A Super-Villain Faces an Existential Crisis in Megamind

Last year saw the release of two computer-animated films about not-so-evil villains struggling to determine whether their dastardly ambitions can ever bring them true fulfillment. I had hoped to catch both Despicable Me and Megamind in theaters, but I ended up settling for DVD. The former rose to the top of my Netflix queue in early March, and I found it thoroughly charming. This month, I got to check out Megamind, and I found it equally satisfying.

Despicable Me aims at a younger audience, with more slapstick, a lead with a silly accent and three young girls as the major secondary characters. The pull of parenthood causes hunched, hook-nosed Gru to deviate from his plans, and the theme of longing for a family makes it relatable viewing for young and old alike. Megamind, on the other hand, is clearly designed more for adults. Megamind is a bald, scrawny blue humanoid who was launched toward Earth as an infant with an unknown destiny heavy upon him.  Barreling toward Earth right alongside him was the baby who would grow up to become Metro Man, who looks like a typical human, only burlier, more classically perfect.  He had the privilege of a pampered upbringing, while Megamind was raised in prison.  All their lives, these two aliens have been dodging each other, with Metro Man, adored hero of Metro City, always just one step ahead.  Until now.

Megamind (Will Ferrell) has grown used to the routine of baiting Metro Man (Brad Pitt) by kidnapping saucy reporter Roxanne (Tina Fey). None of his predictable scare tactics faze her, and when the inevitable confrontation comes, the nemeses’ quick banter conveys a sense that the two are rather enjoying themselves. This is all little more than a game, albeit a tired one. It’s a game Megamind gleefully schemes to win – but when the dust from his latest encounter settles and he finds himself the victor for a change, he realizes just how empty his life is without his destructive goal to fall back on.

Megamind is a story demonstrating the way that love can combat inhumane impulses, with Roxanne filling a previously unnoticed void in the blue villain’s life in much the same way as the orphans in Despicable Me. I often found myself reminded of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog as I watched. The obvious hero is narcissistic and more concerned with adulation than the improvement of the city whose residents worship him. The villain is cunning but clearly doesn’t have a strong taste for violence. Compassion stirs within him at inconvenient times. In a guileless guise, he befriends Roxanne and begins to wonder if his life might be more worthwhile if he considered a different path. What is a man to do when his purpose has been realized and the years stretch out before him, full of terrifying possibility? It’s an existential quandary.

Jonah Hill brings a slightly skeezy slacker vibe to the role of Hal, Roxanne’s cameraman. At first he just seems like a lovable chump who can’t get the girl embroiled in a world of supernatural powers, but by the time Megamind decides to involve him in his next big scheme, it’s apparent that this young man has a little something extra, an indefinable quality that will make him stand out. But will he play into the plan that Megamind has groomed him for, or will he veer off-course? Other fairly major characters include bland museum guard Bernard (Ben Stiller); the crusty prison warden (J. K. Simmons) who knows Megamind all too well; and Minion (David Cross), an extraterrestrial fish who was sent to be Megamind’s caretaker. Much of the film’s comedy comes from these side characters.

The film has a rather dark and foreboding quality to it, with many scenes of ruination and cold technology. At times, the atmosphere almost reminded me of The Dark Knight, though the tone is never that oppressive. Nonetheless, this is a movie that broods, so while I’m not sure I would deem it inappropriate for children, I think adults will get the most out of it. In addition to the somber reflections on finding meaning in a confusing world, the movie offers homages to superhero and espionage conventions that will probably be best appreciated by those with more extensive viewing experience. For family film night, then, I would first recommend Despicable Me. But if you’re in the mood for something a little bit more adult-oriented, why not wrap your mind around Megamind?

The Third Time Doesn't Charm Much With Little Fockers

I got home from a long trip the other day, and yesterday a friend of mine called me up to welcome me back and see if I wanted to go to the movies. We have two major movie theaters here in town, one of which is a dollar theater. The nice thing about the dollar theater, of course, is that it’s cheap. The not-so-nice part is that there are a lot fewer movies to choose from, so you’re more likely to end up watching something you’d rather not pay full price for anyway. Last night’s movie was Little Fockers, the third installment in the Meet the Parents series starring Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro.

It took me until last year to finally see Meet the Parents, and I never did see the sequel, Meet the Fockers. I didn’t really need to, though; this movie filled in the gaps sufficiently, which mainly involve Greg’s (Stiller) touchy-feely parents, stay-at-home dad Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) and television sex therapist Roz (Barbra Streisand). Greg is a nurse and a devoted family man. He’s a very decent guy, which begins to really hit home for his intimidating father-in-law, Jack Byrnes (DeNiro), after his other son-in-law cheats on his wife and takes off. A mild heart attack leaves this towering giant of a patriarch shaken and determined to see Greg carry on as family protector if anything should happen to him.

As in the first movie, Stiller and DeNiro have a great dynamic. Both of them are likable, but it’s easy to see how they drive each other crazy. While the first movie is very heavy on the slapstick and requires Greg to do several incredibly stupid things, in this movie, the disasters that happen really aren’t his fault. Some cringe-worthy moments do occur, but I felt like I was able to root for him more in this movie since he really is in the right most of the time, and he’s trying very hard to do well by his wife, his children and his in-laws. Meanwhile, Jack’s behavior in this movie is pretty reasonable as well. He’s looking out for his family too, and his limited point of view, along with a generally suspicious outlook, causes him to come to unfortunate but understandable conclusions. The wives, Dina Byrnes and Pam Focker (Blythe Danner and Teri Polo), have minimal roles, just playing it straight and supportive as their husbands lose their heads.

The plot of the movie is driven by miscommunication and one extremely over-the-top new character. The in-laws have come to town for the fifth birthday party of the Focker twins, precocious Samantha (Daisy Tahan) and dopey Henry (Colin Baiocchi). It’s not for a few days, though, so that’s plenty of time for trouble to develop. Most of that trouble involves Greg’s involvement with a perky drug rep named Andi Garcia (Jessica Alba). For some reason, she is really eager for him to be one to give a speech about her company’s new drug at an upcoming convention. And he could use the money, especially since he is in the process of trying to get his kids into an exclusive private school. But he doesn’t want Jack to know about the convention, since he wants him to think he is totally financially secure, and leaving the father-in-law out of the loop on this little detail leads to big problems later on. It doesn’t help, either, that Pam’s ex, guileless golden boy Kevin (Owen Wilson), returns to town just before the party after Greg’s advice about how to propose to his supermodel girlfriend backfires on him.

Basically, I like the main characters in the movie, except for Andi, who seems to ooze phoniness and spends the entire movie flinging herself relentlessly at a married man. I’m really not sure why. I kept looking for some sinister motivation, but it seems the only explanation for her behavior is that she has a mad crush on Greg and won’t let anything stand in the way of her having her way with him. While Greg thinks she’s a knockout, it’s a mark of his character that he is never tempted to give in to her advances. But that can’t stop her from putting him in a couple of very compromising positions. I found myself cringing most of the time when she was on screen, and her totally unprofessional behavior made me wonder how she managed to hang onto her job.

Aside from her, what really annoyed me about the movie was the gross-out humor. There’s the tedious tittering over Greg’s full name, with his birth name of Gaylord coming up several times at awkward moments, particularly with Prudence (Laura Dern), the spacey director of the school he wants his children to attend. There’s the fact that the drug he’s supposed to be hawking is basically Viagara for heart patients, so you can imagine the eye-rolling jokes there, especially the piercingly uncomfortable moment highlighted in the previews in which Greg must administer a shot to counteract the drug’s effects after Jack takes some on the sly. And given the profession of Greg’s mother, almost everything she says has some sort of sexual connotation, and that gets old fast. Finally, along with all the lewd humor, there are disgusting moments like Henry barfing all over his father or Greg taking a chunk out of his hand while carving a turkey, which, if I’m remembering right, pretty much happened in the first movie and was unpleasant enough then.

The first two movies did really well at the box office, and at this point the third movie just feels like the cast and writers trying to stretch the series out beyond its natural end point. The movie concludes in such a way that it seems to be baiting us for yet another sequel, and at this point I can’t help thinking it’s a little excessive. DeNiro and Stiller do make a great team, and Little Fockers has its moments of humor and sweetness. But I think this is a franchise that has run its course.

Robert DeNiro Turns Ben Stiller Into a Bumbling Buffoon in Meet the Parents

When I was taking guitar lessons, one of the songs I played was Puff the Magic Dragon, which prompted my teacher to ask if I’ve ever seen Meet the Parents. He explained that the song’s marijuana-related interpretation was discussed in the movie, which he deemed hilarious, so when a friend decided to give away her VHS collection and Meet the Parents was on the list, I put in my request. Last night I finally got to see whether I agreed with his assessment.

Ben Stiller plays Greg Focker, a low-key, likable guy who works as a nurse, a profession he enjoys because it allows him to have such close contact with patients. He’s been dating Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo), a sweet-natured kindergarten teacher, and he’s cooked up an adorable marriage proposal that gets her students in on the big moment. But before he can pop the question, Pam gets a call from her sister Deborah informing her of her engagement, which was preceded by her fiance’s asking her father for permission. Hence, Greg decides that he needs to ask permission as well.

He gets his chance two weeks later, when he accompanies Pam home for the weekend for Deborah’s wedding. After a fairly congenial initial meeting, Greg and Pam’s father, Jack (Robert DeNiro), get off on the wrong foot when Pam lets it slip that Greg hates cats. Then, on the way to the store, Greg cracks a joke about Puff the Magic Dragon that offends Jack and makes him suspect that his daughter’s boyfriend is a pothead. What follows is a weekend of increasing disaster as keyed-up Greg manages to make just about every possible mis-step.

My parents aren’t especially big fans of Ben Stiller, but I usually find his performances pretty enjoyable. Here, he’s easy to sympathize with; he certainly sells us on the awkwardness of the situation. On the other hand, Greg does some incredibly stupid things, like lying to Jack throughout the weekend even though he knows how deeply this man values honesty and how skilled he is at knowing when someone is lying. Most of his stupidest moves involve Jack’s beloved, talented cat, Mr. Jinx, a thorn in his side from the moment they meet. It doesn’t help that not only Jack but Deborah’s fiance and his father all find it hilarious that he is a nurse. At least Pam’s mom (Blythe Danner) is pretty accepting of Greg, but she doesn’t have the forceful personality of those around her.

As amusing as Stiller is in his role, it’s DeNiro who steals the show with his understated but intimidating performance as a man who is deeply devoted to his daughter and incredibly suspicious of anyone who wants to sweep her off her feet. The dynamic between him and Greg is intense, with the latter constantly feeling threatened despite Jack’s frequent friendly overtures. By the end of the weekend, I found myself more sympathetic toward Jack than Greg, since Greg is such a walking disaster who manages to wreak incredible havoc on this man’s home in a couple of short days.

This movie, like the recently released Dinner for Schmucks and dozens of similar movies, is largely dependent upon mass destruction. A broken vase here, a broken nose there, and before you know it you’re watching a sewage-filled backyard go up in flames. It all gets to feel a bit excessive, especially since you can see most of the disasters coming from a mile away. Still, many of the gags are funny, and DeNiro and Stiller are great together. I also got a kick out of Owen Wilson, who so often appears in movies alongside Stiller, as Pam’s wealthy, affable ex-fiance Kevin, who is such an earnest Christian that he has decided to take up carpentry, for which he has an exceptional talent. While Kevin may be a bit over-the-top, I found nothing unlikable about him, and I would be curious to see how he might be integrated into the second and third movies in the series.

Meet the Parents is a less offensive movie than I might have expected from Jay Roach, who also directed the Austin Powers series. While there is some innuendo, it’s certainly not at an Austin level, and there’s little profanity, since this weekend is all about making a good impression on a fairly conservative family - though the characters do have way too much fun with Greg’s last name. What it does have in spades is cringe-worthy scenes involving the obliteration of personal property, so if you find that sort of thing gets old really fast, this movie might not be for you. But alongside the mishaps is the story of two young people who are deeply committed to one another and two parents who have very different approaches but both want to see their daughter happy. For that, I’m willing to wade through a little sludge.

Glitzy 81st Oscars Are a Ceremony to Remember

I came into the 2008 Oscars having seen only three of the nominees: WALL-E, The Dark Knight and Doubt. I almost saw Slumdog Millionaire, but the theater was sold out and we never made it back; I have no excuse for Man on Wire, since not only does Netflix have it, it's available for instant viewing. But that will have to be my first post-Oscar pick. Anyway, though I hadn't seen most of the movies involved, I was fairly well-informed about most of them, and I found myself especially rooting for The Little Movie That Could, which came close to pulling off a Return of the King-style sweep.

Last year's ceremony was pretty short on frills. By contrast, this year's was showy, from the gorgeous crystal curtain hanging over the stage to the song-and-dance antics of host Hugh Jackman. I thought the ensemble tribute to musical theater featuring him, Beyonce, Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron was entertaining, albeit rather chaotic. But the opening number, where he so energetically and hilariously honored the Best Picture nominees (and The Dark Knight), was brilliant. Clever lyrics, great way of matching the music to the mood of the movies, and man, can that guy sing! And Anne Hathaway was a nice surprise. They looked - and sounded - great together.

I liked the structure of taking us through the movie-making process, which put more focus on the amount of work that goes into the more technical aspects of movie production. I was a little disappointed that WALL-E won in none of these categories, but at least it took home the big award for Best Animated Picture. (As if there was any doubt; I loved Jack Black's line about starring in Dreamworks movies and then betting all his money on Pixar winning the Oscar.) The WALL-E-centric ode to 2008's animated features was fun, as were his appearances in the romance montage.

One of the most memorable moments from the technical awards came with Best Cinematography, when Ben Stiller did a killer Joaquin Phoenix impression while Natalie Portman played it straight. It was hilarious, but it did seem a bit disrespectful; then again, perhaps the movie community feels like Phoenix has been thumbing his nose at them lately. What was really disrespectful was the fact that Stiller went on goofing around while the nominees were being read, so it didn't seem like anyone was paying attention to those names. I think he let the gag go on too long and detracted from their big moment. The Slumdog cinematographer gave a great speech, though, gracious and funny.

I was a little surprised that some presenters stayed on stage so long, but it seemed to streamline the process a bit, and I don't think anyone was complaining too much about seeing Will Smith presenting four awards in a row. The rising through the floor bit was fun, as was his comment, the fourth time around, that Hugh was napping. Probably the most memorable of that batch of speeches was for Sound Mixing. He really seemed to appreciate it, and taking it as a victory for his whole country was nice. And going back to Best Make-Up (one of several presented rather blandly by Daniel Craig and Sarah Jessica Parker), that was an impressive list of names to spit out in such a short time. Made for a somewhat dull speech, but I'm sure the folks who were mentioned appreciated it.

The one low point in the evening for me was when Bill Maher presented the documentary awards. I groaned when I saw him step out because I knew he'd have something inflammatory to say. As somebody who's generally more involved in television than movies, he felt rather out of place anyway, and instead of acting grateful for the opportunity, he seemed to be bent on deriding everybody. And plugging his movie. From his "silly little gods" comment to his dismissive remark after the Man on Wire guys made their speech, he just oozed contempt for the whole thing. I don't know if Maher's beef with them was the documentary itself or the speech, but I loved that they invited their subject up to the stage. He was among the giddiest people we saw all night, and I got a kick out of his Oscar-balancing and disappearing coin trick.

I expected that Prop 8 would come up at some point during the night, and it did. Sean Penn got a little heated with his remarks, but I enjoyed his speech overall, especially the shout-out to Mickey Rourke. Still, I preferred the emotional acceptance speech of Milk's incredibly young-looking screenwriter, and it was moving to see him getting choked up all over again as Penn accepted his award. His profound gratitude lessened the blow of WALL-E failing to get top screenplay honors. I still think it should have been nominated for Best Picture. I thought Tina Fey and Steve Martin were a great presenting team, by the way, and I was quite content to watch them banter their way through two awards.

Speaking of banter, Seth Rogen and James Franco's video was a hoot. As an ode to comedy it was rather strange, since half the featured movies were only funny because those two were laughing at wildly inappropriate times, but I thought it worked. I also found the promo for Jimmy Kimmel with Tom Cruise hilarious, and the only ad aside from the inspirational True North commercials that really got my attention. (I actually stayed up for Kimmel because of it and was rewarded with not only more silliness with Cruise but also deliciously ridiculous previews for The Curious Case of Benjamin Batman and The Colonel, a Civil War epic starring Mel Gibson. As Colonel Sanders.)

I found Queen Latifah's live song accompanying the memorial tribute classy, though I'm not sure if it was such a good idea not to fill the screen with the clips of the deceased. I found it rather hard to see what was happening, and I missed a few of the names. I liked Eddie Murphy's presentation of Jerry Lewis's honorary award, as well as the video (especially the clip of Mattie Stepanek), and I thought that Lewis was very gracious. He also looked like he was in good health. Anyway, he could have taken a moment to grouse about never being recognized for his work in the years when he was in so many movies, but instead he just seemed thankful.

One thing that I really liked this year was the way the acting awards were presented. It felt so much more meaningful to have five past winners stand up there and speak directly to the nominees than just showing a little clip of the movie. Each of the nominees really seemed to appreciate those words of praise; it was like they all got a prize. I especially got a kick out of Whoopi Goldberg's riff on nuns to Amy Adams (who I was hoping, but not really expecting, to win). I can't believe Alan Arkin flubbed Philip Seymour Hoffman's name, but it was a nice speech otherwise. All 20 of those mini-speeches were beautifully done, I thought. The Oscars didn't seem so concerned with speed this time around. There was time for reflection and big showy musical numbers, and nobody got played off the stage.

I was rooting for Meryl Streep for Best Actress, but Kate Winslet sure was tickled with her win. I kept forgetting she was up there for The Reader and not Revolutionary Road. It's been a big year for her. I liked her acceptance speech, especially the part about practicing this moment with a shampoo bottle in front of the mirror when she was eight, and thanking Peter Jackson for her first big break. Asking her dad to whistle so she knew where he was also was great. Of course, perhaps no other award of the night had generated more interest than Best Supporting Actor. I wasn't surprised in the least to see Heath Ledger receive the award (though it's slightly disturbing that the winning role has been a homicidal sociopath two years running). I thought both Kevin Kline and the members of Ledger's immediate family paid him nice tribute, and I thought it was appropriate that the cameras spent so much time panning through the audience for reactions to this particular award. It seemed like a cathartic moment for everyone there.

Of course, the king of the night was Slumdog Millionaire, and they must've cut to the ecstatically grinning Danny Boyle about a dozen times. I loved his speech, especially the bouncing up and down before announcing that he was receiving the award in the spirit of Tigger and his shout-out to the people of Mumbai. I wasn't all that interested in the music categories this year, but I thought A. R. Rahman seemed very touched. At first, he just seemed shell-shocked, but he recovered by the second award, and I liked what he had to say about the power of hope and choosing love over hate. After it won so many other awards, I would have been pretty surprised to see Slumdog not take top honors, so the Best Picture award wasn't a shocker, but it was a great moment with everybody, especially the kids, up on stage. What a night for them!

I took a stab at guessing in each of the categories, though I was completely clueless about a few of them. I managed to guess 14 correctly, which was slightly better than last year, when I had seen much more of the nominees. What does that tell you? Of course, I have Slumdog to thank for some of that. Now that it's been so richly rewarded, I'm even more determined to see if I think it lives up to the accolades. In any case, this Cinderella story provided an uplifting tone for the evening that was most welcome. And Hugh, if you're not too busy filming New Zealand (the musical! with hobbits!), I'd be more than glad to see you back next year. The Oscars seem to be expanding more and more beyond America every year, but if this night is any indication, that's not a bad thing.

It's Not For Kids, But The Heartbreak Kid Delivers Laughs

I'm not a big fan of raunchy comedies, but when my friend informed me of an opportunity to catch a free preview of The Heartbreak Kid this week, I wasn't about to pass up the chance, especially since free food was also involved. Besides, I always enjoy Ben Stiller, if not necessarily the movies in which he finds himself, and I haven't caught a movie at the cinema in more than a month, so my reviewing fingers were getting itchy. At least,, I thought, if the movie is awful, I can write a merciless review. It's been a while since I've had an excuse to be scathing. Alas for me; I'll have to get my Simon Cowell practice elsewhere. Maybe I've built up an unlikely immunity to R-rated shenanigans, but I found The Heartbreak Kid to be considerably less crude than I expected, especially given the previews warning that this would make The 40-Year-Old Virgin look like a kiddie flick. With warm and fuzzy Freaks and Geeks genius Judd Apatow at the helm, that film did have more heart, but thanks largely to Stiller's likable performance, I found this Farrelly Brothers comedy pretty enjoyable.

Reprising his unassuming schmuck shtick, Stiller stars as Eddie Cantrow, the 40-year-old owner of a sporting goods store in San Francisco. Much to the chagrin of his swinging bachelor father (an irascible Jerry Stiller), Eddie doesn't have much of a love life. Every time he gets close enough to a woman to consider marriage, he backs off; as the film opens, we see him abashedly seated at the otherwise kids-only "singles' table" at the wedding reception of his jilted former fiancee, who cruelly skewers him in a toast. It might all be a bit too much to take if it weren't for a chance meeting with Lila (Malin Akerman), a blonde beauty whom he attempts to rescue from a mugging. Their relationship progresses quickly after the initial spark, and only weeks later, faced with a sudden ultimatum from Lila and bowing to pressure from his dad and faux-happily married best friend Mac (Rob Corddry), Eddie takes the plunge into marriage. Though his cautious nature renders him very nervous about such a commitment, Lila and he have such an ideal connection, how could he possibly go wrong?

How, indeed... The bulk of the movie takes place in Mexico at a resort where Eddie and Lila decide to spend their honeymoon. Eddie generally plays the straight man to his increasingly psychotic wife, whose hijinks are comically uncomfortable. Turns out there's quite a lot Eddie didn't learn about her in a month and a half of dating. From her undisclosed biological condition and a startling revelation about her career to her sadistic streak and lack of common sense, Lila is just full of nasty surprises. But falling out of love with his wife on their honeymoon is only half the problem. Miranda (Michelle Monaghan), who he meets shortly after arriving at the resort, is the other half. Propelled by a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, Eddie finds himself dating the affable Miranda while a sulky, sunburned Lila stays behind in the hotel room, oblivious. How long can he keep the charade going? And when the truth comes out, does he have any real shot at happiness, since his experience with Lila managed to confirm everything he ever feared about marriage?

Though Eddie does take a wrong turn here and there, he does, for the most part, come across as a genuinely decent guy despite the fact that he is courting another woman on his own honeymoon. Miranda is spunky and engaging, while Lila makes a complete turn-around from girl next door to nutcase. The Stiller father-son dynamic is a nice touch; there's definitely a gruff affection there, even with the elder's constant stream of crass remarks. Meanwhile, cynical Mac is a hoot, particularly when associating with his shrewish wife, calls from whom are announced with a Wicked Witch of the West ring tone on his cell phone. Among the smaller but memorable side roles are Uncle Tito (Carlos Mencia), the jovial, perverted proprietor of the resort, and a pair of twins (Michael and Nicholas Kromka) who plague Eddie throughout the film.

When I saw Shallow Hal, also by the Farrelly Brothers, I was pleasantly surprised at how sweet it was and how it espoused the positive message of loving a person for who they are rather than what they look like. If there's a moral to this movie, it seems to be Don't get married. Or at least Don't rush into marriage. Make sure you really know each other before you take that plunge. That's a worthwhile consideration, and certainly I wouldn't advise marriage after six weeks in too many circumstances. But The Heartbreak Kid goes beyond that helpful pointer to undercut the institution itself, which hardly comes as a shock in an age of so many broken marriages, but there's something depressing about the fact that the only happily married couple we meet in the movie have been married for 40 years. Do the up-and-comers have a shot at blissful matrimony? Walking out of the theater, I wasn't so sure.

While the movie isn't a constant barrage of crudeness, there's profanity and coarse language aplenty, along with a couple of cringe-inducing bedroom scenes. The funniest moments for me were those that do not rely on gross-out humor: Eddie's juvenile dinner companions at the wedding quizzing him on why he's single, Lila singing at the top of her lungs along with the radio for hours in the car, Miranda's relatives laughing too uproariously at a comment Eddie makes. As long as you don't come to The Heartbreak Kid expecting an attack of the warm fuzzies, chances are you won't leave heartbroken over having wasted an evening on a worthless movie.

Robin Williams Brings Sage Serenity to Madcap Museum Comedy

When we were very young, my family went to a museum and were greeted inside by a massive Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was only a model, of course, but that didn't stop my brother from being so freaked out that he ran screaming from the building. I can only imagine what his reaction would have been had he found himself face to face with the suddenly animated T-Rex in Night at the Museum.

I first saw previews for this Ben Stiller blockbuster back in June, and while it wasn't at the top of my must-see list, I was still pretty intrigued. A-list cast, PG rating, havoc in a museum... What's not to love? But I didn't catch the movie until it played on my family's return flight from California last month. They weren't the most ideal viewing conditions, squinting into the small screen with a cloudy head brought on by motion sickness medication, but I focused as best I could and managed to get the gist of it pretty well.

Larry Daley is the typical Stiller schmuck. His career history is shoddy at best, to the point that his own son, Nick (Jake Cherry), who lives primarily with his mother, looks down on him, so when he manages to land a job as a night watchman at the Museum of Natural History, he keeps it despite the very strange occurrences that plague him his first night on the job, and of which the mysterious trio who hired him (Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs) gave him little warning.

The trouble? Everything in the museum comes to life at night. The T-Rex bounds down the hallways, wanting to play catch. Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) distributes sage advice and makes eyes at Sacajawea (Mizuo Peck). Ornery cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and ferocious Attila the Hun (Patrick Gallagher) provide numerous headaches, and an ill-tempered monkey launches himself upon Larry whenever he has the chance. How is this happening? Is there a way to make it stop? Is it worth risking life and limb for a measly ten bucks an hour?

It isn't long before we discover the esteemed elder statesmen have a trick or two up their sleeves, but it's long enough that Larry has formed an attachment to some of his unconventional charges and is concerned enough about their welfare to launch an offensive against the threesome's nefarious plans, which means several overloaded action sequences packed with special effects and more jokes involving the bodily functions of monkeys than should be allowed in one movie.

It's a feast for the eyes, albeit a very chaotic one, as characters from dioramas spanning the centuries clash or cooperate with one another. There's little to cause great offense, aside from the aforementioned potty humor, which one comes to expect from Stiller but which is toned down considerably here. He's a likable guy - much more likable, incidentally, than his sanctimonious son - and though the love interest angle takes a major backseat to the rest of the action, Rebecca (Carla Gugino), the apple of his eye, seems like a decent potential match.

The cast stand-outs, however, are the devious, hilarious trio played by Van Dyke, Rooney and Cobbs - of whom the former two are among my favorite actors, though I haven't seen much of either of them lately - and Williams in a surprisingly serene role. He's the voice of reason in all the madness that is the museum, without whom Larry (whom he insists on calling "Lawrence") would be hopelessly lost. And yet he's only emulating the real Teddy, so toward the end we see this strong mentorly figure steeped in vulnerability, and it's really quite touching.

Williams really is the factor that pushes this movie beyond pure silliness; that sobering touch improves the film a great deal. Night at the Museum is still a puffy piece of entertainment, and there's nothing wrong with that, but thanks to a little help from an esteemed former president, it's just a little bit more.