Night At The Museum ★★★

Night at the Museum is a film that reeks of a 30-second studio pitch. Possibly not even 30 seconds: “There’s a natural history museum. And at night, everything comes to life.” What’s that? Three seconds? Seriously, we’re talking pure concept movie here, the sort of trite confection that generally signals the holidays are here. It’s thus predictable in the extreme, run through with all the standard big themes and heavy morals — families are important, “I love you dad”, things aren’t always what they seem, etc. — that should make it a sugary, icky mess.

Somehow — even with the man who made Cheaper By The Dozen running the show — it’s just pure fun, and as good a family movie as you’ll have seen for some time. It flirts dangerously with the schmaltzy side, but its sense of knockabout fun more than compensates. Ben Stiller — currently appearing in cameos in, ooh, what feels like every other film out there — is Larry Dale, a well-meaning dreamer convinced that his next idea will be the big one. However, with rent due, a son to look after at weekends — the rest of the time he’s with his mum and her successful Wall Street boyfriend — and a life that keeps nipping his arse, he decides to take a job.

With not a lot of options open to a professional dreamer, Larry has one choice: night security guard at the Natural History Museum or the eternal embarrassment of his son. The museum it is then and Larry discovers that, when the sun goes down, the exhibits spring to life, from the playful T-Rex skeleton in the foyer to the waxwork Genghis Khan who likes to invade the other dioramas. Struggling to get the museum back under control, Larry realises that his job is on the line. For the sake of his son, he knows that he has to buckle down, save the museum and, in the process — say it with me people — become the father he’s always wanted to be.

As it steams towards its predictable climax, Night At The Museum manages to squeeze a great deal of comic mileage from the scenario. It helps, of course, that you have Ben Stiller in the lead, with (mostly improvised) appearances from Ricky Gervais, as the museum’s director, and the uncredited Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan as warring model cowboy and Roman respectively. So see it now, or wait for it to hit free-to-air TV in around 2009. It’s that kind of film. And that’s not necessarily a complaint.