Thursday, January 04, 2007

Movie Reviews: History Comes Alive in A Night at the Museum

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City is one of America’s favorite museums. The 125 year old museum plays a starring role in an action/comedy, A Night at the Museum, now showing in theaters across America. Statues and dioramas come alive at night, and a new security guard, played by Ben Stiller, is left to deal with the ensuing disorder. The plot is fun and easy to follow. The T-Rex wants to play; the tiny men of Wild West and Roman Empire dioramas battle each other; Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) rides around on his horse and falls in love with Sacagawea (Mizuo Peck); and security guards Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs play villains who want to steal the magical golden tablet in the Egyptian exhibit.

 I found it great fun, and think it’s well worth seeing for anyone who enjoys visiting museums and likes silly humor and history. The only fact I would dispute is that Ben Stiller’s romantic interest, played by Carla Gugino, has written a 400 page thesis on Sacagawea—nobody could write 400 pages on what we know about Sacagawea! I took my granddaughters. I had read that the movie was “noisy” which discouraged my husband from attending; but it wasn’t particularly noisy, so I am going to go back a second time to see it with him. It is funny, with no vulgarity, or meanness, or violence. I asked my granddaughters to contribute reviews:

 Karissa (age 14) wrote: I thought the movie kept you hooked. And was very well researched. It wasn’t as predictable as i thought it would be. And it ended very well. Overall i think it deserved a 4 out of 5 stars. Much better than i thought it would be.

Savannah (age 9) wrote: It was so halarious. I loved the t-rex!

Cassie (age 7) wrote: I thought it was soo funny that I didn’t notice the noise.

To order books for young readers on Sacagawea and Lewis and Clark adventures, visit my Amazon Affiliate Bookstore. For adult readers I have a selection of the Top 50 Lewis and Clark Books. I particularly like Sacagawea’s Child: the Life and Times of Jean Baptiste (Pomp) Charbonneau by Susan M. Colby, which is also a fine biography of Sacagawea, who lived an all-too-brief life. My book, Lewis and Clark Road Trips, has over 800 destinations, including Sacagawea statues and sites; museums from the National Mall in DC to the Pacific Coast; wild animals; paleo skeletons and paleo digs.

Posted by Kira Gale on 01/04/2007 at 10:28 AM

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