Question: What does Columbus say in another language throughout the film? I know when they're taking down the night guards he says "You are finished", but what else does he say?
Question: If Cecil, Gus and Reginald knew that the tablet brought the exhibits to life, and could extend their own, then why didn't they steal it from the moment it was brought to the museum in 1952? Why wait after so many years?
Answer: The tablet did not extend life (the guys grew old there, remember), but gave more energy to those affected. As for stealing it earlier, that would not have been possible as they would have been the prime suspects. The best way to do the crime was to pin the rap on somebody new, like Larry, after they had retired.
That's a seriously long waiting game.
Question: How did Larry find out that "Dakota" was the word for making the horses stop the carriage?
Question: When the woman at the employment agency tells Larry about the job, she says that everyone who has been sent to the museum has been turned down for the position. If the old night guards just wanted to steal things from the museum, couldn't they have just given anyone the job and the instruction book?
Answer: They were looking for someone who would be willing to KEEP the job after finding out that everything comes to life at night. All the other applicants freaked out and quit after the first night, just as Larry would have if not for his son.
Question: After Larry says to Nicky "wanna slice it up?" it cuts to a shot in the park. In the background there is a sign that we only see the bottom half of. The part of the sign that we can see says "house". What does the top half say? I know it doesn't show it in the movie but I have a feeling this is a NY landmark and it's been eating at me for days.
Question: Was "Dakota" really the secret word the money carrying horses trained to stop for?
Answer: In the movie, yes, it was. Historically, nobody knows as different teams of horses were most likely trained to respond to different code words. The code word "Dakota" was just an example the movie used to illustrate that code words were used for stagecoach deliveries, especially when the coaches were transporting high-value cargo.
Answer: It's unlikely that code words were used like that in real life; horses don't understand "words", just sounds. Expecting a team of panicking runaway horses to respond to a separate code word that means stop, when their regular voice command for stop ("ho" or "whoa") is ineffective just doesn't make sense.
They weren't panicked runaway horses, as stated in the film, they were money carriers trained not to stop no matter what. Regular voice commands weren't effective because they weren't trained to obey them. The code word was the voice command. And horses can, in fact, be trained to respond to specific words, so it is entirely likely.
Question: Why isn't Owen Wilson credited anywhere in the film? He had a rather large role to not be a part of the credits.
Question: How are Cecil and the other guys able to "come to life", in other words be able to do the stuff they were doing? Last time I checked, they aren't museum exhibits.
Answer: Even though they are human, they are able to enhance their abilities through the artifact they are stealing. It affects them the same way it does the museum exhibits.
Ahkmarah was not wax, he was actually a mummy who was given back his life and all his organs and strength as was his parents in last movie. So it would make sense that they would benefit from the magic to make them stronger when they were near the tablet.
Answer: Columbus is speaking Italian. The first night, when Larry asks him about the lions, he says "Go find the lion somewhere else" and then "tourist!" The second night, when they're chased by the animals, he says "Young man, do your job well, take care of the beasts" and when he sees that the window's open, "Kid, what do you say, shall we close the windows?" The last night, when Columbus is guiding the Neanderthals, he says "Fellow Neanderthals, with me!" and to the night guard "It's over!"