History Film / NightAtTheMuseum

* DidNotDoTheResearch: A brief walk through the actual Museum of ''Natural'' History in New York would have revealed to the writers that only subjects from the ''natural'' world are covered, not historical events like the Lewis & Clark expedition or Christopher Columbus. Anything more advanced than, say, the Aztecs is right out.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome: Octavius and Jedediah so hard.
** [[spoiler:"You're going to ''live''!" (breaks hourglass with helmet)]]
** The bit in the first movie where the two battle the raging gale... of a decompressing tire.
*** This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]], as the camera keeps cutting back to a wider view of the area...and the only indication of this "battle" is the ''very'' soft hiss of air leaving the tire.
*** Done again in the sequel, when Octavius gives a speech about how he's going to storm the White House to get help for Jedediah and begins to epically race towards the building. Cue the camera cutting back so the audience can't even see or hear him.

* DropWhatYouAreDoing: AlCapone, rather tellingly, drops the Einstein bobblehead when [[spoiler:Kahmunrah opens the portal to the netherworld.]]

** When Octavius sees the squirrel, he makes the "dinosaur vision" speech from ''JurassicPark''.

* BattleRoyaleWithCheese

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Dr. [=McPhee=] really seems like one at times.

** This implies that Kamunrah was paraded around in France for a while before ending up in the Smithsonian (or the British Museum). Small inside joke, but like a lot of the movie, definitely [[GeniusBonus History Bonus]] for those who get it.

** Octavius and Jedediah at the end of the first movie, to ''IndependenceDay''.

** Early on in the movie Octavius orders a RainOfArrows to be thrown at Larry his order is ''Unleash Hell!'' in reference to ''{{Film/Gladiator}}''.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: How is the tablet owner's name spelled? Ahkmenrah, Akhmenrah, or Akmenrah?

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: YourMileageMayVary, but Dr. [=McPhee=] really seems like one at times.

* TakeThat: At one point Kahmunrah mocks [[SesameStreet Oscar the Grouch]] and [[StarWars Darth Vader]].

* HoYay: A lot of characters, but most noticeable with Jedediah and Octavius - lampshaded with a ShoutOut to ''BrokebackMountain''.
-->'''Jedediah''': "I ain't quittin' you!"

* {{Fanservice}}: Amelia Earhart's really, ''really'' tight pants.
** And Ahkmenrah's BareYourMidriff costume for the girls.

* FridgeHorror: In the sequel all paintings and presumably pictures are brought to life as well as the exhibits. Fine and dandy if you're kissing a girl or sailing in stormy seas, but what about the Holocaust exhibits?

** {{Justified}}, since [[AWizardDidIt it's powered by the magic tablet.]]

* PaintedOnPants: Amelia Earhart's pants.

Released on December 22, 2006, by 20th Century Fox, the film was written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon of Comedy Central's ''[[RenoNineOneOne Reno 911!]]'' and MTV's ''TheState'', and directed by Shawn Levy. [[AllStarCast The cast includes]] BenStiller, RobinWilliams, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Paul Rudd, Ricky Gervais, CarlaGugino, Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson. A new novelization of the screenplay by Leslie Goldman was published as a film tie-in.

* BabyGotBack: Amelia Earhart. She fills out the PaintedOnPants quite nicely. The pants pretty much guarantee some staring.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Professor [=McPhee=] really is just a {{Jerkass}}, but you can't help but feel for him in the second - and he does seem to be warming up to Larry by the end.

* PlayingAgainstType: First of all. Dick van Dyke is one of the [[BigBad Big Bads]] in the first movie. Secondly, Ben Stiller's playing the main role in a couple of children's films here? Yeah..

* PowerTrio: Cecil (Ego), Reginald (Superego), and Gus (Id).

* TheVoiceless: Larry confused Sacajewia as this since she was behind plexiglass and couldn't be heard.

** Brandon gets turned on the steotypical Neapolitan fellow, braggart, slang-spewing and with a deep-set veneration for Maradona.

* DistractedFromDeath: A non-lethal variant. Teddy Rosevelt is about to go back to being wax, and wants to give him one last bit of advice before he does so. However, unfortunately, just as he is about to give said advice, Larry has to take a phone call, and looks up to find that Teddy has already turned to wax by the time he finishes talking.

* HandsGoDown: Kah Mun Rah after being asked about his tunic thinking it's a dress by Al Capone and Ivan the Terrible.
-->'''Kah Mun Rah''': Are there any other questions?\\

'''Kah Mun Rah''': Any questions not about the dress... tunic.\\

* MayflyDecemberRomance: Amelia Earheart and Larry. There's obvious sexual tension between them, but Larry deliberately chooses to spur her avances knowing how, upon taking the Tablet away, Amelia will return to her lifeless, mannequin status, dooming their romance to live and die in a single night, and vowing to spare the horrible truth to Amelia. Amelia [[spoiler: has different ideas though: she already knows, she just doesn't care that much]].

* NoEndorHolocaust: The destruction or disappearance of some of the most valuable artefacts in human history and a large break-in into a government facility. All signs clearly point to Larry being the one responsible. [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy Are you telling me no-one's investigating this?]] When you realise his sole alibi is that he was protecting the world from an undead army and allied with waxworks brought to life by ''magic''. Yeah... Larry's likely going to be in prison for a ''long'' time.

* PaintedOnPants: Amelia Earhardt's pants.

* SlapSlapKiss: Spoofed

* WritersCannotDoMath: A bobblehead AlbertEinstein, of all people, tells Larry that the "exact" value of π is 3.1495265.

** To be fair, it makes sense that the exhibits would all be [[{{Flanderization}} flanderizations]] of the actual figures as that's largely what is taught with basic history. Even in the movie, even though Napoleon is shorter than most of the rest of the cast, he's not played by a midget or anyone extraordinarily short, and they closest they come to actually calling him short is Larry commenting that he makes a lot of analogies involving him being bigger than other people.

** {{Justified}}, since it's powered by the magic tablet.

* SlapSlapKiss: Spoofed.

* TedBaxter: Custer at first.
* ThisIsSparta:
** "I! Have come back! To life!"
** "Don't! Cross! This! Line! With your hand!"