Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Watching on Wednesday: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Last updated: 2010-04-08 16:59:01 by user01

Night at the Museum 2 - Review

Rather reluctantly… I went to see  Night at the Museum 2.  Not necessarily because I didn’t want to see it…  It was on my list of summer movies to see.  But I did not want to see  it right now… on that particular day.  I was on my way to the theatre,  to see Up the new Pixar movie… and I got my weeks screwed up,  and I was there one week too soon… So, we quickly made a decision and  went with Night at the Museum 2 instead.
But that’s okay, like I said… it was on my list.
First and foremost, we should start by discussing my feelings about  the first movie… THAT is a movie that I didn’t want to see.  I saw it at  the Budget movie for 2 bucks, and only went cause my family was going… I  didn’t have the strongest love for Ben Stiller (who is not as funny as  his famous parents).  In fact, I feel like every Ben Stiller movie is  the same, with the exception of some of his more dramatic roles (Royal  Tenenbaums, Keeping the Faith… etc.) and I thought I was walking into  another one of those typical movies.  But, as I usually am with movies  like this… I was totally surprised… and I thought it was a fun, and cute  kids movie.  Yes, there were a few of the typical moments in the first  movie that were definite Ben Stiller moments… (The monkey slappin…) but I  forgave them, because it was a cute movie none the less… And it had  Robin Williams in it… so, it’s got that going for it.
Of course, to this day… I have no clue how NATM ends… as I was  indisposed with a bad case of the &$*& and missed the ending…  But, I saw enough of it to know that it was cute, and If I ever saw it  for 7.50 at Wal-Mart, I’d probably buy it…
Now, moving on to NATM2, my first and only real complaint about this  movie, is it’s title… it’s being billed as Night at the Museum 2, but  the full title is Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian, which  is a way better title then the former.  Of course, I dont’ think there  is anything wrong with calling it Night at the Smithsonian… unless of  course that sounds like an educational tour of the museum…
Anyway… moving along.  I thought NATM2 was a much more exciting film  then the first one.  I kept picturing how much fun it was for the  writers to walk into the Smitsonian, or the Air and Space Museum, and  come up with all these potential ideas… and then see them actually come  to life.
My favorite part, was when (*SPOILERS*) Ben Stiller and Amy Adams  characters, where in the Art wing of the Smithsonian (is there an art  wing in the smithsonian?  I know a lot of those paintings are actually  in Chicago..) and the Lichtenstein, and Edward Hopper came to life… and  way in the background there was a Pollack that came to life like a  psychedelic screen saver… I thought that was pretty inventive.  And that  really had me smiling from ear to ear.
The characters were great, and played well… Hank Azaria was  outstanding and hilarious, he is a talented man of many voices.  And of  course the interaction between he and Darth Vader, and Oscar the Grouch  was pretty memorable.  Also, Amy Adams (as always) was a welcome  addition to the movie, and added a certain something that was missing  from the first movie.
The only other small complaint I had, was that a few scenes… may have  went on a little long, like they could have been about 2 minutes  shorter then they were… mostly comic bits that you got the gag in the  first 30 seconds, but they drag it out to 2 minutes…. which I think is a  trend in Ben Stiller movies.
All in all… I had a lot of fun in this movie… I was glad I saw it…  and as far as Rent, Buy, or Never again… if I never owned the first  NATM, I’d be okay… but this one, really stands alone, and I would put  this on my Buy list.

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Christian Kocinski<br />
Filmmaker.Animator.Photographer<br />
www.ChristianKocinski.com<br />
www.IncoherentAstronomy.com<br />
www.SweetmintTheatre.com<br />
www.Cine-Rama.com

night at the museum: battle of the smithsonian

is pretty damn funny.  this is definatly the family movie event of the summer so far.  i found myself chuckling out loud several times.  and i’m not really that much of a ben stiller fan.  i remember thinking after the first film that adam sandler would have been better cast.  but this time around ben stiller does a pretty good job.

ben stiller’s character is no longer working at the museum as his daley devices company takes off and he’s now a successful businessman on the verge of a huge deal with wal-mart.  he still visits his friends at the museum but his visits become less and less frequent.  so infrequent in fact that as the movie opens he finds that the museum is losing the majority of it’s exhibits to federal storage.  everyone is going to be locked away under the smithsonian in washinton D.C.

only a few buddies like teddy roosevelt and ahkmenrah are staying.  ahkmenrah you may remember is the owner of the magic egyptian tablet that makes everyone come to life.  so poor jebediah and the boys will be stuck as plastic, lifeless historical representations for ever.  no more coming to life after dark.

but thankfully the mischevious little monkey steals the tablet before he’s boxed up and shipped to the smithsonian.  so as you might imagine hilarity ensues once the magic tablet brings to life the achives of the smithsonian.  kahmenrah, ahmenrah’s evil older brother, is stored there and comes to life and takes the tablet with the purpose of bringing his army of undead into this world and conquering it.  hank azaria is awsome in this part.  as  he is in various other parts.

anyway, the tiny cowboy jebediah played by owen wilson calls up larry (stiller) when they all get trapped by the evil egyptian and drops everything to infiltrate the smithsonian to rescue his friends.

the main part of the story is kahmenrah capturing jebediah and forcing larry to decipher the combination on the tablet allowing him to open his gateway to the world of the undead.  amy adams delightfully portrays the adventure seeking amelia earhart who awakened from a lifetime of sleep wants just what all girls want.  to have fun.  she is just so bouncy as she helps larry accomplish his task.

there are so many funny parts i don’t really want to get into any of them.  don’t wanna spoil the jokes.  this film is greatly entertaining.  you may not roll out of your seat with laughter at any point in the film, but i bet your little ones will.

i give this film four bobblehead einsteins out of five.  if you are looking for something to take the kids to see this weekend.  this is it.  but if you havn’t caught star trek yet, skip work and go see it this week on whatever day your local theater has discount day.

Cal Reed

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Premise:

Larry Daley is back and he is everything he wanted to be in the first movie. His inventions have taken off and he's rich, but he still finds time to hang out with his old buddies at the museum... or he would if they weren't being crated up and shipped off. The museum is going digital which means all the old exhibits are passe and being shipped to the Smithsonian to be archived. That also means no more coming to life at night... or that was what it was supposed to mean. The biggest museum in the world is coming to life and Larry has to find a way to put everything right before sunrise.


Review:

I saw the preview for this and immediately wanted to see it. BUT (big but), I had never seen the first one. I'm not a huge Ben Stiller fan. I generally avoid his movies. I sucked it up, rented the first one and loved it. I thought, "If the first one is this good then the second one should be just as fun". I wasn't wrong.

Battle of the Smithsonian was HILARIOUS. There were very few points in the movie when I wasn't laughing. I applaud the imagination of the writers and thank them for the great time I had watching the film.

There were only two points that I had issues with (my husband and I both though we didn't see the movie together):

#1 - Larry's relationship with Amelia was definitely forced. I know most movies strive to have some sort of romantic element of some kind, but this was totally forced and in such an obvious manner. There was absolutely no chemistry. I don't even think the actors had chemistry. I found myself getting annoyed whenever they "paused" the plot just to stuff in some attempt at making the audience think Larry and Amelia had a thing for each other.

#2 - The Smithsonian is located in the National Mall, which is the heart of DC. Battle of the Smithsonian obviously takes place at NIGHT. And the movie shows the Mall at NIGHT and... it's empty. No cars, no people, NOTHING. To this I say...

SHENANIGANS!

They may call NYC the city that never sleeps but DC has insomnia too. I'm willing to suspend disbelief but there isn't enough crazy glue and duct tape in the world for this one. The Mall is NEVER empty. Not ever. My mother and I once went driving around the Mall at 4am (I don't even remember why, I think we were there to see the Smithsonian and were on our way to the hotel with a slight detour to see the Mall lit up at night) and we weren't the only ones on the road. Plus, what about all those clandestine meetings that the movies tell us happen in the Mall once the sun goes down?

Somebody somewhere should have been freaking out when the Smithsonian woke up. People should have been running in the streets screaming, thus adding a whole other level to that movie. :D

#3 - I know I said two above but there is a number three. However, I can't talk about my issue without spoilers. So, I wanted it noted that I had a slight question about the ending and that is all.

I say see this movie. Even with the forced romance, this movie rocked and I wouldn't mind seeing it again. The DVD is sure to come in a two-pack with the first, so I'm looking forward to getting and watching them both again.

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Recommendations: Star Trek (2009), Avatar, 300

D. Renee Bagby<br />
Building New Realms of Passion<br />
http://dreneebagby.com

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

Ben Stiller and company had a smattering of success with 2006's Night at the Museum. The formula - take a night guard and put him face to face with a museum full of living, breathing antiquities - was cute and adventurous, and full of enough kiddy humor to warrant taking the tykes, as well as having an adult appeal. Stiller and director Shawn Levy are back again for museum mayhem, but this time they move to a new location, as evident in the title.

With a host of familiar characters returning from the first Museum film, fans of the films will find themselves slipping back into the world that Stiller's character Larry Daley inhabits. It's less confusing if you've seen the first film, but newcomers to the series won't have a hard time getting into the thick of the plot - there's a helpful introduction to characters at the start of the movie. Essentially, the artifacts at the Museum of Natural History, where Daley had worked as night security guard in the first film, are being moved to the archives of the Smithsonian Institute, where they will cease to become alive at night without the help of a magical Egyptian stone. Daley is called to help the displays when one of the figures steals the stone and all of the antiques in the Smithsonian Institute come to life, including villains such as Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria), Napoleon (Alain Chabat), Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), and Al Capone (Al Bernthal). Kahmunrah wants the Egyptian stone to open a portal to take over the world, and it's up to Daley to stop him, along with new friends such as Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) and the statue of Abe Lincoln and old buddies Jedidiah (Owen Wilson) and Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams).

The main plot is set up fairly quickly, allowing for the film to develop more subplots throughout the near-two hour runtime. Though it seems long for a kids' film, the story moves along at a nice clip and rarely loses its adventurous appeal. Also, the plot is logical without becoming too generic or predictable, and even offers up its fair share of pleasant surprises like a quick and appealing love interest between Daley and Amelia Earhart.

The playful, adventurous nature of the film will attract both old and young viewers, which is a good thing because there's a lot of content that will interest both age groups. For the young ones, it's an educational trip through time, with throwbacks to famous historical lines and people that may fly over their heads; yet some allusions might trigger an "oh-yeah!" reaction within that adds intelligence to the film.

Stiller plays his part well, and is actually a bit more likable as Daley this time around. The stand-outs are Amy Adams as Earhart and Hank Azaria as Kahmunrah. Adams' cute and bubbly personality, her impressive recital of old-fashioned lingo, and her wide-open eyes add so much to the film that her character almost overpowers the bland Daley. Azaria's Kahmunrah is a lispy, power-craving Egyptian who spouts witty one-liners with ease and, in the end, becomes a tragic villain almost, as his humorous, over-the-top persona brings him closer to the viewer. There's a cast of familiar faces, though, each with their own unique addition to the film, and it's nice to see cameos from a lot of The Office stars.

Perhaps one of the qualms with NatM:BotS that I have is the humor; the film resorts to a lot of scenes with awkward dialogues between characters, and while funny, the formula is overused and tired here. The physical gags are semi-funny, but still don't add a lot to the comedy. Instead, it's best to go into the film thinking of it less as a comedy and more as an adventure - otherwise, it may come up short on laughs, at least for adults.

Yet Battle of the Smithsonian is a smart and practical film, using the strengths from the first film and building off of its new setting. In fact, the film uses the wide range of the Smithsonian Institute to its advantage, allowing the characters to travers new areas and expanding what it can do with characters and the displays within the museums. There's a lot to enjoy within the film, and this is definitely one that you'll want to see with the kiddies; there's education, action without much violence, and even a little bit of good-hearted love, and Adams' Earhart character attracts the child in all of us.

Last updated: 2010-01-18 08:42:04 by user01

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

Does every flick that has a little success automatically get a sequel? It sure seems like it. Following the success of Night at the Museum, a sequel was tossed around and eventually pitched, greenlit, and subsequently released. This is the result.
On the positive side of things, many of the characters that made the first film a success return, as well as some new ones. There isn’t a subplot of Larry trying to prove himself to his son that gets a little bit preachy and took away from the first picture. The mysterious magic that brings things to life is still there, which makes the picture.
On the flipside of things, the film doesn’t have the surprise hit feeling of wonder that its predecessor possesses, but rather comes off as if its trying too hard to surpass it, and fails miserably. Again, we don’t know what it is that cause the magic in the tablet. I kind of wish they’d let us in on the secret. I think this time around, there may have been too many characters, including a the Lincoln Memorial coming to life, which while it was cool, didn’t really make sense. Also, two characters from the first picture, Nicky and Akmenrah, who I figured would have had a bigger part in this one, didn’t. I was a little disappointed in that. When all is said and done, this film seemed to be all about Larry, rather than the characters in the museum.
With the way the first film ended, you’d think this one would pick up right where it left off, but instead Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian fails to deliver on that magic feeling. It is because of this that I think this film wasn’t made to further the story or devlop characters, or whathaveyou, but rather rushed into production so that they could make money. It really is a shame, though. I was hoping this could have improved on the first. Should you see this? Eh…I wouldn’t go so far as to say you HAVE to see it, but it is a nice little picture. If you haven’t seen the first film, it makes it a better experience. Still, it is a pretty good viewing.

http://thankyounetflix.wordpress.com

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