Night at the Museum: Critic Reviews

What a dull, nice movie, wrenched from a wild premise and battered into docility.

Night at the Museum adheres to the current Hollywood philosophy that coherence doesnt matter if enough stuff is thrown onto the screen.

Dark night of the soul is more like it.

If only family comedies would evolve and not assume that a good concept, convincing special effects and a strong cast automatically add up to fun.

It's a fun ride, and the big payoff -- that history turns out to be way cooler than its reputation suggests -- is even more gratifying.

Night at the Museum, in fact, is stuffed with smart performers doing graciously silly work, and all [director Shawn] Levy has to do is manage traffic.

The first half-hour's too slow; the last half-hour's too manic, as if to compensate. But at least it entertains.

Really young kids may like the noise and chaos of the movie, but the real museum on Central Park West has its own 'A Night at the Museum' program that sounds a lot better.

The special effects are a blast. The T-Rex skeleton looks authentic as it clatters down the hallway after a terrified Larry. But even better is the remarkable, star-studded ensemble.

Though far less ambitious than Jurassic Park, Night at the Museum is also far less terrifying than Jumanji. It is happy where it is, and the audience I saw it with seemed to appreciate that.

A film that veers, often without much direction, between a family-friendly comic romp and an attempt to touch our souls with heartfelt emotion.

The writers are content to let the magical beings simply run around and crash into things. I got a Jumanji headache about 30 minutes in.

As mindless spectacle, this is reasonably entertaining.

All attempts at non-effects storytelling fall completely flat.

Night at the Museum is a high-concept comedy that skimps on things such as plot and character development but holds nothing back when it comes to high-energy silliness. In other words, it's vintage Ben Stiller in his wacky mode.

Night at the Museum is not just a wild runaround of computer-generated creatures. Well, OK, that's mostly what it is. Still, there is something of a plot.

It's never too late to enjoy a little holiday fantasy, such as spending a Night at the Museum.

Rarely has so much production value yielded so little in terms of audience engagement.

The special effects are far more inspired than the comedy in Night at the Museum, which strands several generations of performers in a highly derivative script and hackneyed direction.

Kids, supposedly too bored to go to such museums anymore (one of the film's messages, along with 'learn your history') should find this a Night to remember.

Fun for the whole family? Probably not, but certainly for those members who are only permitted to hang out when the lawyers say it's okay.

It might be fair to give Ben Stiller an 'A' for effort, but to call what he does in this movie "acting" is a misnomer. He does a lot of running around, occasionally falling down or bumping into things.

It's definitely a cute, workable premise, but as mishandled by director Shawn Levy, the inspiration that was required to make Museum fly is seldom on exhibit in this interminably monotonous production.

If you've ever wanted to see a prehistoric man hurl fire-extinguisher foam in Stiller's face, this could be your only chance.

Cavemen and dinosaurs, cowboys and Roman soldiers, lions and zebras, all running amok, sounds like more fun than it is.