A viewer can watch him and neither love or hate him. The film’s success came to rest on two things, the supporting cast and the visual effects.

What makes a good family film? In the past decade it seems that animated features dominated this genre.

Seriously, name the last good live action family film you saw in theaters. And stop pretending like you don’t see them cause all of us like to see a good kids’ movie.

Every year around the holidays, my family tries to agree on a film that we can all enjoy watching together. We’ve been seeing kids’ movies ever since I was a child long, long ago.

Yes, we all are a little old to be trying to agree on the best G-rated film, especially for a family in which all members are old enough to have driver’s licenses, but this is tradition. Can’t break that right?

It’s also a tradition that we manage to choose a movie that is so awful that some will end up crying over how atrocious it was. This year we managed to break tradition.

In “A Night at the Museum,” based upon the children’s book of the same name, Ben Stiller yet again assumes a role in which he won’t be uttering foul words, witnessing gross acts or spend any quality time with himself. His portrayal of a divorced father who has problems “settling down” is par at best.

The story follows as this dad is forced to take a job working night security at the Museum of Natural History in New York. Little does he know that the museum comes alive at night and he has to bring order to the chaos.

A viewer can watch Stiller and neither love or hate him during the film — he just exists. The film’s success came to rest on two things — the supporting cast and the visual effects.

There were so many great actors in the supporting cast that naming them all is difficult. Playing the villains in the tale are such greats as Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs. Watching Mickey Rooney kick Ben Stiller’s ass made the ticket price worth it.

Robin Williams does something in this film he hasn’t done in years — do a really, really, seriously great job. He does the best at reviving a great historical person, Teddy Roosevelt. He’s not doing any voices. He’s doesn’t have multiply personalities. He gets to focus all his skill on one character and it shows.

The visual effects weren’t overpowering yet they weren’t subtle. The film didn’t depend on them.

The best scenes of the film are those in which the audience gets to see Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan as a cowboy and a Roman. This pair gets, in my opinion, the funniest scene in the film. Ever wonder what would happen if GI Joe tried to let the air out of a car’s tires? The scene is a laugh attack on all members of the audience.

All in all the film contains many laughs and the time passes rather quick, but the story carries itself fine. It’s not a cinematic master piece, but aside from “The Dark Crystal” and “Labyrinth,” what kids’ movies are?

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