Night at the Museum (2-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

I’m already on record as liking Night at the Museum better than your average kid’s film, the B- I gave the movie in the theaters was far better than I would have expected. Now that the DVD is out it’s time to take a look at how well the home version comes off.

Disc One doesn’t feature much besides the movie and the director’s commentaries. The second disc has much more to talk about, and will influence your decision on whether to purchase the special edition, so we’ll just move on.

The special features disc is broken up into four sections with the first one called “Loading Dock.” It features around 17 extra minutes of extended and deleted scenes, definitely worth watching. “Attila’s Therapy” is particularly funny and encapsulates Ben Stiller’s oddball yet friendly and approachable humor.

“The Hall of Biodiversity” has feature called “Brining the Museum to Life” which is completely worthless but a little funny. I think it’s geared to five year olds because they say things like “The T-Rex is completely animated.” No kidding? You guys didn’t create a real dinosaur? “Directing 101” treads some of the same ground, basically the director acting like a dino off camera for Ben to react to. Shawn Levy seems like a fun guy to work for, but I don’t know how much value is in this feature. A blooper reel is blooper-riffic. “Monkey Business” is all about the monkeys involved in there movie. The Comedy Central feature, the last of “The Hall of Biodiversity” is only a giant ad to watch the movie. If you’re already into the special features you shouldn’t need to be sold.

The third section of the special features disc is “The Security Office.” The first part is called “Building the Museum” and it’s pretty cool. They built the whole thing, which I wouldn’t have guessed. The level of detail involved is impressive, things that were on screen five minutes were researched from the New York museum and rebuilt in totality. It’s only eight minutes, but it’s my favorite feature. “Costumes of Night at the Museum” is less impressive to but it shows the hybrid between fun and history. The last feature of the third section is “A Storyboard Comparison." Here Director Shawn Levy goes through the pitched idea, the drawings, alongside how the actual film version played out.

The final portion of the second disc is called “Stage Coach.” It’s got a “Making of Night at the Museum” feature which is more in depth than any of the prior takes at exposition but doesn’t hold much in the way of surprise. Shawn Levy gives an extensive interview to some film school students which would be helpful to any aspiring filmmaker out there. I don’t know that you could capture Shawn’s energy, degree from Yale, or USC post graduate work in DVD form but you could probably gauge what level of enthusiasm you’d need for a career in the business.

Final verdict: definitely a rental; and the single disc movie itself would be worth a purchase. The special edition would only be applicable to audiences a little older with an interest in how things work behind the scenes.