AMB Reviews

Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian: 6/10 Stars

Release Date: May 22, 2009

Content Advisory: Rated PG for mild action and brief language. There is much action violence, but it is all very cartoonish and comic. There is a large fight towards the end of the film, complete with sword fights and fist fights. There are several chases throughout the film.

Review:

Having seen the first "Night At The Museum" and finding it comical, I decided to give its sequel a shot.

In Short:

"Night At The Museum 2" tells the story Larry Daly, after he quits his job as a night guard at the museum and goes on to become a very rich and successful businessman. Now, as you must know, every exhibit in the museum comes to life at night, due to the mystical powers of a tablet found in Pharaoh's tomb. This all leads up to a huge battle between the different exhibits. I will elaborate on all of this in the next paragraph. Walking out of the theater, I found the movie and entertaining and family friendly mess.

In Full:

As you probably already know, "Night At The Museum" told the story of a museum that came to life every night. In this film, the ex night guard, Larry Daly, comes back to visit the exhibits, right as they're being packed off to be replaced by newer ones. But, when some newer exhibits come alive that aren't so nice, this builds tension that soon leads to a "Battle Of The Smithsonian." The plot most certainly led to some enjoyable and laugh out loud moments, but it really didn't seem to have a purpose. "Night At The Museum" could've simply stayed as a single movie without a sequel. It was most certainly fun to watch, but felt very pointless.

The acting was definitely a pro worth commenting on. As always, Ben Stiller delivered a solid and rather hilarious performance. I really haven't seen him deliver anything other than a comedic performance, but his comedy sure does work. Another delightful addition to the cast, replacing Carla Gugino, was Amy Adams as Amelia Airhart. Owen Wilson and Robin Williams also return as minor roles, and do so wonderfully. Overall, the solid acting really added to the film's comedy.

And just as its predecessor, so does this film deliver spectacular, if overdone visuals. Making loads of museum exhibits come to life and still remain realistic is hard to do, and it was accomplished respectably in this film. From flying a plane around the Air And Space Museum, to fighting off a giant sea monster, to talking to the Lincoln Memorial... this movie never failed to throw anything boring at you onscreen. Of course, it sometimes felt like they were throwing too much at you, but the visuals still remained interesting.

As noted before, this movie did not have too solid of a plot. It didn't really serve any purpose, and I left the theater feeling like I had gotten nowhere. That didn't mean that it wasn't entertaining... it was just all very pointless. Also noteworthy, is the fact that the film felt very messy. It felt too hard like they were trying to make some huge, mind blowing film with awesome visuals, and it ended up being just too much. There always seemed to be too much going on at once. They tried to make it look great, but in the end, I was simply left with a headache.

Wrapping it all up... "Night At The Museum 2" is no summer blockbuster. I know for sure that I'm going to see some better movies than this during this season. Does that mean it was a bad movie? Absolutely not. In fact, I found myself laughing a lot throughout this movie. It was very funny and quite entertaining, as well as being an appropriate choice for families. That being said, it still felt very messy, especially with the weak and ultimately purposeless storyline. Kids will enjoy it for the comedic and cartoonish action it offers, and parents will love its family-friendliness and still laugh at some of the humor. In the end, It wasn't the greatest film I've ever seen, and even gave me a bit of a headache, but it also aided me with some Tylenol to help with the pain.