"Daley" (Ben Stiller) is struggling to find a job that will allow him to keep his apartment and in contact with his young son "Nick" (Jake Cherry). Even the job finders have given up on him until, that is, there is a potential opening as a night watchman at the Museum of Natural History. His application is presented to the ostensibly kindly old "Cecil" (Dick Van Dyke) and his two cohorts "Gus" (Mickey Rooney) and "Reginald" (Bill Cobbs) and he gets the job! First night, doing his rounds, all fine until things start to move, to come alive, to chase him, attack him - he's terrified! His colleagues arrive for work in the morning and alert him to a few, now rather obvious, facts and next night he has to try and assert himself with his congregation of native Americans, Roman legionaries, megalomaniacs, dinosaurs, lions - yep, just about everything that you might expect to find in a museum like this. He's making progress - discipline is creeping in as he manages to manage his charges a little better each evening. He even feels confident enough to introduce them all to his lad. The scene is set, the lights are dimmed, and the time comes - but on this night there is nothing. They remain statuesque. What's occurring? Well that's where the mystery and a wee bit of comedy bring this amiable film towards it's denouement. Shawn Levy has assembled a decent cast for this Ben Stiller vehicle. The humour is gentle with some "creative" history interwoven into the characterisations of Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), curator "McPhee" (Ricky Gervais) and of course the three mischievous co-wardens. It's a smashing advertisement for just what museums can show us and if it encourages kids to go explore our past, then it will probably have done a more memorable job than the film itself ever will - but it's still an enjoyable enough watch.
