Thanks for checking out our Night At The Museum 2 review.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the first “Night At The Museum” movie. Despite a solid all star cast I personally found it to be rather bland. Not a “bad” movie, but neither was it “good”. However, one can’t deny the sheer success of the film at it grossed over $250 million at the box office in North America alone and was the second highest grossing film of 2006 behind only Pirates of the Caribbean 2. With money like that, the question of “should” we make a sequel becomes replaced with “dear heavens how quickly can we make a sequel”?
So out comes Night At The Museum 2. Was it any good. Well… actually… it really wasn’t bad at all.
THE BASIC IDEA
The synopsis for Night At The Museum 2 looks something like this: “Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is now head of Daley Devices, a company he founded to manufacture his inventions. These inventions, including the Glow-in-the-Dark Flashlight, were created from his experiences as a former night guard. He finds that the American Museum of Natural History is closed for upgrades and renovations, and the museum pieces are moving to the Federal Archives at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. On the last night, Larry meets the museum pieces such as Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), Rexy the Tyrannosaurus Skeleton, and Dexter the Monkey and finds out that several exhibits, including Teddy, Rexy, the Easter Island Head, and Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek) are not moving to The Smithsonian Institution – the other exhibits will no longer be animated. The next night, Larry gets a call from Jedediah (Owen Wilson), saying that Dexter stole the tablet, and that Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria), Ahkmenrah’s older brother, is attacking them. Larry takes a plane to Washington and visits the National Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Castle to find the Federal Archives with the help of his son Nick (Jake Cherry).”
THE GOOD
I am a huge fan of Hank Azaria. I think the man has some of the best comedic timing in the business today and consistently shines in even mediocre movies. Movies like “America’s Sweethearts”, “Run Fatboy Run”, “Mystery Men” and even in a smaller role in “Dodgeball” give him perfect platforms to really shine, and his role in Night At The Museum 2 is no exception. Playing the main villain, Kahmunrah, Azaria also ends up being the funniest part of the film and consistently the most entertaining element as well. Every moment he’s on screen in this movie you’re smiling. Shame they didn’t have him on screen for more of it… it would have been a better movie.
The visual effects are just fantastic. This movie need to look great if it hopes to pull off that sense of awe and wonder off seeing these exhibits coming to life, and on that level the film succeeds tremendously.
Amy Adams is adorable. At first I have to admit that I found her character (Amelia Earhart) rather annoying with the way she talked and carried herself… but after a few minutes she really starts to grow on you.
THE BAD
Unfortunately, aside from Hank Azaria there just aren’t many laughs in the movie. Yes there are a load of “cute” moments, but not many laugh out loud moments. Now keep in mind that I’m saying this as an adult. The kids in the theater seemed to eat up the slapping monkeys… so, whatever.
The actual full title of the movie is Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian… and the actual “Battle of the Smithsonian was really lame. I’m going to go into SPOILER territory here… so be warned if you want to read the rest of this paragraph: The big plan of Hank Azaria was to bring forth his undead legions to take over the world… but when he finally opens the gates only about 30 come out… and they all run away the moment Abe Lincon walks in… that’s the big climax of “The Battle Of The Smithsonian”… the whole movie built up to that lame moment. Very lame. Very lame indeed.
Far too many eye rolling moments. Some things aren’t “cute”, they’re just lame. Beat boxing Jonas brothers flying cherubs… dancing singing Einstein dolls… the aforementioned slapping monkeys… the list goes on and on.
OVERALL
In general, Night At The Museum 2 is a pretty cute and at times entertaining movie with terrific effects and some good imagination that could have been a lot better with more effective humor and less of the painful eye rolling moments. Not a bad movie, but not one I’d be running out to see again either. Overall I give Night At The Museum 2 a 5.5/10.
