In New York City, a man named Larry Daley constantly changes apartments and jobs. This worries his ex-wife, Erica.

The 2 also have a 10-year-old son called Nick. Nick loves playing ice hockey, but he is considering quitting and joining the finance business as an adult.

His soon to be stepfather, Don, is already inspiring him. Not only that, but Don has also been invited to speak to Nick’s class at school for career day instead of Larry.

Not long after, though, Larry is hired at the American Museum of Natural History. But that is only because they are absolutely in need of a night guard.

The current night guard, Cecil Fredericks, is about to retire. His colleagues, Reginald and Gus, are in the same position of being replaced.

Once his shift actually begins, though, Larry discovers something extremely shocking. That is that everything in the exhibits comes to life at night.

Larry encounters crazy mishaps and disasters. From a T-Rex skeleton chasing him to various wild animals trying to attack him to an unintelligent Easter Island Moai who calls him, “Dum-Dum,” Larry is panicked.

And that’s not all. Larry also encounters miniature figures of Cowboys and Ancient Romans who try to capture him, because they think he’s a evil giant. Larry even runs into cavemen, Ancient Chinese Huns, and various other historical people.

But luckily, the figure of Teddy Roosevelt on his horse rescues and helps Larry. He also reveals that since 1952, there has been a magical golden tablet hidden in the museum. And that is why everything comes to life at night.

But once sunrises, every they must return to its positions in which people view them during the day. If they fail to do that, they will turn into dust.

Teddy Roosevelt also confesses his feelings to Sacagawea, who is behind glass with Lewis and Clark. But when Larry tries to speak to her, she cannot hear behind the glass.

The next day, this lady named Rebecca, whom Larry had met the day before, is giving a school trip a tour. Larry follows her while not trying to invade the group.

He asks her if Sacagawea was deaf, which the answer is obviously no. When Larry tries to point out why he asks that question, Rebecca reminds her that she is a statue behind glass in the museum.

Shortly after, though, Larry’s boss, Dr. McPhee, takes Larry to the miniature figure exhibits. He points out the cowboy, Jedediah, is getting Octavius the Roman emperor, beheaded.

Larry tries to explain what happened. But Dr. McPhee warns him to be more responsible during his shift.

Larry, almost quits… until Nick and Don congratulate him. So, he decides to stay.

But that night, Larry goes through the same kind of chaos as before. He spends a lot of time chasing this mischievous monkey, Dexter, to retrieve his keys. But Dexter continues to be difficult. He and Larry, even end up in a slap fight.

Not only that, but Dexter successfully unlocks the neanderthals out of their exhibit. They all run outside into the street. Unfortunately, they turn into dust when the sun begins to rise.

At some point, Dr. McPhee notices the Neanderthal exhibit to be very damaged. Thus, he gets fired.

Even Nick and a few of his friends from school witness it. So, those kids leave Nick, who is disappointed in his dad.

Luckily, Dr. McPhee gives Larry one more chance. Little does Larry know that the tablet has been deactivated, though.

That evening, when Larry tries to show Nick that everything in the museum comes to life after sunset, nothing happens. So, Nick won’t believe him.

What will happen next?

Just like all the other Night at the Museum movies, this one made me laugh hard several times. It remained just as funny as when I first saw it in the movie theaters almost 20 years ago.

There are so many hilarious moments that it would take up too much of this post to list them all. But I will include some big examples, which are:

• When Larry and Dexter slapped each other
• When Larry mocked Dexter for having baby keys
• When that Moai kept calling Larry, “Dum-Dum,” asking for gum, and even said to Larry, “No, your name, Dum-Dum,” after he told him what his name really was
• When the neanderthals through fire extinguisher foam onto Larry and laughed
• When Larry and Attila, the Hun tried to battle each other, but instead screamed and tried to compete with that

Aside from the humor, the pacing was also quite fast. Despite that, there were a few moments where there wasn’t enough conflict. And that made those parts kind of dull.

Another flaw is a plot hole on why Larry didn’t just prove to Rebecca, Nick, or Dr. McPhee on the surveillance camera footage how everything at night did actually come to life. Maybe he either had no access to that. But Dr. McPhee could have. After all, he was the museum director.

Or the surveillance cameras could not pick up on the magical effects. Or they got disabled after hours, which would be unlikely.

Regardless of those issues, the movie otherwise had mostly strengths. Larry was a very likable character. For the most part, he was patient with the museum figures.

Sometimes, though, his son Nick seemed a bit smarter than him. But the 2 still had a nice bond.

And I particularly loved Robin Williams’ portrayal as Teddy Roosevelt. Aside from the glasses, mustache, and saying things the real Teddy Roosevelt had said, Robin Williams incorporated some of his signature humor into his character. Yet he did not overdo it.

Lots of twists and turns occur, as well. See the movie to find out what they are.

Overall, I enjoyed Night at the Museum. It is a funny and fantastic film that people of all ages can watch.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.