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Night at the Museum poster

Movies that feel likeNight at the Museum (2006)

Chaos reigns at the natural history museum when night watchman Larry Daley accidentally stirs up an ancient curse, awakening Attila the Hun, an army of gladiators, a Tyrannosaurus rex and other exhibits.

If you loved Night at the Museum, the closest films we have are Nanny McPhee (2005), Mary Poppins Returns (2018) and Matilda (1996). All three share Night at the Museum's dreamlike and warm feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Addams Family Values (1993).

🍅 43% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Shawn Levydreamlikewarmcozywittyplayful
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

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If Night at the Museum hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) · Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)

Nanny McPhee poster
Nanny McPhee
2005 · dir. Kirk Jones
🍅 74%★ 6.6fantasy · comedy · family

Both land dream logic and warmth at once

The difference: Reviewed even better

Widower Cedric Brown hires Nanny McPhee to care for his seven rambunctious children, who have chased away all previous nannies. Taunted by Simon and his siblings, Nanny McPhee uses mystical powers to instill discipline. And when the children's great-aunt and benefactor, Lady Adelaide Stitch, threatens to separate the kids, the family pulls together under the guidance of Nanny McPhee.

Mary Poppins Returns poster
Mary Poppins Returns
2018 · dir. Rob Marshall
🍅 80%★ 6.6fantasy · family · comedyDisney+

Everyday London cracked open by matter-of-fact magic

The difference: Full musical numbers — stately, nostalgic pacing

Mary Poppins returns to the Banks family and helps them evade grave dangers by taking them on magical, musical adventures.

Matilda poster
Matilda
1996 · dir. Danny DeVito
🍅 89%★ 7comedy · family · fantasy

The same mix in both: comfort, then wit

Matilda Wormwood is an brilliant and intelligent little girl. Unfortunately, her parents, Harry and Zinnia, fail to see that fact. As time passes, she finally starts school and has a kind teacher, loyal friends, and a terrifying, sadistic headmistress. As she becomes fed up with the constant cruelty, she discovers she has a special gift that she just might be able to use to outwit the unruly adults around her.

Addams Family Values poster
Addams Family Values
1993 · dir. Barry Sonnenfeld
🍅 76%★ 6.9comedy · family · fantasyParamount+

A gleefully weird household running on comic chaos

The difference: Macabre wit for the family — sharper, stranger edges

Siblings Wednesday and Pugsley Addams will stop at nothing to get rid of Pubert, the new baby boy adored by parents Gomez and Morticia. Things go from bad to worse when the new "black widow" nanny, Debbie Jellinsky, launches her plan to add Fester to her collection of dead husbands.

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Hocus Pocus
1993 · dir. Kenny Ortega
🍅 42%★ 6.9fantasy · comedy · familyDisney+

Old magic accidentally unleashed on the modern world

The difference: Halloween camp and witch villains — scarier for small kids

After 300 years of slumber, three sister witches are accidentally resurrected in Salem on Halloween night, and it is up to three kids and their newfound feline friend to put an end to the witches' reign of terror once and for all.

Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra poster
Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra
2002 · dir. Alain Chabat
🍅 88%★ 6.7family · fantasy · comedyPrime Video

History played as a giant, silly playground

The difference: French comic-book zaniness — gags outrank wonder

History's favorite Gauls assist Queen Cleopatra when she wagers that the Egyptian people can build a palace for Julius Caesar in just three months.

Cheaper by the Dozen poster
Cheaper by the Dozen
2003 · dir. Shawn Levy
🍅 25%★ 5.9comedy · familyHuluDisney+

One overwhelmed guy versus wall-to-wall household chaos

The difference: Domestic sitcom antics — no magic in the building

The Baker brood moves to Chicago after patriarch Tom gets a job coaching football at Northwestern University, forcing his writer wife, Kate, and the couple's 12 children to make a major adjustment. The transition works well until work demands pull the parents away from home, leaving the kids bored -- and increasingly mischievous.

Evan Almighty poster
Evan Almighty
2007 · dir. Tom Shadyac
🍅 24%★ 5.5fantasy · comedy · family

An ordinary man saddled with a supernatural job he never asked for

The difference: One ark-sized gag — preachier and less playful

God contacts Junior Congressman Evan Baxter and tells him to build an ark in preparation for a great flood.

The Flintstones poster
The Flintstones
1994 · dir. Brian Levant
🍅 23%★ 5.1fantasy · comedy · familyNetflix

Prehistory rendered in big goofy live-action set pieces

The difference: Creaky 90s sitcom bones — the joke wears thin fast

Modern Stone Age family the Flintstones hit the big screen in this live-action version of the classic cartoon. Fred helps Barney adopt a child. Barney sees an opportunity to repay him when Slate Mining tests its employees to find a new executive. But no good deed goes unpunished.

Casper poster
Casper
1995 · dir. Brad Silberling
🍅 59%★ 6.2fantasy · comedy · familyHuluPeacock

A haunted building where the spooks turn out to be friendly

The difference: Melancholy under the ghost gags — smaller and sadder

Casper is a kind young ghost who peacefully haunts a mansion in Maine. When specialist James Harvey arrives to communicate with Casper and his fellow spirits, he brings along his teenage daughter, Kat. Casper quickly falls in love with Kat, but their budding relationship is complicated not only by his transparent state, but also by his troublemaking apparition uncles and their mischievous antics.

Doctor Dolittle poster
Doctor Dolittle
1998 · dir. Betty Thomas
🍅 44%★ 5.4comedy · family · fantasyDisney+

A regular guy suddenly fielding demands from impossible creatures

The difference: One talking-animal joke stretched to feature length

A successful physician and devoted family man, John Dolittle seems to have the world by the tail, until a long suppressed talent he possessed as a child, the ability to communicate with animals is suddenly reawakened with a vengeance! Now every creature within squawking distance wants the good doctor's advice, unleashing an outrageous chain of events that turns his world upside down!

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CJ7
2008 · dir. Stephen Chow
🍅 49%★ 6.4comedy · drama · family

A wondrous creature upending a struggling family's world

The difference: Stephen Chow's scrappy sentiment — modest effects

A poor construction worker, who struggles to keep his son in private school, mistakes an orb he finds in a junkjard for a toy which proves to be much, much more once the young boy starts to play with it.

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The best-reviewed films that share Night at the Museum’s defining feeling.