Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Was hoping this would be better than most horror movies, but no, just the same old tired recipe of brainless scientifc folks growing things in a testube in an uncontrolled manner with their backs turned, a truly desperate need for 100 watt light bulbs, unbelievably bad script, bad monsters, excessive screetchy violin music and pathetic / annoying characters! Surely there must be a Hollywood director or producer somewhere who can come up with something better than this drivel. As a sci-fi, forget it. 2 hours of my life I'll never get back!

Took an absolutely amazing, well written thriller novel, and turned it into a gory monster movie. The best characters were left out, key plot points were abandoned, and characters died when they couldn't have due to the following books. Even if I hadn't read the book I still would've hated this more than the horrid adaption of Timeline by Michael Crichton.

Researcher John Whitney sends a crate back to Chicago's Natural History Museum from Brazil, but he himself is missing. The crate seems to be empty except for some leaves. Margo Green (Penelope Ann Miller) is a researcher who takes an interest in the crate. Lt. Vincent D'Agosta (Tom Sizemore) who's investigating the presumed drug smuggling John Whitney's murder also investigates a Museum security guard's gruesome murder. Little did they know that the crate has brought back something more than leaves.This is a well made monster movie. Director Peter Hyams is well verse in the art of horror. He's able to squeeze every bit of scary moment out of this old fashion horror. He makes a great sequence of nothing more than sounds and shadows scaring the bejesus out of Penelope Ann Miller. The monster is best as unseen growls and shadows for the first half of the movie.It's a creature from the great Stan Winston. It's a transitional time when they are trying to marry the mechanical physical model with some animation. Coming after Jurassic Park, it fails only by comparison. Nevertheless, there are some great monster work here.

A researcher at Chicago's Natural History Museum returns from South America with crates containing his findings. When they arrive at the museum without the owner there appears to be very little inside. Police discover gruesome remains on the cargo ship that brought the crates, and then another murder in the museum itself. Investigating the murder is Lt. D'Agosta who enlists the help of Dr. Green at the museum. Unknown to both though, there is a large creature roaming the museum, which is preparing itself for a benefit reception......The relic hasn't aged very well since the last time I saw this back in 1998, and the script doesn't hold up either. The film is basically Night At The Museum for adults, and about as entertaining.It's by the numbers stuff, museum gets dark, people get picked off every now and again, the monster isn't seen until the very end, and only two teachers from Kindergarten Cop and Tom Sizemore can save the day.If this were made today, it'd be released straight to Blu Ray and vanish without a trace.The years have been really unkind to this film.Not as good as I remember.