Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is a 2009 American comedy film and the sequel to the 2006Night at the Museum . The film stars Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Hank Azaria, Bill Hader, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Alain Chabat, and Christopher Guest, and features numerous voice cameos and appearances by characters from the first film. It was released in theaters on May 22, 2009, and is rated PG for mild action and brief language. adventure comedy film
Two years after Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) defeated the three night guards plotting to steal The Tablet, he is now head of Daley Devices, a company that 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 some of the museum pieces are being replaced by interactive holograms. The actual exhibits are moved 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 Capuchin Monkey (Crystal the Monkey) and finds out that several exhibits, including Teddy, Rexy, the Easter Island Head (Brad Garrett), and good Pharoah Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek) and his Tablet are not moving to The Smithsonian Institution – without the Tablet of Ahkmenrah, the other exhibits will no longer be animated. The next night, Larry gets a call from Jedediah (Owen Wilson), saying that Dexter stolen the tablet last midnight and evil Pharoah Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria), Ahkmenrah's older brother, is attacking them. Larry goes 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).
Larry sneaks into the archives and locates the exhibits, frozen in the middle of a battle with Kahmunrah and his troops, who are trying to lock the exhibits in a crate. Larry gets hold of the Tablet of Ahkmenrah, which had been stolen by Dexter, just when the sun sets and all the exhibits come alive again. Kahmunrah and his troops lock the crate and take the Tablet from Larry, and he tells Larry that bringing the exhibits to life is just one of the tablet's powers – he intends to use it to raise an army from the underworld and conquer the world. Larry escapes with the help of General George Armstrong Custer (Bill Hader), who gets captured, and meets Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), who is thrilled at the prospect of adventure and accompanies Larry. Meanwhile, Kahmunrah is able to recruit black and white agent Al Capone (Jon Bernthal), evil emperor Ivan The TerribleChristopher Guest) and French Admiral Napoleon Bonaparte (Alain Chabat) to help him capture Larry in return for sharing the world with him when he conquers it. Custer is locked up with the other exhibits from the American Museum of Natural History, and while he conceives a poor plan of attack (he will scream "Attack!" and the exhibits will jump out and attack), Jedediah and Octavius (Steve Coogan) sneak out to help Larry. (
Larry and Amelia are captured and taken to Kahmunrah. Kahmunrah then attempts to activate the tablet to open the gates of the underworld by pressing the symbols on the tablet, only to find out that the combination has been changed. He orders Larry to decipher the tablet's riddle and figure out the new combination before sunrise, and traps Jedidiah in an hourglass to hasten his attempts. Larry and Amelia consult a bust of Teddy who says that the answer is in the heart of the pharoah's tomb. The duo then consult The Thinker, but he gets distracted by a beautiful statue of a woman. Finally, at the National Air and Space Museum, they consult a group of Albert Einstein bobbleheads who tell them that the answer to the riddle (and hence the new combination) is pi. Larry and Amelia fly the Wright Flyer back to the Museum of Natural History, and Amelia goes for help while Larry delays Kahmunrah. Capone, Napoleon and Ivan arrive and tell him the code, and he opens the gates of the underworld and summons an army of bird-men. Suddenly, the statue of Abraham LincolnLincoln Memorial bursts through the window, frightening the bird-men back to the underworld. Amelia arrives, having freed the other exhibits, and Custer orders them to attack. Larry duels Kahmunrah with his flashlight, defeating him and then pushing him through the gate, which banishes him to the underworld forever. from the
Amelia flies Larry and the other exhibits back to the American Museum of Natural History, where Teddy welcomes him back, and Larry assures him he has a way for them to remain there. Larry and Amelia say goodbye and kiss before Amelia flies away, leaving Larry outside the museum. Some time later, it is revealed that Larry sold his company and donated the money to the museum to pay for Audio-Animatronics exhibits – since the museum now opens late, the exhibits can come to life under the guise of animatronically animated exhibits, including Teddy as a tour guide, Ahkmenrah and Dexter displaying the Tablet, and Atilla as a storyteller. Larry is rehired at the museum as the night guard, and meets a young woman who looks just like Amelia. The film concludes as they talk and walk off as Larry guides her toward the hall of miniatures. During the credits, a man from a black and white photo of V-J day in Times Square is seen examining Larry's Blackberry cell phone, which Larry left in the photo, and makes a new discovery (for his time period). His mother calls him, and it is revealed that his name is Joey Motorola.
Recommendation: 3.5/5
I like the first. I like this one too. The first one has the magic of discovery. This one does not. This one is more about introducing new "what ifs" with what could happen if the stuff in this new museum came to life. They pull this off very well. But they do sacrifice some to do it.
How they do it is the old museum decides to go to digital exhibits and wholesales the vast majority of the old to the federal archives under the Smithsonian. Of course, the tablet makes it there. But it turns out the older brother of the Egyption Pharoh has an exhibit there. He comes to life and wants to use the tablet to bring his army of dead to take over the world. Ben Stiller travels to DC to get the tablet back and return his friends back home. Of course the Pharohs brother won't have that. Wackiness ensues.
The upside is we do get to met new characters. Amillia Earhart(SP) played by Amy Adams, the pharoh's brother (Hank Azaria), etc. Really the movie pulls together pretty much all of DC as the museum. According to the plot the tablet can do this because all the museum buildings and memorials are connected to the archives via a tunnel system. I allowed this plausabity to exist in my mind and ran with it watching the show.
Pretty much everything in the movie was charming or funny to watch.
Some of the bad is most of the old characters are barely in the movie. Some of the old museum exhibits don't go and are in the movie only five minutes. Of those that do go they spend most of the movie in a storage unit.
Overall it is wide audience comedy. Nothing gratuitous that requires uncomfortable talks with children. The violance is minor, because of course Ben is the only real person. The movie does have a happy ending almost to the point of hollywood formula cheese.