Night at the Museum

I’ve just watched Night at the Museum on Film4 and it was GREAT!
Basic plot line:
Larry is a serial failure of an entrepreneur who has never had a normal job. But when he gets divorced and his wife gets custody of his ten year old son Nicky he reluctantly decides to knuckle down and provide his son with some stability. So Larry takes a job as a night watchman at the Museum of Natural History where the exhibits come to life every night. Mayhem ensues.
My best bits:

• The cowboy tribe tying Larry up Gulliver’s Travels-style and driving a toy train into his head – was seriously tickled by this.
• The idea of playing fetch with a tyrannosaurus rex.
• Every scene featuring Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan – the cowboy/Roman rivalry was great and I loved how they acted like naughty children when Larry told them off.
• The high speed dinosaur ride.
• The Neanderthal/fire-extinguisher scene – the expression on the face of the one who threw the foam at Larry really cracked me up.

My not-so best bits:

• The monkey. For some reason I just didn’t enjoy the scenes with Dexter the capuchin in them. He’s probably fascinating to small children but I didn’t find him particularly cute and didn’t think the scenes were all that funny either.
• The night watchmen team. They all seemed flat and lacking in charisma. Mickey Rooney’s character was just plain baffling. He wasn’t even funny-in-an-awkward-way. He was just…awkward.

Overall I think Night at the Museum is a great film. Its plot is simple, which is all it needs to be, the effects are great and there are plenty of laughs to be had. (When I’m particularly tickled by something I tee-hee just like it’s written and I did plenty of tee-heeing last night!) I think it’s safe to say that it’s got a wide appeal too because I’ve just enjoyed it at the age of 18 and my dad’s just enjoyed it at the age of 61.