's Reno 911! and MTV's The State and directed by Shawn Levy. The cast includes Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Ricky Gervais, Carla Gugino, Charlie Murphy, Steve Coogan, and Owen Wilson. A new novelization of the screenplay by Leslie Goldman was published as a movie tie-in.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Instruction Manual 3 Production 4 Cast 5 Songs 6 Trivia 7 Reception 8 DVD release 9 Footnotes 10 External links

[edit] Plot

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a divorced father who is constantly unable to keep a stable job, the bulk of them being failed business ventures. He is desperate to win the support of his son Nick (Jake Cherry), whom he fears is beginning to look up to his more successful stepfather (Paul Rudd), a bond trader on Wall Street. After being fired from his last job, he applies for a job at the Museum of Natural History, and is assigned as a night guard.

The three older, and soon to be unemployed, night guards, Cecil, Gus, and Reginald, give him a quick tour, advise him to leave some of the lights on, and warn him not to let anything "in...or out" which Larry meets with humorous skepticism. Larry fails to follow the instructions and chaos erupts. First, he discovers the T-Rex skeleton missing and finds it drinking from the water fountain until it notices Larry and chases him. Larry tries to leave the museum but can't get the revolving door to open. He dashes back to the front desk and dives under for cover while he frantically calls Cecil. Cecil, while at a retirement party, calmly tells Larry to read the instruction manual. Larry then reads the manual and finds the first instruction to be "Throw the bone". At this point Larry sees the T-Rex drop one of its own rib bones. Larry throws the bone and tries to run away, only to get cut-off by the T-Rex who again drops the bone. He realizes the T-Rex wants to play fetch. Larry throws the bone again and runs further into the museum where he notices everything else coming to life. Checking the instructions again the next line says "Lock up the lions or they will eat you". Larry then goes to the African Animal exhibit to lock up the lions who then attack. While attemping to lock the bars he realizes his keys have been stolen by Dexter, a Capuchin monkey who is also in the Africa exhibit. Larry eventually regains his keys but the instruction manual is torn to shreds by Dexter. After escaping Attila the Hun and a woolly mammoth, he evades the fight between the Civil War mannequins and he goes to the displays where he is caught between a battle with the miniature cowboy display (led by Jedediah) and the miniature Roman Gladiator display (led by Gaius Octavius). Fortunately, Larry is rescued from all the fighting by a wax model of Theodore Roosevelt, who explains that ever since an Egyptian tablet was brought to the museum, everything comes to life. However, if the exhibits are outside of the museum by sunrise, they turn to dust. Roosevelt proceeds to help Larry by restoring order but insists that Larry do it himself the following night.

Larry almost quits after last night. On Cecil's advice the next day, Larry begins to study the history of the events and people in the exhibits to prepare himself better since there's no copy of the manual. He meets Rebecca, who is writing a dissertation of Sacagewea. She believes Larry is mocking her when he offers to introduce her to Sacagewea.

The next day he comes with a plan, which entails a visit to the library and reading dozens of books on world history and science. He uses a remote control car to play with the T-Rex skeleton, he gives fake keys to Dexter, a large gum ball to the Easter Island Head, a lighter for the Neanderthals, performs tricks for Attila the Hun, and tries to settle things between Jedediah and Octavius telling them he will let them roam the museum if they promise to behave themselves, or else end up having their displays locked like the Mayans. It all backfires when Dexter steals his keys which unlocks the miniature Mayan display (with the displays end up fighting again) and unlocks a window, Atilla sees a flaw in Larry's acts, and the Neanderthals set fire to their display which Larry extinguishes with a nearby fire extinguisher. Larry corners Dexter and they end up in a slap fight which Theodore Roosevelt helps to get the keys back. A Neanderthal escapes out a window only for it to turn to dust when the sun rises, which Larry witnesses.

Larry barely manages to keep his job after what happens to the Neanderthal exhibit. To surprise his son, Larry offers to take Nick to work the next night, but nothing comes to life. Larry and Nick head towards the security office and find Cecil, Gus, and Reginald stealing the Egyption tablet amongst other artifacts. Cecil reveals to Larry that like the museum exhibits, the tablet gives new life to himself and his cohorts at night. Now accustomed to this new-found vigor they are unwilling to give it up and were planning on stealing it and various artifacts to fund their retirement. Cecil and his companions had set Larry up by copying his apartment key and planting artifacts from the museum, thus when the tablet came up missing Larry would be blamed and no one would suspect the former night watchmen. Nick steals the tablet from Cecil and after prompting from Larry, turns an out-of-place panel that reactivates the tablet's power and bringing the exhibits to life once more. Cecil grabs the tablet back and locks Nick and Larry in the Egyptian room.

After dodging the giant Anubis statues, Larry opens the sarcophagus releasing the mummy Ahkmenrah and asks him to stop the statues. Ahkmenrah does so then turns to Larry and begins unwrapping himself. Once freed of his wrappings Ahkmenrah appearance is of a normal person, not mummified at all. He also surprisingly speaks English, to which he replies (when Larry inquires) that he spent many years at Cambridge University (as an exhibit). He then asks Larry for his tablet back so he can "claim his kingdom". Larry informs Ahkmenrah that the tablet has been stolen, Ahkmenrah orders the statues to break down the gate. Larry, Nick and Ahkmenrah set out to reclaim the tablet. With Ahkmenrah's help, he befriends Attila the Hun. Once in the museum lobby they find almost all of the exhibits involved in one big battle. They try unsuccessfully to get the attention of the exhibits, until the Easter Island Head roars above the crowd with "Quieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! My dum-dum wants to speak!". This has the desired effect and all of the exhibits stop fighting and turn to Larry. Larry convinces the exhibits that they all need to work together to save the museum because without the tablet, they won't be able to come to life again. The exhibits catch Gus and Reginald, but Cecil escapes with the tablet on a horse-drawn carriage from the museum. Larry breaks Sacageawea out of her exhibit to track the carriage, and sets out with a posse of exhibits. They succeed and the Huns drag Cecil back to the museum. The problem now is that a good number of the exhibits are outside and the sun is close to rising. Larry turns to Ahkmenrah for help, who then performs a spell on the tablet that results in all the exhibits returning back to the museum.

Rebecca sees the exhibits crossing the road in front of her taxi, and realizes that Larry was telling the truth. She returns to the museum and meets Sacagawea, who agrees to answer Rebecca's questions.

The next day, the museum's nitpicky director, Dr. McFee (Ricky Gervais) fires Larry despite his effort to clean up the museum, but he is rehired after the media coverage of the escaped exhibits the night before (believed to be a hoax or publicity stunt) increases admissions. Later that night, the exhibits, Larry, and Nick are partying, and not fighting.

[edit] Instruction Manual

Here is what is on the manual that Larry reads:

• Throw the bone.
• Lock up the lions or they will eat you.
• Double-check your belt. The monkey probably stole your keys.

The rest of the manual is lost when he lost it to Dexter the monkey, but is listed on the Official Site. Here is the extra information on the manual that is not read in the movie:

• Tie the horses to the bench.
• Go inside the temple of Ahkmenrah and muffle the mummy. He scares the others.
• Close the dioramas, and pull their latches over.
• Open the adjoining gallery to the African animals. They will break the door when escaping.
• Duck!!! Be alert for rifle fire.
• Beat the war drum. The union and conferation soldiers will not battle if you get the beat right. Slow pace - like lullaby.
• Earplugs are stored behind the crustacean display case. Get to them before the whale gets to its third chorus of whale song - it will bust your eardrums.
• Distract the Neanderthal men once an hour. If they complete sharpening their spears they will hunt you.
• Throw the bone again, but not in the direction of the fossil exhibit.

If you still visit the sites, the former guards add notes in the Manual.

[edit] Production

The building featured in the film, which was constructed on a sound stage in Vancouver, Canada, is based on the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, external shots of which were used in the movie.^[1]

Trainers spent several weeks training Crystal, who plays the monkey Dexter, to slap and bite Stiller in the film.^[2]

[edit] Cast

Director Shawn Levy credited Ben Stiller for the ensemble cast: "When actors hear that Ben Stiller is in a movie they want to work with him. It['s] a high-water mark and it absolutely draws actors in and I'm convinced that's a big part of why we got this cast."^[3]

• Ben Stiller as Larry Daley: Night guard at the Museum of Natural History.
• Jake Cherry as Nick Daley: Larry's son.
• Carla Gugino as Rebecca Hutman: Tour guide at the Museum of Natural History who is writing a dissertation on Sacagawea.
• Dick Van Dyke as Cecil Fredericks: Former night guard
• Mickey Rooney as Gus: Former night guard.
• Bill Cobbs as Reginald: Former night guard.
• Ricky Gervais as Dr. McPhee: Director of the Museum of Natural History.
• Kim Raver as Erica Daley: Larry's ex-wife.
• Paul Rudd as Don: Erica's new fiancee.
• Anne Meara as Debbie: Unemployment office worker.
• Robin Williams as Theodore Roosevelt: Wax statue displayed at the Museum of Natural History.
• Owen Wilson as Jedediah: Miniature figure of a wild west cowboy displayed at the Museum of Natural history.
• Steve Coogan as Gaius Octavius: Miniature figure of a Roman displayed at the Museum of Natural History.
• Rami Malek as Ahkmenrah: Mummy of the (fictional) Egyptian pharaoh Ahkmenrah to whom the magical Tablet of Ahkmenrah belonged, displayed at the Museum of Natural History.
• Patrick Gallagher as Attila the Hun: Wax statue displayed at the Museum of Natural History.
• Pierfrancesco Favino as Christopher Columbus: Bronze statue displayed at the Museum of Natural History.
• Mizuo Peck as Sacagawea: Wax statue displayed at the Museum of Natural History.
• Brad Garrett - Easter Island Head (voice): Easter Island Head displayed at the Museum of Natural History. It enjoys gum-gum[sic].
• Crystal the Monkey as Dexter the monkey

[edit] Songs

• Friday Night - performed by McFly, not featured in American version of the film, but heard in some international cuts, used during the end credits.
• September - performed by Earth, Wind and Fire, used before the end credits where everyone in the museum is partying.
• Weapon of Choice - performed by Fatboy Slim, used in the scene where Larry returns to the museum for his second night and is preparing for the chaos.
• Tonight - performed by Keke Palmer (Akeelah and the Bee, Jump In!), used for the end credits.
• Eye of the Tiger - performed by Ben Stiller, used in the scene where Larry is bored and messes around with the microphone at the front desk
• Mandy by Barry Manilow was used when Larry was standing in the elevator, while running from Attilla the Hun.
• “Ezekiel Saw Them Dry Bones” is the tune Larry whistles as he passes the empty T. Rex exhibit on his first night.
• “Camptown Races” by Stephen Foster is sung by the townspeople of the American West miniature diorama. This is a period-correct song.

[edit] Trivia

• So far, this is Dick Van Dyke's only role as an antagonist, although he did play a corrupt district attorney in Dick Tracy.
• Primary filming was set to take place in Montreal, but Ben Stiller was reportedly unhappy about working there, and is fond of Vancouver, hence prompting a move to BC.
• Alan Silvestri replaced John Ottman as score composer.
• While filming, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson only had one day that they saw each other. Ben Stiller talked to a tooth pick for the Jedadiah scenes, then three months later Owen came in and filmed all of his parts.
• Originally, Stephen Sommers was the director of the project. He eventually left due to creative differences.
• The coin trick that Larry performs for Atilla the Hun is a French Drop.
• The woman in the employment office is Ben Stiller's mother, Anne Meara.
• Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan both acted in the Disney film Around the World in 80 Days (although Owen Wilson as a cameo).
• Jebediah often refers to Larry as Gigantor, a giant robot series from Japan.
• Ben Stiller played Atilla The Hun in Highway to Hell (film).
• Owen Wilson & Ben Stiller both starred in the Starsky and Hutch film remake.

[edit] Reception

Night at the Museum was the highest grossing film in its opening weekend, grossing $30.8 million in 3,685 theaters. For the four-day Christmas holiday weekend, it took in $42.2 million.^[4] The movie was also released in IMAX large screen format, often on site at museums of science or natural history such as the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

In its second weekend, Night at the Museum expanded into eighty-three more theaters and took in approximately $37.8 million at the box-office, out-grossing its opening weekend. It maintained its #1 position in its third week, with an additional $24 million. In total, as of April 3rd, 2007, the film has grossed $550,338,766 with $247,718,328 in U.S. ticket sales, and $302,620,438 in foreign box offices.[1]

Although strongly supported by family audiences and their children, the film was reviewed poorly by critics, receiving only a 43% at Rotten Tomatoes.^[5] James Berardinelli or Reelviews commented on Stiller's performance by stating "It might be fair to give Ben Stiller an 'A' for effort, but to call what he does in this movie "acting" is a misnomer. He does a lot of running around, occasionally falling down or bumping into things."^[6] One positive review by William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer stated that the film was "Out to impress and delight a family audience with the pageantry of human and natural history, and that's a surprisingly worthy ambition for a Hollywood comedy."^[7]

In a case of life imitating art, museum officials at the New York American Museum of Natural History have credited the film for increasing the number of visitors during the holiday season by almost 20%. According to a museum official, between December 22 and January 2 there were 50,000 more visitors than during the same period last year.^[8]

[edit] DVD release

The film was released on a 2-Disc DVD edition in the United Kindgom on April 2, 2007. The film will be released on 1-Disc, 2-Disc DVD editions and Blu-ray Disc format on April 24, 2007 elsewhere.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• Official trailer
• Night at the Museum at the Internet Movie Database
• Night at the Museum Reviews at Metacritic
• Direct link to the International Trailer
• independentfilm.com video interview with Mizuo Peck who played Sacagawea
• Night at the Museum at Rotten Tomatoes\