This is meant to be a family film, and is safe to take the kids to see.

The film begins

with Larry (Ben Stiller) trying to find a job. He, obviously, has had many jobs and is
having trouble sharing custody of his son because of his undependable life situation.
Larry gets hired as the night security guard at the Museum of Natural History.
While there are no religious references of any kind in this story, there are some
good values portrayed, as Larry helps the exhibits in their various trials, showing
that he cares about them. (He helps the cavemen have fire, plays fetch with the TRex, tries to get the Union and Confederate troops to stop fighting in the Civil War
exhibit, and helps Rebecca meet Sacagawea, about whom Rebecca is writing a
dissertation.) We also see Larrys relationship with his son strengthen as his son
develops new respect for his father.
Night at the Museum provides exciting, charming, tender, uplifting, and amusing
entertainment for the whole family. There are, however, a couple worldview
problems that demand some caution for concerned parents and people of faith.
Also, the light violence may be too much for most very young children.
The movie stars Ben Stiller as Larry Daley. Larry has a lot of dreams for success, but
none of them pay off. His ex-wife complains that their young son, Nicky, is losing
respect for his father and is getting tired of his father's instability. So, Larry takes a
job as a night security guard for the Museum of Natural History, which, due to lesser
income, is retiring its three elderly guards, played by Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney,
and Bill Cobbs.
Night at the Museum is a delightful entertainment. The story is well-written and the
acting, editing, and cinematography are filled with adventure, humor, warmth, and
inspiring messages. There are also a few nifty twists in the final act. Ben Stiller
makes a good average-guy-type to play the important father role. It was also great
to see such venerable actors as Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs, as
the three elderly security guards, strut their stuff.

Most importantly, the movie has some strong moral, redemptive elements. Most of
those positive elements have to do with courage, taking responsibility, becoming a
dynamic leader, controlling chaos, positive moral transformation, self-control, and
the need for fathers to create a strong bond with their sons. The movie also shows
that liberty can only truly occur within some kind of moral order and moral
authority. This is an important conservative American value as well as a biblical one.
The new night watchman at New York's Museum of Natural History finds that the job
comes with more responsibility than he ever dreamed in this wild fantasy comedy
directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Mickey Rooney, and
Dick Van Dyke. Larry Daley (Stiller) is a kind-hearted dreamer who always knew that
he was destined for greatness, he just never quite knew how. None of his ideas or

inventions has panned out, so with a heavy heart, he takes a regular job as a lowly
graveyard-shift security guard at the Museum of Natural History in order to provide
a more stable life for himself and his ten-year-old son. His first night on the job,
however, he finds that guardianship of the museum is far from stable -- at nightfall,
an Egyptian spell brings the artifacts and wax figures to life! With Attila the Hun
charging to war through the hallways, the diorama miniatures embroiled in a deadly
feud, and a two-ton Tyrannosaurus Rex nagging to play fetch, Larry has half a mind
to turn tail and run. On top of cleaning up after two million years of historical chaos
every night, he also has to make sure that not a single museum piece leaves the
building -- from the bratty Capuchin monkey in the African exhibit, to the life-sized
Neanderthal in the prehistoric display -- because if morning light falls on an escaped
artifact, it will turn to dust. Larry turns to a wax replica of President Roosevelt
(Williams) for a little advice on keeping things in tact, but Teddy seems to think that
a man of Larry's greatness needs little help. Larry isn't sure if the former
commander in chief is right; this is hardly what he signed up for, but he can't pass
up the chance to care for a museum where history really does come to life.
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