- Throw the bone
- Lock up the lions or they'll eat you
- Be sure to check your belt. The monkey probably stole your keys
That's the guards' perspective on their nightly interactions with the exhibits. Let's get the exhibits' take, shall we?
"Every night, year after year, one of you guards locks us up in these boxes," says one of the men in the Wild West diorama. Jed adds that someone needs to "pay." The Wild West miniatures actually arrange for Larry to get hit with a train, which would kill someone of their size but merely bounces off of Larry's nose with nothing more than a painful tap. It doesn't even bruise. Dexter steals Larry's keys and even urinates on the man (explain that smell to your kid/ex-wife/both). Meanwhile, the rest of the museum devolves into sheer insanity and Teddy Roosevelt is the only one willing to help Larry out of his pickle, if only just once. And poor Ahkmenrah has to be shut up in his sarcophagus all night and all he wants is out, and some fresh air. His jackals are leery of people passing through their ruler's domain, perhaps finding their motives suspect, but decide to let them leave on their own.
Now, the three old night guards took the extreme measures they did, which Larry adapts to with considerable ingenuity before it dawns on him to help the exhibits cooperate on their own so they could be free, to keep everything inside the museum. As Teddy states and a caveman proves, anything caught outside the bounds of the museum at sunrise is reduced to dust. This proves that the magical act of having life restored to you in the form of a ba in a waxwork, taxidermy, etc. has divinely-set rules (Magic A is Magic A) and if they are broken, you are punished by never being allowed to return, or possibly being erased from existence (the Egyptians believed, and sometimes acted on the belief, that destroying someone's image would destroy the person's soul). That doesn't mean the exhibits have to like it, though, nor do they need it explained to them. Teddy is the one to explain this rule to Larry, and based on the "Oh, shit" look on the caveman's face before he disintegrates, he knows what's coming for him and that his number's up. Amelia, at the end of BOTS, states point blank, "I know what's coming, Mr. Daley." She knows she either turns to dust or gets frozen forever because of the tablet's relocation back to where it belongs, at Ahkmenrah's side. She probably guesses she and her plane are going to turn to dust, because she adds, "I've got a feeling it's going to be a beautiful sunrise." The exhibits know the consequences of getting locked out at sunrise. They don't need to be locked up.
As Larry adjusts to his new role as guardian of the exhibits ("a venerable position in this institution"), the exhibits wreak havoc, which results in him getting fired and rehired twice in quick succession. However, because he knows he can't stop Cecil from stealing the tablet and framing him for it on his own, he decides to break new ground. He first breaks Ahkmenrah out of his sarcophagus, which he is so eager to be free of that he nearly causes property damage, then frees Sacajawea from her glass prison to help track Cecil down, pulls a Dr. Phil on Attila to get him to at least stop trying to kill him, and finally, with some help from the gum-gum-obsessed Moai, gives a rousing speech and convinces the exhibits to stop fighting each other and start fighting Cecil, because "without the tablet, all of this, this whole coming-to-life-at-night thing, it all goes away." And it works. Once the exhibits realize how well they work as teams under the direction of their night guard, and that they can accomplish great things because of it, they don't fight each other any more. In fact, they throw a wild party with soccer, dancing, music, crazy driving (it had to be for the miniatures to get their RC car through a moving crowd of all sorts of people), a T-Rex, and whatever else a wild party at a magical museum comes with.
Larry came off as less nonviolent than the other three guards from the start. He simply did what he was told and tried to work with what he had to the best of his ability. He first adapted to the challenges some of the exhibits, such as the Mayans, might pose, and the huge speech for all of the exhibits was not his first diplomatic effort with the exhibits. In fact, it is to settle the dispute between the cowboys and the Romans which seems to have gone on since they woke up. He lets them roam freely about the Diorama Room and tells them that they can stay out there if they can cooperate. Of course, this fails, but it's not like everyone's first efforts in some area or another were rousing successes. But he already knows going in how to negotiate a peace: you figure out what the parties want, and you give it to them on a certain set of terms. This is probably how he's on good terms with his ex-wife. In all likelihood, perhaps because of his experience with the divorce and his generally people-pleasing nature, he is better suited to managing exhibits who are sick of being locked up than the three old retainers who kept them such in the first place.
Though night guards are the first humans to have contact with the exhibits on a regular basis, there is another element to consider, as well: museum daytime staff. This includes docents and the curator, Dr. McPhee. The only docent we meet is Rebecca, who is a grad student as well and working on a dissertation for her PhD. In all likelihood, she has only been working at the Museum of Natural History for a very short time, a few months to a few years, and clearly has no knowledge of what goes on after closing time. She is not only skeptical when Larry tells her, she accuses him of making fun of her. She sees the proof for herself on her way in for the next morning's shift, watching the end result of Ahkmenrah's spell compelling the exhibits to return to the museum passing right in front of the taxi she's riding in. The rest is, as they say, history (pun intended).
Then there is the curator. Dr. McPhee does not ask how the museum ends up being a disaster after his third night on the job. He does not ask Larry to explain anything odd which happens to occur and in fact tells him flat out not to explain anything. He expects night guards to manage the chaos, and apparently his standard for this is the actions of the three retiring night guards, because Larry doesn't measure up. However, Larry, through his efforts to get the exhibits to work together to recover the tablet, results in not only a media firestorm, but also tremendously boosted attendance numbers, which results in McPhee deciding to rehire Larry and keep him on for good. McPhee's actions indicate that he is considerably more used to what goes on behind closed doors after hours, either that he was in on the secret the entire time or that he knew something supernatural was up but decided not to pursue the matter to maintain plausible deniability. In any event, he expects the night guard(s) to run a tight ship while he's not around, but when Larry's "unorthodox manner" gets better results than what he's used to, he's willing to accept it.
McPhee is also upset with Larry for basically ditching the museum between the first and second movies to pursue his dream of selling glow-in-the-dark flashlights and gigantic dog bones. We have no idea what the night guard situation is like during this gap, but Larry does visit occasionally. Very occasionally. Even with Larry's effective absence, McPhee is willing to work with him to help the exhibits stick around (though this is unsuccessful and most likely a case of too little, too late). When Larry decides to stay with the museum, McPhee begrudgingly admits that Larry is the best night guard he's had (which implies trouble with not only the three old retainers, but however many other night guards served between Larry's resignation and his decision to return to the post).
And the exhibits are also upset with Larry at the beginning of BOTS, feeling betrayed at his abandoning them just when things were getting good diplomatically speaking, and they were starting to bond with Larry and he with them. Attila is snippy, Jed essentially calls him high and mighty, and Dexter is outright hostile, slamming his fingers into a crate lid twice. They value their relationship with the night guard, and they are collectively upset that Larry seems not to. Only Teddy Roosevelt is civil toward Larry and helps redirect the exhibits' attention away from being pissed at Larry and upset at leaving for cold storage away from the tablet. To be fair, he is slightly disrespectful to Ahkmenrah, choosing to engage someone else in conversation almost immediately after being addressed by the pharaoh. On the other side of the coin, Larry takes it upon himself to save the exhibits once Dexter has stolen the tablet and awakened Ahkmenrah's older brother Kahmunrah.
There is a delicate balance at work between exhibits, the night staff, and the daytime staff at the Museum of Natural History. One party just wants to be recognized, another either doesn't know they exist or would rather pretend to not know they exist, and it's up to the third to mediate between them.
Another news nugget: Ricky Gervais is back, which means more McPhee! Who doesn't love that stuttering, unable-to-complete-a-sentence curator who does appreciate Larry's work deep down and possibly knows the whole secret anyway? In any event, it's the guy from the hit comedy The Office, so we're bound to expect some good stuff from him.
Next on "For the Love of Night at the Museum": the jackal guards--whose spirits are in those guys (another way of saying, who do they represent)?
Though night guards are the first humans to have contact with the exhibits on a regular basis, there is another element to consider, as well: museum daytime staff. This includes docents and the curator, Dr. McPhee. The only docent we meet is Rebecca, who is a grad student as well and working on a dissertation for her PhD. In all likelihood, she has only been working at the Museum of Natural History for a very short time, a few months to a few years, and clearly has no knowledge of what goes on after closing time. She is not only skeptical when Larry tells her, she accuses him of making fun of her. She sees the proof for herself on her way in for the next morning's shift, watching the end result of Ahkmenrah's spell compelling the exhibits to return to the museum passing right in front of the taxi she's riding in. The rest is, as they say, history (pun intended).
Then there is the curator. Dr. McPhee does not ask how the museum ends up being a disaster after his third night on the job. He does not ask Larry to explain anything odd which happens to occur and in fact tells him flat out not to explain anything. He expects night guards to manage the chaos, and apparently his standard for this is the actions of the three retiring night guards, because Larry doesn't measure up. However, Larry, through his efforts to get the exhibits to work together to recover the tablet, results in not only a media firestorm, but also tremendously boosted attendance numbers, which results in McPhee deciding to rehire Larry and keep him on for good. McPhee's actions indicate that he is considerably more used to what goes on behind closed doors after hours, either that he was in on the secret the entire time or that he knew something supernatural was up but decided not to pursue the matter to maintain plausible deniability. In any event, he expects the night guard(s) to run a tight ship while he's not around, but when Larry's "unorthodox manner" gets better results than what he's used to, he's willing to accept it.
McPhee is also upset with Larry for basically ditching the museum between the first and second movies to pursue his dream of selling glow-in-the-dark flashlights and gigantic dog bones. We have no idea what the night guard situation is like during this gap, but Larry does visit occasionally. Very occasionally. Even with Larry's effective absence, McPhee is willing to work with him to help the exhibits stick around (though this is unsuccessful and most likely a case of too little, too late). When Larry decides to stay with the museum, McPhee begrudgingly admits that Larry is the best night guard he's had (which implies trouble with not only the three old retainers, but however many other night guards served between Larry's resignation and his decision to return to the post).
And the exhibits are also upset with Larry at the beginning of BOTS, feeling betrayed at his abandoning them just when things were getting good diplomatically speaking, and they were starting to bond with Larry and he with them. Attila is snippy, Jed essentially calls him high and mighty, and Dexter is outright hostile, slamming his fingers into a crate lid twice. They value their relationship with the night guard, and they are collectively upset that Larry seems not to. Only Teddy Roosevelt is civil toward Larry and helps redirect the exhibits' attention away from being pissed at Larry and upset at leaving for cold storage away from the tablet. To be fair, he is slightly disrespectful to Ahkmenrah, choosing to engage someone else in conversation almost immediately after being addressed by the pharaoh. On the other side of the coin, Larry takes it upon himself to save the exhibits once Dexter has stolen the tablet and awakened Ahkmenrah's older brother Kahmunrah.
There is a delicate balance at work between exhibits, the night staff, and the daytime staff at the Museum of Natural History. One party just wants to be recognized, another either doesn't know they exist or would rather pretend to not know they exist, and it's up to the third to mediate between them.
Another news nugget: Ricky Gervais is back, which means more McPhee! Who doesn't love that stuttering, unable-to-complete-a-sentence curator who does appreciate Larry's work deep down and possibly knows the whole secret anyway? In any event, it's the guy from the hit comedy The Office, so we're bound to expect some good stuff from him.
Next on "For the Love of Night at the Museum": the jackal guards--whose spirits are in those guys (another way of saying, who do they represent)?
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