I am very surprised to be writing that this movie starring Ben Stiller and directed by Shawn Levy (the Steve Martin Pink Panther remake, Just Married, Big Fat Liar) is really funny but that was before the credits rolled I saw the writers are Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (Reno 911, The Pacifier) and understood. The starring role is well suited to Stiller’s style and strengths without allowing him to go far enough to be a self-parody as he’s done too often and Levy has developed a sophisticated control that appeals to kids and adults without pandering/condescending to either audience.

Night at the Museum looks at what goes on inside New York City’s famed Museum of Natural History after everyone but the might watchman leaves. Ever since the mummy of an Egyptian pharoah and his magical gold tablet arrived at the museum in the 1950s all the wax figures, animals and skeletons have come to life each night, trying to run amuck and escape even though being outside at dawn would reduce it to ashes. Management decides the three previous guards are two too many and well past retirement age but Dick Van Dyke, Bill Cobb and Mickey Rooney aren’t ready to go just yet—that magical tablet is keeping them young and energetic, on the inside at least—and hire Stiller, thinking he’s the perfect dupe.

Stiller’s character, meanwhile, is a dreamer unable to succeed in his entrepreneurial dreams or keep his marriage to the lovely Kim Raver (Bauer’s love interest the last two seasons of 24). Stiller takes the job as a desperate attempt to salvage his relationship with his 8/9 year old son (Jake Cherry) but can’t believe what happens his first night as the watchman. Van Dyke’s crew have barely prepared him for the wild goings on, just the opposite as they hope to make him their patsy, but with guidance from Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt and determination not to fail his son Ben succeeds. Heck, at the end he shows that in less than a week he’s understood the situation better than the three oldsters did in half a century.

There are plenty of star turns in cameos and, except for Ricky Gervais whose humor I just don’t get, they work fairly well. Carla Guigino is a docent (volunteer tour guide), Owen Wilson is a tiny cowboy, Steve Coogan is a tiny Roman emperor Octavius, Mizuo Peck is a sweet Sacagewea, Patrick Gallagher is Attila the Hun and Brad Garrett voices the large stone Easter Island Head (”Dumb dumb give me gum gum“). The T Rex and Dexter the capuchin monkey are lots of fun too.

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