Synopsis Night at The Museum
CAST
Ben Stiller as Larry Daley
Carla Gugino as Rebecca Hutman
Robin Williams as Theodore Roosevelt
Jake Cherry as Nicky Daley, Larry's son
Dick Van Dyke as Cecil Fredericks
Mickey Rooney as Gus
Bill Cobbs as Reginald
Owen Wilson as Jedediah
Steve Coogan as Octavius
Patrick Gallagher as Attila the Hun
Rami Malek as Ahkmenrah
Night at the Museum is a 2006 American
fantasy adventure-comedy film based on the 1993 children's book of the same
name by Milan Trenc. It follows a divorced father trying to settle down,
impress his son, and find his destiny. He applies for a job as a night watchman
at New York City's American Museum of Natural History and subsequently
discovers that the exhibits, animated by a magical Egyptian artifact, come to
life at night.
Released on December 22, 2006 by 20th Century
Fox, which presented the 1492 Pictures/21 Laps Entertainment Production in
association with Ingenious Film Partners, the film was written by Robert Ben
Garant and Thomas Lennon of Comedy Central's Reno 911! and MTV's The State and
produced and directed by Shawn Levy. Also producing for 1492 Pictures were
Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan. The film stars Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino,
Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Jake Cherry, Ricky Gervais, Owen
Wilson, Steve Coogan, and Robin Williams. A novelization of the screenplay by
Leslie Goldman was published as a film tie-in.
PLOT
Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a divorced
father living in Brooklyn, NY in need of immediate employment after many failed
business ventures. He resents that his son Nick (Jake Cherry) wants to be a
bond trader like his step-father Don (Paul Rudd) and has given up his dream of
being a professional hockey player. Larry's ex-wife Erica (Kim Raver) feels that
Larry is a bad influence on their son. After reviewing Larry's unpromising
resume, Debbie, an employment counselor (played by Stiller's real-life mother
Anne Meara), sends him to the American Museum of Natural History where there is
an opening for a nighttime security guard position.
Larry learns from the head security guard
Cecil Fredericks (Dick Van Dyke) that because of recent financial troubles, the
museum plans to replace Cecil and two veteran guards Gus (Mickey Rooney) and
Reginald (Bill Cobbs) with a single guard.
Once Larry accepts the position, he discovers
that the museum exhibits come to life at dusk, including a Tyrannosaurus
skeleton who behaves like a dog and fetches one of his ribs, Neanderthals
trying to make fire, and a gum-loving Easter Island Moai (Brad Garrett). After
being chased through the museum by the Huns and their leader Attila, Larry
encounters Dexter (Crystal), a fun-loving but mischievous capuchin monkey who
steals Larry's museum keys and tears up his instruction manual. When Dexter
bites Larry and urinates on him, he finally snaps and decides not to return the
following night. After he attempts to break up a fight between the Ancient
Roman and Wild West dioramas, led by Octavius (Steve Coogan) and Jedidiah (Owen
Wilson) respectively, Larry is informed by Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams)
that since an Egyptian artifact—the Golden Tablet of Pharaoh Akhmenrah—came to
the museum in 1952, all of the exhibits come to life each night. Roosevelt also
explains that if any exhibits are outside of the museum at sunrise they turn to
dust, and promises to help Larry by restoring order. After promising Nick a
tour of the museum, Larry decides to stay on as the new night guard. However,
he has trouble explaining to museum director Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais) why
some of the miniature figurines have been misplaced.
On Cecil's advice, Larry studies history to
prepare himself better. He also learns from a museum docent, Rebecca Hutman
(Carla Gugino), who is writing a dissertation on Sacagawea (Mizuo Peck) but
does not feel she knows enough about her subject.
The next night, Larry uses what he has
learned to better control the exhibits (helping solve the Neanderthals' quest
for fire by tossing them a cigarette lighter; giving the Easter Island head a
wad of chewing gum (which causes him to blow a big bubble that pops); tricking
Dexter with a set of toy keys; and making a truce between the dioramas).
However, things go awry when his attempt at winning over Atilla with cheap
magic tricks fails, the dioramas continue fighting despite their agreement with
Larry, and Dexter is able to steal Larry's keys again and let out all of the
animal exhibits. The Neanderthals then set fire to a display and one turns to
dust when he leaves the museum at dawn (his ashes are promptly swept up by a
street sweeper). The incident with the Neanderthal display causes Dr. McPhee to
tell Larry not to return, but Larry begs for one more chance. Nick in the
meanwhile overhears this conversation along with his friends. The same day
Larry offers Rebecca a meeting with Sacagawea, but she believes that he is
mocking her and the museum, and leaves him.
Larry brings Nick to the museum to show him
the exhibits, but none are alive. They investigate and catch Cecil, Gus, and
Reginald in the act of stealing the tablet and other valuable objects. Like the
exhibits, the guards receive enhanced vitality from the artifact; wishing to
retain their health and fund their retirements, the three plan to frame Larry
for the thefts, and disabled the tablet to stop the exhibits from interfering.
Nick reactivates the tablet, but Cecil locks him and his father in the Egyptian
room and flees with the tablet.
Larry releases the Akhmenrah's (Rami Malek)
mummy from his sarcophagus. The pharaoh speaks English from many years as an
exhibit at Cambridge, and helps Larry and Nick escape. The three find the other
exhibits fighting all over the lobby, and Larry convinces them to work
together. Although some of the exhibits capture Gus and Reginald without
difficulty, Cecil escapes by stagecoach with Larry, Nick, Akmenrah, Jedediah,
Octavius, and Attila the Hun in pursuit in Central Park, where they stop him
and regain the tablet. While in a taxicab, Rebecca sees the exhibits return to
the museum before sunrise and realizes that Larry was telling the truth; she
enters the museum, and he introduces her to Sacagawea.
Dr. McPhee fires Larry due to the chaos
during the night, but rehires him when news reports of the strange events
around the museum—such as cave paintings in the museum's subway station,
dinosaur footprints in Central Park, and cavemen sightings—raise attendance.
Larry, Nick, and the exhibits celebrate. As an epilogue Larry uses his
invention, the snapper, to shut off his flashlight.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar