Una noche en el museo 2

The 2006 original was a fun-filled fantasy trip to the Museum of Natural History in New York. It was a blast for both the kids and the adults when the exhibits, especially the T-Rex and President Teddy Roosevelt, come to life that Night At The Museum.

This sequel basically shifts the action to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC where we get more of the same "Jumanji"-type action - without much cerebral input into the plot. In fact, the whole second installment looks uninspired and uninspiring. We don't feel for the characters, not even Ben Stiller's Larry Daley as he tries stir up another frenzy among the animated exhibits. As a sequel, it is rather stale because it does not have a plot that is engaging enough for its stunts. The gags are mostly repetitive - like Kahmunrah's lisping, Amelia's 'ready-for-anything' attitude, etc. There is never a sense of danger in the proceedings - and Larry's presence in the story seems superfluous.

The action remains a comic book adventure - and the mandatory twist at the end merely helps to ease our way out of this juvenile treat.

The first Night at the Museum is one of my favorite movies and I had high hopes for this one but what happened??? First, the bad: there were several characters that I was really disappointed to see did not have big (or at least significant) parts especially Ricky Gervais and Owen Wilson. Ricky Gervais (Dr. McPhee) really added to the humor in the first movie, but he just seemed so serious and boring in this sequel. And I thought Owen Wilson's part was kind of disappointing too. Ben Stiller's character just didn't seem as into it as before. I can't quite put my finger on it but there was definitely something lacking.

The good: the effects were amazing! I loved all the animated characters (the moving paintings and how they could go inside them; the Einstein bobbleheads and the Jonas brother cupids, the black and white Al Capone, etc.). One of my favorite scenes was when they went inside the black and white painting. Another favorite was the little arguments between Larry and Brandon (Jonah Hill) and Larry and Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria). Probably the funniest scenes in the movie. By far the best character in the movie: Hank Azaria as Kahmunrah. And the lisp was just a genius touch. Another funny but rather unimportant character was Napoleon. I thought Ben Stiller and Amy Adams were cute together. But that's pretty much it. I wasn't impressed by Adams' performance. It was just so-so. I mean, when has she NOT played a bubbly character?

It just didn't seem as... magical compared to the first movie. I was pretty letdown because using the Smithsonian, the movie could have had a lot more potential.

When I saw the trailer for this, I was pretty excited. I loved the whole premise of the first one, and having a sequel opened up whole new opportunities. I was excited when I saw all these famous characters from history being mashed together, Al Capone, Napoleon Bonaparte, Amelia Earhart, to name a few.

I walked into the theater not expecting to much, but when I left I was very happy with it. They handled every characters personality beautifully, and the inside jokes were hilarious. I don't want to give much away, but trust me, you'll laugh. It tackles many themes like, a house divided cannot stand, the way to happiness is doing what you love, don't dwell on the past, etc. For a family flick they handle this jumbled cast of characters with complex personalities amazingly. They threw away most of the characters from the first movie to make way for the newer characters, which I didn't like that much, but how many characters can you throw in a story to have it make sense?

This film is an amazing example of a movie made for kids and adults. Kids will enjoy the silly humor, and the monkey. While adults will laugh at the onslaught of in-jokes, and trust me, there's a lot.

All in all, this was a great movie, blew me away. The highlight for me was Hank Azaria, that lisp kills me every time.

In this sequel to Night At The Museum, Ben Stiller now a millionaire who does motivational infomercials still finds time to visit his old friends at the Museum of Natural History where he made their acquaintence while working as a night security guard there.

But with his millions he can't stop changes as the Museum is now going for interactive exhibits and many are being packed away and sent to the National Archives, some for exhibit in the Smithsonian.

So Stiller goes back into action and visits the archive which is lots of underground space between the Capitol and Lincoln Memorial.

I wonder myself in both of these films was Stiller really visiting Madame Tussaud's with all the historical figures coming to life.

Theodore Roosevelt's connection with the Museum Of Natural History is well known and Robin Williams is back as our rough riding 26th president. Others are back and new ones added.

Hank Azaria is brilliant as the Egyptian prince whose incantation caused all these exhibits to come to life after sundown. He sounds like he was channeling Boris Karloff.

Amy Adams is a feisty feminist role model Amelia Earhart who gets kind of interested in Stiller. They make a good team.

As for them getting together. A gambit that Meet Joe Black and Bing Crosby's A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court used is applied here. You have to see the film to see what I mean.

A few good laughs in this nice family entertainment film.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is the second film in the Night at the Museum series. While it isn't much different than the first film I have to say it isn't quite as good. Ben Stiller was pretty good but I don't think anybody else really stuck out. One thing I that disappointed by was the lack of screen time for Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson, or Octavius and Jedediah. In the first movie, they stole the show. But in this movie, they are underused like most of the others in the cast. Night at the Museum 2 has its funny parts, but seems to lack the charm and fun of the first movie. It's a worthy sequel that meets the standards of the first movie, but doesn't exceed them. You might want to wait for it's DVD/Blu-Ray release, but seeing in theaters is good too. Thanks for reading this review.