Night at the Hero Museum (Hero Style 1)

Plot[]

Fred is a Brooklyn divorcee whose unstable work history causes his ex-wife Moira to believe that he is a bad example to their ten-year-old son Will, and Fred fears that Will respects his future stepfather Robbie more than him. Dr. Marbles, an elderly security guard about to retire from the American Museum of Natural History, hires Fred despite his unpromising résumé. The museum, which is rapidly losing money, plans to replace Dr. Marbles and his two colleagues Mo and Dennis with one guard. Dr. Marbles gives Fred an instruction booklet on how to handle museum security, advises Fred to leave some lights on that night, and warns him not to let anything "in... or out".

Once night falls, Fred discovers that the exhibits come to life, including a playful purple dinosaur nicknamed Barney who behaves like a dog; a mischievous yellow dinosaur named BJ, along with various other African animals; rival miniaturecivilizations portraying the Old West, Ancient Rome, and Ancient Maya; an raccoon named Wince obsessed with chewing gum; and wax models of various historical figures, including the violent Mandrake who desires to tear the limbs off his victims; four pyromaniacal Hit Entertainment Characters; Queen Tara, who is locked in a glass case unlike the other exhibits; and Dewitt, who rescues Fred from the miniature leaders Ronin and Nod, from the Old West and Roman dioramas respectively. Dewitt explains that since an ancient Egyptian artifact — the Golden Tablet of Pharaoh Stephen — came to the museum in 1952, for the last 54 years all of the exhibits have come to life each night. If the exhibits are outside the museum when the sun rises, they turn to dust. Dewitt helps Fred by restoring order, but only for one night. In the process, Fred finds out that Dewitt has a crush on Queen Tara, but without the confidence to go talk to her through her glass display.

Fred quits the next morning, not wanting such a dangerous job that could threaten his life. However, when Will comes to see him at work and expresses interest in his job, Fred changes his mind and decides to remain as a night guard. When Fred tells Dr. Marbles that BJ tore up his instructions, Dr. Marbles advises him to brush up on his history, which he does using the local library and Internet. He also learns more from museum docent Kristen, who is writing a dissertation on Queen Tara, but does not feel she knows enough about her subject.

The next night, Fred uses what he has learned to better control the exhibits, but four Hit Entertainment Characters set fire to their display, and BJ once again escapes with Fred's keys. While Fred is dealing with the fire, BJ unlocks and opens a window. As Fred deals with BJ and the warring miniatures, one of the Hit Entertainment Characters notices a trash fire through the open window and leaps out. Fred, frustrated with everything going wrong, gives the keys to Dewitt and once again decides to quit, but as he walks out a metal statue of Bob the Builder gestures to the open window. Fred sees the Hit Entertainment characters and runs outside to rescue him, but the sun rises and it disintegrates into a pile of dust. The next morning, museum director Will's Dad almost fires Fred after what had happened to the Hit Entertainment exhibit until Fred begs him to reconsider. Will’s Dad gives him one more chance, saying if anything else funny happens, it's over. Fred then offers Kristen a meeting with Queen Tara, but she believes that he is mocking her and the museum.

Fred brings Will to the museum to show him the exhibits, but none of them come to life. They find Dr. Marbles, Mo, and Dennis stealing the tablet and other valuable objects. Like the heroes, the guards receive enhanced vitality from the artifact and plan to frame Fred for the thefts. They have also disabled the tablet to stop the places from interfering. With his brother's encouragement, Will reactivates the tablet and runs away with the artifact. After a chase throughout the museum, Dr. Marbles locks up Will and his brother in the Egyptian room and steals back the tablet. After being attacked by the massive jackal statues, Fred releases Stephen's mummy from his sarcophagus. The pharaoh speaks English from many years as an exhibit at Cambridge and helps Fred and Will escape. The three find the other exhibits fighting with each other. After helping Mandrake deal with past trauma causing him to act out, Fred convinces the exhibits to work together to catch the guards and recover the tablet.

The Lyrick Studios characters, The Hit Entertainment characters, and Bob the Builder capture Mo and Dennis without much difficulty, but Dr. Marbles escapes by stagecoach. He almost runs Queen Tara over, but instead runs Dewitt over and slices him in half when he shoves her out of the way. Fred, Will, Stephen, Ronin, Nod, Barney, and Mandrake pursue Dr. Marbles to Central Park, where they stop him and regain the tablet. Mo and Dennis crash their remote-controlled cyber-dodo named Digit at one point, but return heroically. Dewitt is fixed by Queen Tara with warm wax. Kristen sees the exhibits return to the museum before sunrise and realizes that Fred was telling the truth; he introduces her to Queen Tara. Will’s Dad initially fires Fred again after seeing news reports of the strange events around the museum — such as cave paintings in the museum's subway station, purple dinosaur footprints in Central Park, and cavemen sightings. However, upon seeing how much these events raised museum attendance, he restores Fred to his night-guard position. Fred, Will, and the exhibits celebrate the following night.

During the credits, Dr. Marbles, Mo and Dennis are now working as janitors at the museum.