Movie Review: Night at the Museum - Battle of the Smithsonian

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Laughs and adventure for the entire family

Cons: I'm thinking...I'm thinking...I'm thinking...I'm thinking...

The Bottom Line:

Like original?

Then you will like the sequel

It's just as much fun

Crossing Franchises: The Mummy Filtered Through Night at the Museum

While I enjoyed the first Night at the Museum movie the first time I saw it, I am actually a little surprised at how much I've come to love it.  So when they announced the sequel (sub-titled Battle of the Smithsonian), I was naturally quite excited.  And I thought it was great.

Things have started going very well for Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) since we last checked in with him.  His inventions have started to take off.  He's the head of a company and hawks his own products on late night TV infomercials.  In fact, he's just days away from signing a deal with Wal-Mart.

But he isn't as happy as he used to be.  One night, he decides to visit his old friends at the Museum of Natural History, only to discover that they are about to be shipped to deep storage at the Smithsonian.  When he gets a late night cry for help from Jedediah (a credited Owen Wilson), he heads to DC to help.

It seems the gold tablet that brought the exhibits to life has other powers.  The ancient Egyptian ruler Kah Mun Ra (Hank Azaria) knows this and wants to use it to take over the world.  He teams up with Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Napoleon (Alan Chabat), and Al Capone (Jon Bernthal) to get the tablet and unleash the undead.  Only Larry can stop him, with the help of friends old and new including Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams).  Can he do it?

Now in my title, I call this a cross between Night at the Museum and The Mummy franchise.  If that worried you at all, you can stop now.  This is not a horror movie or thriller at all.  I couldn't help thinking about the comparison as I was watching it.  But this is still comedy through and through.  There are so many little moments that just made me laugh.  Since several were blink and you miss them, it wouldn't surprise me to find out I missed a few of them as well.

Just about everyone from the original cast is back, but many of them are reduced to small bits.  There are just so many characters this go around between the old heroes, new heroes, and villains.  Yet I actually respect the writers and producers for making that decision.  It's refreshing to watch a sequel that puts a new story and new jokes ahead of making sure all the returning cast gets enough screen time.

Not that there is a bad cast member.  This is Ben Stiller's show once again, and he is excellent as Larry.  He may have it a bit more together here, but he is still pretty vulnerable at times.  Robin Williams make the most of his scenes as Teddy Roosevelt.  And I loved watching Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan play off each other when they had scenes together as Jedediah and Octavius.

The new cast is excellent as well.  Hank Azaria is perfect as our main villain.  He is just menacing enough to be taken seriously but he never once forgets that he's in a comedy.  The cast playing his henchmen get a few good laughs each as well, and they make the most of them.  I also loved Bill Hader's General Custer.  He was a riot.  But hands down the winner is Amy Adams.  Can she play a bad part?  The first few minutes she was on screen, I thought I wasn't going to like her character, but she won me over very quickly.

Once again, this is a special effects driven movie, and they are amazing.  I bought every thing I saw on that screen.

This franchise has not forgotten it is a family comedy first and foremost.  And it has done a remarkable job of capturing the magic of the first movie one more time.  Take the entire family to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian today.