Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robin Williams

Ben Stiller and Robin Williams star in Night at the Museum. (Courtesy photo)

Big expensive comedies almost never work. However, they can enhance a well-executed idea. And they can certainly contribute to a good old-fashioned wish-fulfillment story. It turns out that Night at the Museum really comes through on the wish-fulfillment. The comedy is okay too, even if it’s often sort of shoved in. The plot is not going to impress anyone searching for a new wrinkle in storytelling. But the makers of this film had one task: deliver on the potential of the premise that everything in New York’s Museum of Natural History comes to life at night. Director Shawn Levy and writers Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant deliver. Night at the Museum is a big expensive comedy that feels like a legitimate family event film, just right for the winter months.

Ben Stiller plays Larry Daley, a divorced dad whose inability to get his life together may cost him the respect of his son (Jake Cherry). Larry finally lands a job at the Museum of Natural History as the night guard. The trio of outgoing guards, played by Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs, leave him some very strange instructions. The most important rule: don’t let anything in or out. That night Larry discovers why. Every single thing in the museum, from the T-Rex skeleton to Attila the Hun to the Easter Island statue, comes to life and causes mayhem. Larry soon finds himself being attacked by miniature diorama figures, harassed by a Capuchin monkey, and befriended by Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams). He also starts to realize that something unsavory is going on, and it definitely involves the sacred tablet of Ahkmenah. And if that’s not enough, during the day he must avoid the ire of the tightly wound director of the museum (Ricky Gervais), while trying to win over a lovely docent (Carla Gugino). When exactly he sleeps is a mystery.

The movie starts slow, and even at full speed it always has time for well-traveled clichés. But the rewards far outweigh the reheated ingredients. The special effects are quite impressive. Even if the miniature folks don’t always work, the animals are simply amazing. And how they turned renowned Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino into a bronze Christopher Columbus is beyond me.

Director Shawn Levy has specialized in Wonder Bread movies, so homogenous they feel like nobody directed them. While he doesn’t come up with much style here, he does choreograph a surprisingly well-paced adventure. Levy is helped by Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant, veterans of the comedy troupe The State. Lennon and Garant have had a hand in some pretty unimpressive comedies over the last few years—The Pacifier, Herbie Fully Loaded—but I have a feeling they’re the ones responsible for all the good lines. Maybe that’s why Night at the Museum has both more care and more bizarro dialogue in its script than most comedies of its ilk.

Ben Stiller is an imperfect choice for the lead. Stiller struggles to win sympathy—he can’t even smile without looking somewhat uncomfortable. But his shtick works pretty well here, offsetting the special effects and keeping any undue sentiment to a minimum. Carla Gugino (Spy Kids, Sin City) plays the good sport role with her usual warmth. It took me a while to warm up to Gugino, but she has turned into a very reliable and welcome presence. Robin Williams is surprisingly tame as Teddy Roosevelt. Williams, who also did a marvelous job voicing two characters in Happy Feet, finds himself in a much-needed upswing. It’s nice that he realized he should not compete with the spectacle in this film. Fun, uncredited support comes from Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan (24-Hour Party People, Marie Antoinette) as, respectively, a cowboy and a Roman sentry who fight like 10-year-old brothers. Also fun is watching the ancient trio of Van Dyke, Rooney, and Cobbs. They’re all fine in the movie, but the real treat is a 15-second closing credit shot of them dancing. Make sure you stay for it. You simply won’t believe that the 81-year-old Van Dyke still has moves like that. As for Rooney, his 81 years on film is an all-time record.

Sometimes the most obvious Hollywood products do get it right. Night at the Museum exceeded my expectations, and I suspect it would be quite a thrill for the more thoughtful 7- to 12-year-olds out there. While the film is hardly a work of art, it genuinely is a movie for almost any age. And that is something quite special in its own right.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California, and works for the Cartoon Network. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.