Night at the Museum 2 2009

B

I enjoyed the first Night at the Museum. It wasn’t great and it went on for too long, but it had some funny moments. I was looking forward to the sequel which seems to be getting better reviews (maybe because so many people liked the first movie and the critics realized they got it wrong?).

This movie is more fun than funny. It’s just a bunch of stuff thrown out there with just a little bit of a plot to tie it all together. If you like everything in the commercials, then there is a little more in store for you. But if you think the part where the Thinker talks about his muscles is silly and stupid, watch out. There is a huge cast in this movie and they can’t all get big parts. It is just a long string of cameos. This means a lot of them are just there to move the plot along. Owen Wilson is simply not funny here. Ben Stiller is the straight man, so he can’t be that funny (though he has some good scenes). The Tuskeegee Airmen show up, not funny. Sacajawea, not funny. Amy Adams’ Amelia Earheart has a big role, but again, not that funny.

But there is a lot of action and a lot of eye candy. It’s like watching a Pixar movie almost with all kinds of crazy stuff (most of it computer generated no doubt) there to see. While Toy Story had a couple of strong leads and cast of a few very rich side characters, Night at the Museum has fairly weak leads with way too many bland side characters.

If you go to the movie to see all of the little things in the movie, I think you could be happy. I really laughed at who showed up as a NASA ground controller. And there is a bouncing red balloon dog sculpture brought to life (I’ve never seen that at the Smithsonian, but apparently is a work by artist Jeff Koons). So it really is kind of like a museum exhibit where you just go from one piece to another with some things good, some things not so much.

I’ll give this the same grade as the first one: B.

Update in 2019: I got all 3 movies on blu-ray and have been watching again. One thing about these is they are easy to watch, almost like television. You don’t expect much, but there are a lot of jokes, action, and goofy characters. You never really get tired of anything because it jumps around so much. My opinion of the movie is much the same though. There are some good jokes from time to time, but not as many as you would think given the cast and the number of characters. The blu-ray has some good extras, one showing how hard a time Robin Williams had keeping a straight face as his Smithsonian character, a bust of Teddy Roosevelt, deciphers some hieroglyphics, which is a very good scene. While there is a lot of CGI, there are also a lot of practical effects too. Still, except for some sparks, it is mostly a letdown.

Written: 24 May 2009

Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital