Movie Review: Night at the Museum 2

In "Night at the Museum," Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) begins work as a night guard at the Museum of Natural History where everything comes to life due to a magical tablet. While the movie earned big bucks at the box office, it received poor reviews. I thought it was an okay endeavor thought the first 30 minutes were extremely slow since it set-up the life of Daley (when every one just wanted to see stuff come to life).

"Night at the Museum 2" does away with all the boring parts of the first film and sticks to what kids like, the exhibits at the museum coming to life.

Larry is no longer a night guard, having made a successful go at marketing insanely ridiculous products like the glow-in-the-dark flashlight. He's become a king of infomercials (even starring in one with George Foreman) and his new company "Daley Designs" is a smash success. Larry discovers that several of his magically reanimated friends from the Museum of History will be relocated to the Smithsonian in favor of state-of-the-art exhibits. Sadly the mystical tablet of Ahkmerah will not be relocating with them, effectively ending their reanimated lives after dark. When he gets a frantic call from miniature cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) that the gang is under attack, Larry quikcly infiltrates the museum by means of an interesting encounter with another guard named Brandon (pronounced Brundon and played by Jonah Hill). Dexter the monkey stole the tablet in New York and when they arrived at the Smithsonian in D.C., it's star attraction Kahmurah (Hank Azaria) was brought back to life and now he wants to use the tablet to bring forth an army to rule the world.

What makes this film decent is that it is better than the first. The film takes place in one entire night, getting rid of all the boring parts of the previous film when Larry interacted with his family (though his son does return from the first movie for a minor role). All the previous characters that came to life also return and the new characters are also entertaining. Hank Azaria steals the film as the weird Kahmurah (whenever he talks with his lisp it is just fun to watch and listen).

Amy Adams seems very very perky in her role (she never stops smiling) and the romantic subplot is nice, but never found any footing due to her not being real. Bill Hader plays General Custer and he is funny to watch in any role he plays.

A vast improvement on the original, this film will most likely be remember for beating out "Terminator Salvation" at the box office and nothing more.

One last thing, if you are a fan of "300" like I am, there is an almost perfect spoof of a fight scene from that movie played out by Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan (Octavius)when they are in a battle at the end of the film. Funniest part of the movie to me...that and Darth Vader trying to use force choke.
7.1/10