Why Hollywood is so fond of so many remakes and sequels is any ones guess. Some are very good, some are as bad as or worse than its original. Such is the case of "Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian" This movie gives us the same all to hip characters with a few new ones thrown in to liven the story up. Two years after Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) discovers that a secret tablet brings the museums artifacts to life, he is running his own small company, Daley Devices, and doing infomercials on television.
When he finds that the American Museum of Natural History is going to be closed for upgrades and renovations, he also discovers that many of the Museums pieces are going to be shipped to the Federal Archives at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. to be put in storage. Larry speaks to many of the original artifacts such as Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), who tells him that the Pharoah Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek) isn't moving to The Smithsonian Institution, Larry knows this means that the artifacts will no longer be able to experience animation once this happens. The Tablet is somehow on the list for storage. The next night, Larry gets a call from Jedediah (Owen Wilson), saying that Ahkmenrah's evil brother the Pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) has stolen the tablet and is attacking the artifacts from the American Museum. Larry decides he has to save his friends and decides that a trip to Washington is in order.
Larry gets to the Smithsonian and finds out that it is one of the worlds largest museum complex with more than 136 million items in its collections, after stealing a security guards ID badge, Larry sneaks into the archives and locates the exhibits, frozen in the middle of a battle with Kahmunrah and his troops, Kahmunrah locks some of the exhibits in a large container including General George Armstrong Custer (Bill Hader) who appears to be as dumb as a box of rocks. Larry escapes from Kahmunrah and enlists the aide of Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), who is thrilled at the prospect of adventure and accompanies Larry. Kahmunrah isn't without his own troop of evil exhibits, he enlists Al Capone (Jon Bernthal), whose exhibit is in glorious black and white, evil Russian emperor Ivan The Terrible (Christopher Guest) and French Ruler and General, Napoleon Bonaparte (Alain Chabat) to help him capture Larry in return for sharing the world with them when he conquers it. Jedediah and Octavius (Steve Coogan) sneak out to help Larry. They do what they can, including riding in to save the day on the back of a squirrel.
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 Jedediah 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 Pharaoh'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 is pi. When Kahmunrah opens the gate to the underworld a group of bird men walk out, the day is saved by the statue of Abraham Lincoln from the Lincoln Memorial.
When Larry is finally able to defeat Kahmunrah Amelia flies him and several of the exhibits back to the American Museum of Natural History, which Larry has purchased, thanks to the sale of his little company. Larry is rehired as a guard for the Museum that now boasts of life like exhibits, he meets a young woman who is an uncanny look alike for Amelia, so Larry begins a conversation with her. As the credits finally roll we see a little scene of a sailor taking apart a cell phone left behind by Larry, his name is Joey Motorola and the rest as they say is history.
What should have been history is the idea to make this movie in the first place, it seemed as if no one took their roles to heart. the only good addition was Amy Adams, she can make any scene come alive, watching her you feel her charm and brilliance, she can make any performance better with just a smile. Its captivating. The addition of Bill Hader was also a good one, his Custer at first comes off as a loser, but when he reveals why he is afraid we feel for him. Ben Stiller does his usual dull drab performance, does any one else wonder why this man is making so many movies that are just plain bad?
I give Night At The Museum: Battle For The Smithsonian a 2 and on my avoidance scale a 1, there are going to be so many better movies that are going to be playing, wait and see one of them, this movie is one that you won't mind if you miss, it is destined to be a DVD best seller. Wait and see it then you won't feel as if you wasted your time and money.
Night At The Museum: Battle For The Smithsonian is rated PG for Mild Action and Brief Language
Running time is 1 hr. 45 mins.
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