Night at the Museum

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

This should be a total DM review under his kidflicks monikor.

Jumanji did a better job of transforming a kid's book into a watchable film for adults, but Night at the Museum looks great and does have a few laughs.

Ben Stiller takes a job as a nightwatchmen at the Museum of Natural History in order to get money to keep his apartmen so he can keep seeing his son. It also stars Owen Wilson, Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney. I guess Mickey Rooney isn't dead after all. I might even go so far as to say Mickey acted.

I liked the interaction between the Romans and the Cowboys. A lot of funny stuff was happening around Ben Stiller and Stiller did have some funny moment with the monkey. But the story was weak. They didn't have a lot to say once the Museum came to life. It was Stiller's job to get the Museum under control and we get to see him struggle to accomplish this, although it wasn't much of a struggle. Pay particular attention to the massive Deus Ex Machina at the end. It deserves it's own category at the Academy Awards. It will win by a land slide.

CGI animals looked really good. Much better than the Jumanji one, but there wasn't a tired rhino trying to keep up with the stampede.

The one truly memorable performance in the movie is turned in by Ricky Gervais. He was the lead manager in the British version of The Office. He's only on for a couple of scenes, but they are the funniest in the movie.

[cranefly]

So.
Why do Greg's and DM's movie topics get five times the viewings of anyone else's. Right now this one has maybe 4 viewings. But watch it skyrocket to 200 by week's end.

I feel so small -- a mite on a skin tag in a mouse's ear inside a cat swallowed by doberman inside a whale ... that's in an aquarium on the Titanic.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Or so self absorbed we can't help but checking what we wrote two or three hundred times a day.

[Drunk Monk]

merge! merge!

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

She does not read. She's got a job, you know.

[Drunk Monk]

...someday, these must be merged.

OK, so the sequel is a true sequel, taking up right where part 1 left off, which was really no where. Same cast for the most part, although everyone from the original is reduced to phoning it in from so far away that even Verizon doesn't hit. Thankfully, Robin's part is cut down considerably (never did buy him as Teddy - come on, Mork as Teddy?) Still, it gives Stiller plenty of chances to be neurotic, which is all we really ask of him. The schoolplayground repartee stuff is great, especially a nightwatchman vs. nightwatchman duel that had me flashing back to the days of LB, ED and DM at the ol' MQ6. The premise is still absurd, so much so that T found a gaping hole from the logic (or lack thereof) of part 1 to part 2, so much so that I thought about reviewing the first to confirm it, but dismissed the idea since I really don't care. Still, the new characters are hilarious. Amy Adams is awesome as Amelia (said not only for the illteration but because it's true). Hader is spot on for Custer. And Azaria's lisping villian is very "thwow him to the fwoor" ala Life of Brian. Once I parked my brain way outside the theater, I did get a few chuckles out of the overall absurdity of the flick. It's a lot of cameos (Jo bros as cupids? come on...), a lot of serious talent and effects, all having a good time at the audience's expense.

It would have been better in 3D.