Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

This film is about the battle between various exhibits to save the world from evil power.

"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" unfortunately falls way short of my expectations. The first "Night at the Museum" was good, as the idea was novel and it was packed with fun adventures. That story unfolded nicely, like removing the wrapping paper to reveal pleasant surprises.

The sequel does not achieve the same. It has a flat and boring plot. Nothing unfolds but just happens for no reason. There are little fun moments, and the supposed jokes fail to make anyone laugh. The childish arguments that happens not once but twice in the movie are simply annoying. Furthermore, moving statues lost its novelty. The "new" elements in the movie are lifted straight from "Harry Potter" films and "The Mummy" films, making "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" so lame. Most parts of the movie bored me.

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.

I really liked the first Night at the Museum, not bowled over, but very entertained. It had great special effects and it was great to see childhood legend Dick Van Dyke again. I was looking forward to this sequel, hoping for the same sort of entertainment. This is not a terrible film by all means, but as a sequel and film I couldn't help feeling disappointed.

Granted, the special effects were absolutely wonderful, and the cinematography, locations, costumes, sets and editing striking. Granted, the score was rousing and fun, and most of the direction solid. And granted the actors give it their all, Ben Stiller is solid if occasionally going overboard, Amy Adams and Hank Azaria are absolute hoots and Robin Williams returns as Roosevelt and along with Azaria is the standout of the actors playing the historical figures.

However, the recurring support cast aren't given much to do excepting Robin Williams, Owen Wilson is rather annoying, Napolean and Al Capone are written as quite badly-written caricatures and don't get me started on the Jonas Brothers, their presence added absolutely nothing to the proceedings and they were not funny at all. And if only there was a story and script that were consistently engaging, but the script and sight gags are very hit and miss and the story is thin, and these are further disadvantaged by the overlong length, tacky ending and too many scenes that drag.

In conclusion, watchable but quite average. 5/10 Bethany Cox

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 a world where unnecessary sequels are plaguing the movie world and are seemingly released for little other reason than to milk the 'cash cow', Night at the Museum 2 is a refreshing exception (unlike Meet the Parents 2,3,4...). It's arguably better than the first.

Although better on different levels…The historic characters are not just new and improved but also come with a greater comic value. In what the film lacks in a relatively mundane storyline, it compensates with a wonderful underlying message/moral. There's also a love story again but what struck me as more potent was the greater bond that exists between the rest of the characters; Larry and Jedediah, Jedediah and Octavius etc. The score/music was noticeably better as well, very listenable. Of course the whole picture was far more 'epic' and I, for one, am a fan of this. On the face of this, its a comedy blended perfectly with action like a cocktail of strawberry and champagne – and very much like Tropic Thunder (although on a different level of course). Hank Azaria was brilliant as Kahmunrah especially in the way he could turn from serious evil to light-hearted joker in the blink of an eye. Speaking of which, him and his trio of evil helpers were fantastic together, as am sure you'll all agree.

The one downside is that too many of the best comedy moments were shown in the trailers, so kind of dampening the effect of many of the genuinely funny moments. But there's still enough to keep you chuckling away! So should there be a third? If they can continue to make people laugh whilst rummaging through their popcorn during the action scenes, I'd day why not? After all, what is life without a bit of fun?