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Unemployed Larry Daley (Stiller) starts a new job as a night time security guard at the Museum of Natural History, but what sounds like straightforward work turns out to be more a more demanding post than Larry could ever have imagined. Larry's first night on the job is dull and quiet, but it suddenly turns surreal when Larry hears a noise, goes to investigate, and sees a skeleton of a T-Rex sipping water from a drinking fountain. It turns out that the museum exhibits come to life at night, and that it's the job of the security guard job to maintain order. During his nightshift, Larry encounters a group of Neanderthal men, Lilliputian-like armies of Mayans, Romans and cowboys, as well as Attila the Hun (Patrick Gallagher), Sacagawea (Mizuo Peck) and US President Theodore Roosevelt (Williams), and a bunch of African jungle animals, the most troublesome being a cheeky monkey who gives Larry no end of grief.

After the monkey destroys the list of rules that would have helped Larry deal with this fantastical situation (a list which was given to Larry by an older security guard (Van Dyke) who gave him the job), Larry turns to President Roosevelt to help him restore order in the museum, and the night comes to a (relatively) peaceful end. The shocked and bewildered Larry almost quits after this first night of mayhem, but he decides to stay in the job in order to make a good impression on his son, Nick (Jake Cherry). With the help of an assistant at the museum (Gugino), Larry takes a crash course in museum-related history so that he can better understand the exhibits and discover what it takes to keep them under control during his next night on the job. But, of course, all does not go to plan, and the exhibits get increasingly out of control.

Coming across like a throwback to an early 1980s family fantasy film produced by Steven Spielberg (where an ordinary family man finds himself in extraordinary circumstances when fantastical forces arrive in the everyday world, and, in the process, becomes a better parent), Night at the Museum is a fun adventure movie, but offers little that hasn't been seen before. The film's outlandish premise offers up a wealth of opportunities, but it settles for being a fairly conventional mystery/chase movie, interspersed with numerous slapstick gags, and topped off with a 'how to be a good parent' message. Night at the Museum also feels like it has been stitched out of bits and pieces of other, better films, such as Gremlins (1984), Home Alone (1990) (both of which, incidentally, involved Chris Columbus, who is one of the producers of this film). Also, the scenes depicting jungle animals running amok are reminiscent of Jumanji (1995) (with which this shares the same star, Robin Williams).

Still, there's fun to had seeing Stiller do his repressed anger shtick (his battle of wits with the mischievous monkey is an amusing running joke, which results in an outrageous man versus monkey slapping match, followed by a witty line from Williams), and the special effects work convincingly brings the various waxworks of historical figures and animals to life. Along with Stiller and Williams, Ricky Gervais is amusing as the officious and supercilious head of the museum, and there's a funny subplot involving the constant bickering between Owen Wilson's cowboy and Steve Coogan's Roman centurion. Although the film doesn't offer anything groundbreaking, it's fun to see the various historical figures creatures and notable personages come to life and trash the museum that has been built to commemorate them. There are also a few surprises as the plot progresses, and it's refreshing that a film aimed at young children is, to a small degree, informing them about history.