What’s So Hard About Being a Night Watchman at a Museum?

Plenty—especially when the statues come to life every night! In the movie Night at the Museum, the trouble really starts when Larry the night watchman realizes that the magic bringing the statues to life has been stolen. Now it’s up to him and his 10-year-old son, Nick, to get it back. How real is the movie’s history? NG KIDS went back in time to find out.

 

Attila the Honey?

How is Larry supposed to control the statues when he’s got a band of barbaric soldiers led by nasty Attila the Hun trying to tear his limbs off? “Our Attila is vicious until near the end, when he becomes Larry’s friend,” says director Shawn Levy. Did the real Attila the Hun have a sweet side? Probably not. Thought to be born around 400 A.D., this guy destroyed villages, terrorized people, and conquered parts of Europe. He even murdered his own brother!

 

Dino Hunt

Nick chases the bad guys by riding a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil named Rexy. But his dad just gets chased by the dinosaur as if he’d make a tasty treat. Some scientists think that T. rex fed only on already-dead animals. They say it didn’t have what predators need: big eyes to see well, strong arms to hold prey, and nimble legs to run fast. Most experts, though, say T. rex had good vision and strong jaws, and was fast enough to catch big dinos. That’s why they believe that T. rex was probably a predator and a scavenger.

 

Guidance Counselor

When villains steal a magical Egyptian tablet, Larry must track down the thieves before the statues turn to dust. His guide? A Native American named Sacagawea. Historians used to think that the Shoshone Indian girl was an expert tracker who guided explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark through part of their 1804–1806 expedition to the West. In reality, Sacagawea was more of a translator and peaceful presence between the explorers and potentially hostile tribes.

 

Fire Good!

In the film, Neandertals—early humans who lived in caves and other shelters in Europe and western Asia until about 30,000 years ago—discover fire and nearly burn down their exhibit. (Larry puts out the bonfire with a fire extinguisher.) Real Neandertals weren’t the ones who discovered fire. Experts say that early human ancestors, Homo erectus, used fire about 1.5 million years ago.

 

Confused Columbus

The bronze Christopher Columbus statue is clearly lost in the movie. “He spends a lot of time wandering around with his map,” Levy says. The real Columbus was also lost—he just didn’t realize it. In 1492 Columbus was looking for a faster route to Asia when he accidentally landed in North America. He was sure he’d arrived in Asia, but he had miscalculated the Earth’s size when making his map. He never acknowledged that his map could be wrong.

 

Fast Facts

• After Larry tries to get his keys back from Dexter the capuchin monkey, the monkey bites Larry’s nose! Good thing the actor playing Larry was wearing a flesh-colored noseguard to protect his schnoz.
• The Neandertals eat the foam that Larry sprays to put out the bonfire. But the foam was actually whipped cream.
• Rexy the dinosaur fossil was created on the computer. “But in the movie, Ben Stiller is running from me,” says director Shawn Levy. “I’m chasing him with my hands cupped like talons. The computer animators erased me and put Rexy in.”