“This is not worth $11.50 an hour,” blurts exasperated dreamer Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) when his night-watchman job at New York’s Museum of Natural History takes on a life of its own. Neither is this latest from director Shawn Levy (the Cheaper by the Dozen and Pink Panther remakes) worth $10 for two hours. But $6 for a matinee? Sure — and take the kids. While you’re adding up the debatable entertainment value of watching Stiller interact yet again with pal Owen Wilson (as a miniature diorama cowboy come to life), the young ones (and the young at heart) will roar with approval as “history comes alive,” animating t-rex remains, a Capuchin monkey, Attila the Hun, and whatever’s left of Robin Williams’s career (though he’s less animated than usual as a waxen replica of museum benefactor Teddy Roosevelt) as night falls. Plus, the monkey repeatedly slaps Stiller in a family-friendly, fluid-free flip side of an infamous There’s Something About Mary scene.
On the Web
Night at the Museum's Web site:http://www.nightatthemuseum.com/
