Why Night at the Museum is a Cinematic Masterpiece

 

“What’s your favorite movie?” This is a question that fills me with dread. I know it’s an innocent enough question. But for film students, it’s practically a psychiatric evaluation. Your favorite movie defines who you are, both as a person and artist. And, let’s face it, most of the movies I like aren’t exactly deep films.

The types of movies I’m drawn to tend to be family movies. Don’t get me wrong here, I can appreciate new wave films and counter cultural films just as much as the next person. But as an aspiring comedy writer/director, I focus on family movies because these are the kinds of movies I want to make one day.

So, what is my favorite movie? I can’t exactly say, because honestly I have a few that I really like. So for this essay, I’ll focus on one that doesn’t get a lot of critical attention. Night at the Museum.

The author, being a nerd

Night at the Museum was released in 2006, with an all-star comedy cast (including a monkey, who did walk the red carpet). The premise itself is very simple — what if history actually came to life? Set in the Natural History Museum in New York, this is exactly what happens every night. Because of an ancient magical tablet, the exhibits come to life at night and freeze during the day. But, they have to be within the grounds of the museum, or else they’ll turn into dust.

That’s a concept we’ve seen a million times before in some form or fashion. What makes Night at the Museum special and entertaining are the characters, and the messages it promotes. Ben Stiller plays our main character, Larry, a classic divorced father who’s trying to make an effort for his son. He’s sarcastic, and takes no guff, but he has a tendency to give up too easily.

Our villains are played by Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs. The previous night guards of the museum, who realize that the tablet can give them immortality, and plan to steal it — putting the museum in jeopardy.

And then, the gem of the movie — all the historical characters that come to life. We have a T-rex who likes to play fetch with his own rib bone, a monkey named Dexter who has a penchant for stealing keys, a miniature cowboy and roman general who constantly fight over the right to expanding their territories, Teddy Roosevelt, who has a crush on Sacajawea, a talking Easter Island head, Attila the Hun and his generals, and finally some neanderthals who just want to create fire.

Naturally, trying to keep all this under control is a tall order. Most of the “exhibits” seem to be stuck in the mindset of their time, and nothing Larry says will convince them to stop. Attila the Hun wants to pillage. The Roman Empire wants to expand and go to war. And Larry just wants an easy job so that he can support his son. This is definitely where the crux of the comedy comes into play.

Larry tries to quit, but finds himself drawn to the museum. And, of course, it doesn’t hurt that he has a love interest there. As he continues with his job, he finds trial and error ways to get the museum at peace, and finds that he actually enjoys spending time with his new friends. When the plan to steal the tablet is revealed, he rallies the museum together and saves the day.

On the surface it seems Night at the Museum is a lighthearted comedy, but it goes deeper than that. By making history dynamic and funny, kids are encouraged to learn more about history. Larry spends time educating himself on the inhabitants of the museum, encouraging learning. And something unexpected happened after the release of Night at the Museum — kids wanted to go visit! The visitation rates for the Natural History Museum went through the roof, and even kids living in other parts of the country went to visit their local museums.

It is also worth noting that every historical character is portrayed accurately by a POC, with the exception of Steve Coogan as the Roman general. Sacajawea is played by Mizou Peck, a woman of Japanese and Cherokee descent. Rami Malek plays Ahkmenrah, Patrick Gallaghan, who plays Atilla, and all the huns are of Asian descent. And the list goes on. In an industry that often overlooks diversity, this is one vital step that exposes children to different cultures.

The film also opens up an interesting dialogue about history, which is — how much should we be influenced by history? At its best, history is inspiring, filled with men and women who created and discovered new ideas. But at worst, history is full of war, death, bigotry, and persecution of innocent people. Admittedly, Night at the Museum doesn’t get super deep into this (that’s a bit much even for kids) But it does encourage people to think for themselves, as seen with Robin William’s character.

Teddy Roosevelt, played by Robin Williams, provides the morality of the film. He encourages Larry to stay at the museum, and keep fighting in spite of the odds. Larry retorts that it’s easy for him to say — Teddy is a legendary historical figure, whereas he’s just some guy from the Bronx. It’s captured best in this exchange at the end of the film.

I do want to make a caveat here and say that I understand the controversial nature of Teddy Roosevelt as a historical figure. As of writing this, the Natural History Museum has elected to remove the statue of Teddy Roosevelt from their grounds. I believe the filmmakers tried to address this issue by making Teddy’s love interest Sacajawea, however, it comes across today as a bit insensitive.

Regardless, the overall message is still quite effective. Night at the Museum is saying that you don’t have to be an important, historical figure to make a difference — you just have to keep going. I believe this is a vital message for anyone to hear, especially kids. In a culture where history is taught as a dry, rigid subject, Night at the Museum opens up the idea that history shouldn’t be taken at face value.

I think it’s important for movies to entertain, but also inspire. The world around us is a beautiful place that shouldn’t be taken for granted. Night at the Museum is able to tackle a lot. It showcases diversity, teaches about history, makes us laugh, and shows us that found family can be just as important as real family. I really think that if movies like this were taken a little more seriously, the world would be a happier place.