Night At The Museum 2: Battle Of The Smithsonian
One of the secrets in making a successful sequel is to basically “up the ante”, to take the original’s premise and make it more epic with more characters and wilder situations, as was the case for this 2009 release that followed up the enormously popular original. In addition, they also figured out how to give this movie a PLOT, whereas the original was little more than Ben Stiller going from room to room trying to make sense of the madness, here there is an actual conflict involving a villain with a master plan, and the efforts of Stiller and his “friends” to try to stop him. Alongside Stiller, other characters from the original return such as Robin Williams’ Teddy Roosevelt, Owen Wilson’s cowboy figurine, and Mizuo Peck’s Sacajewea, plus a host of new ones, most notably Amy Adams looking as cute as a button and stealing the show with her enthusiasm as Amelia Earhart. The plot involves Stiller (now a rich inventor of useless products) going over to his favorite museum to wander around (as apparently the owners see no problem with his hanging out there overnight) only to learn that several of his friends along with the magical tablet that brings them to life are being shipped down to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., which soon sets him off on his journey down there when he learns that an evil pharaoh (Hank Azaria) has returned to life and plans to use the tablet to unleash an army of the undead and basically take over the world, using as his henchmen such historical misfits as Al Capone, Ivan The Terrible, and Napoleon. Soon it’s all out mayhem at the Smithsonian as one can imagine (though how all this goes on without attracting the attention of the actual museum security, not to mention the D.C. Police Force, is completely ignored). For his part, Azaria is a lot of fun as the evil Pharoah, speaking with a Boris Karloff lisp and filled with overwrought pomposity, though how a thousands of years old dead Egyptian tyrant can be familiar with modern catchphrases and lingo is another huge stretch of the whole credibility chain. Regardless, the fact that the story has such a stronger narrative thrust than the first, and also because at times it IS actually pretty funny (such as when the Pharoah encounters two iconic pop culture villains or when Abraham Lincoln comes to life on his own memorial to crash the party) makes this one worlds better than its predecessor, even if some of the comedy bits (such as a monkey slapping routine) are a little too protracted or just fall flat. But just when it seems as if all is lost, we still have Amy Adams with her sexy cuteness to carry the day, and this viewer’s mind at least feels at ease. Overall, a fine kid’s film, and good enough for adults to watch if they can appreciate some silly, dumb humor…
7/10