A Night at the Museum

2006, US, directed by Shawn Levy

Another movie chosen to while away a long plane ride, and a disappointment even on the level of lightweight entertainment. The plot is a rehash of the divorced-Dad-must-reconnect-with-son genre (not a genre filled with masterpieces), although here it's blended with a CGI-heavy fantasy plot. The film's greatest problem is that it seems extraordinarily lifeless: there's little sense that the effects work and the human story exist in harmony, even though the film gets much mileage out of Ben Stiller's interactions with diminutive characters (supposedly museum miniatures come to life), at least not until the end. There are brighter spots early on, especially from Dick van Dyke and Mickey Rooney, but even they quickly run out of material (Rooney seems to have been given the same line, or a rough variation thereon, half-a-dozen times). Amazingly, though, the box office was big and as I biked to work today, buses were emblazoned with ads for the sequel.