The Week in Film by Robert Mann – Week Starting 22/5/09

22nd May 2009

Night at the Museum 2 ***½

When it was released during the Christmas holidays in 2006, the first Night at the Museum surpassed all expectations to become a huge smash hit at the box office, and this was in spite of a rather lacklustre response from this critics, many of whom (this critic included) found the film to be fairly enjoyable yet severely lacking in some key areas. Whatever critics thought of it, however, the Ben Stiller starrer had the perfect combination of adventure and humour to satisfy the family movie-going audience and its success meant that a sequel was inevitable, a sequel that is now upon us, albeit with a summer release rather than a Christmas one. Night at the Museum 2 (subtitled Battle of the Smithsonian in the states, this moniker being dropped for the film’s UK release due to the fact that few British people probably know what the Smithsonian is) brings back several of the first film’s major players, with the significant exceptions of Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs (who were one of the best things about the first film, in this critic’s opinion), and introduces quite a few new recognisable faces into the mix. But are these new additions to the cast enough to make up for the loss of some of the best characters from the first film, and is this second night spent in the museum just delivering more of the same, or is it one of those examples of a sequel that is an improvement upon its predecessor?

Several years after becoming night guard at the Museum of Natural History in New York, where all the exhibits come to life at night, and helping to bring order to the place, Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) has moved on with his life, now the head of a hugely successful company inventing the latest high-tech gadgets. However, his new job doesn’t make him happy, with him missing his glory days at the museum and it looks like he may get to relive some of those days when he visits the museum for a trip down memory lane. Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) tells him that the museum is making some major changes to bring it into the 21st century and that most of the exhibits are being transferred to the Federal Archives located beneath the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., the biggest museum in the whole world. Larry tries to stop it but is unsuccessful in doing so. When the exhibits arrive at their new home, however, a whole new threat arises, one that threatens the entire world. Monkey Dexter has taken the tablet that brings all the exhibits to life with them and it has awoken the evil Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria), an old Egyptian Pharaoh who wants to take over the world by awakening his army from the underworld. And Larry is the only person who can stop his evil plan. Thus, Larry infiltrates the Smithsonian and sets about trying to rescue his friends including Jedediah (Owen Wilson), Octavius (Steve Coogan), Attila the Hun (Patrick Gallagher), Sacajawea (Mizuo Peck) and Dexter. Once there he learns that they have all been taken prisoner by Kahmunrah and that the evil Pharaoh has now recruited some of the most evil men in history including Al Capone (Jon Bernthal), Napoleon Bonaparte (Alain Chabat) and Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest). However, Larry isn’t alone as he has help from the adventure seeking Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), the egotistic General Custer (Bill Hader) and Abraham Lincoln (Hank Azaria) and space monkey Able, among many other famous historical figures. With the fate of not only the museum but also the whole world hanging in the balance, Larry experience the adventure of a lifetime, all in the space on one night, and romance might just be in the air too.

While the first Night at the Museum film was entertaining it really lacked the kind of substance that could have really made it stand out, with it simply not being engaging enough for anyone but the least demanding of viewers to be considered a classic. This sequel suffers from most of the same problems, even though there is some genuine ingenuity in some of this sequel’s scenes. Relocating the action from the Museum of Natural History to the Smithsonian allows for a much bigger scale with a whole range of historical figures making appearances, as well as cameos from Darth Vader and Sesame Street‘s Grouch. This allows for much greater variety than in the first film as this time around we get to see far more brought to life with everything from art works (the bringing to life of paintings is an extremely good touch) to the planes and space vehicles of the Air and Space Museum. These provide some very entertaining sequences that are hugely entertaining and really are worth the price of admission, but unfortunately the film is let down by much of the content between these sequences. The majority of the film fails to really provide the level of thrills that many have come to expect from big Hollywood blockbusters, the effects being consistently good but never mind-blowing, and many of the film’s gags fall rather flat, with the film only occasionally delivering any notable laughs, the majority of the attempts at humour being rather lackluster. This isn’t helped by the fact that Ben Stiller is far from his funniest here, his performance being rather monotone, and the significantly reduced roles for Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan and Ricky Gervais don’t help much either. New cast addition Hank Azaria is also extremely feeble in his role as the film’s villain, being rather irritating rather than funny, although his vocalizations for Abraham Lincoln and The Thinker are less so. The strong link among the cast is Amy Adams who shines as Amelia Earhart, delivering a delightful performance that is packed full of charm and convincingly portraying the speech and mannerisms of her character. She is worth a star all on her own. It’s just a shame that the rest of the cast aren’t of the same standard. While the film has some great sequences, as a whole it is severely lacking in substance, thus Night at the Museum 2 comes across as a film that is very easy to enjoy but, much like the first film, it is unlikely that it will leave any lasting impression, and it certainly isn’t one of the better family films of 2009. But for simple entertainment value it is worth the price of admission.

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Review by Robert Mann BA (Hons)

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