Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)

This is the Smithsonian! This is the big leagues!

– Larry Daley

I reviewed the first Night of the Museum and I liked the movie very much. A kid friendly movie teaches about semblances of history in a clever way. We fast-forward to 2009 with the release of Night of the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, the magic of the first film is there, but you have to dig to find it. That’s not a good sign. I’m glad I went to the cheap theater to see this movie.

After his stint as the night watchmen of the Museum of Natural History, Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is inexplicably the CEO of his own company, Daley Devices. He left the inhabitants of the museum behind to invent the glow in the dark flashlight.

He goes back to the museum – no reason why – to see that the place is closed for renovations. Most of the exhibit pieces are in boxes en route to the Smithsonian federal archive. Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais) tells Larry that the people are not coming to the museum. They want to have new attractions. Larry wants to find a way to have the museum open again.

En route to the Smithsonian, the capuchin monkey, Dexter steals the Table of Ahkmenrah to their new home in the basement. Larry turns into 007 to break into the restricted area. He awakens the inhabitants of the museum like General Custer (Bill Hader) and Amelia Earheart (Amy Adams).

Amelia becomes Larry cohort to help stop Ahkmenrah’s (Rami Malek) older brother, Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) from resurrect the undead army to take over the world with Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Napoleon Bonaparte (Alain Chabat) and Al Capone (Jon Bernthal) on his side.

I was still swept up with the fantastical moments of the movie. Bill Hader, Amy Adams and Mizuo Peck who plays Sacajawea were fantastic in the movie. They were the only enjoyable parts to the movie.

Many elements bothered me, especially the accent of Kahumunrah, the chase scenes in the paintings did nothing for me, and the whole thing with the villains was awful. It can’t say too much without spoiling the movie.

Judgment: A nice movie, but the first movie is much better.

Rating: **1/2