Movie Review: Night At The Museum 2

My family enjoyed the original Night at the Museum movie when it was released around Christmas 2006, finding it to be something that both parents and children would find enjoyable to view together. In the original movie Ben Stiller and cast captured our imaginations as they did an admirable job of taking museum artifacts and watching them come alive.

This past Saturday I had an opportunity to spend some special time with our children so I took them to see the sequel, Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian, but I must tell you that unless you are a preteen just as my kids are, you might have wished that you were watching something else instead.

In brief, “Museum 2″ failed to live up to the original delivering a movie that was plodding, contrived and actually pretty dull. Fun for the kiddies (my children liked it), the 105 minute sequel was an endurance test, one that parents need to be aware of should your kids want to see this movie instead of Disney’s Up.

Caution: Spoiler Included

I’m not going to spoil things for the person who hasn’t seen Museum 2 (at least completely), but I will share enough things about the sequel to help you understand how difficult it was for me to sit through all of the commercials, endless previews and then the movie itself.  Let’s just say that Larry Daley’s (Ben Tiller) new career heading up a glow in the dark flashlight company was an interesting twist, but taking up his old career again was not.

After many of the artifacts at New York’s American Museum of Natural History were sent to federal archives in Washington, DC, Daley and company went to our nation’s capital to continue his exploits with a mind to rescue his trapped friends. Sure enough, the nineteen museums compromising the Smithsonian Institute became the drama point for the sequel which would have been fine except the entire story was drawn out perhaps a half an hour or so longer than necessary.

But, we know that 75 minute movies just don’t cut it with audiences wanting at least 100 minutes of entertainment in order to get their money’s worth and finish their popcorn. Or drink some five dollar soda.

Marrying New Characters With Old

Many, many of the old characters from the original movie returned for Museum 2. After all, when the American Museum of Natural Science decided to replace their dusty exhibits with the latest technological gadgetry, there was no longer room for the characters played by Owen Wilson, Robin Williams, Mizuo Peck and others to stay there. Instead, they were crated off to DC along with the famous magical tablet, given a fresh setting to reprise their roles as well as to come up against new characters representing Amelia Earhart, Napoleon Bonaparte, Al Capone and some of history’s most interesting people and cartoons.

By also including Darth Vader and Grover from Sesame Street that decision may have been fun for the kids, but just having the heavy breathing of Vader without the voice of James Earl Jones lost something of significance. Oh, and don’t get me started with comments about the trio of pesky floating, singing cherubs.

Mercifully, the movie was over some 2+ hours after all the commercials and previews began which were in themselves annoying enough to make the wait extra long. Unfortunately, by the time that the show was supposed to get going, it got hung up in several different subplots and a strange and forgettable scene where Stiller dueled it out with another Smithsonian security guard in order to gain access to the secreted archives dwelling beneath the Smithsonian.

Then again I’m a cranky old guy and there isn’t much other kiddie fare I’m looking forward to watching besides Cars 2: The Sequel. That movie won’t be coming out until Summer 2011 so in the meantime I’ll have to see if Disney’s Up meets the challenge or forces me to settle back, yawn and nod off.

Photo Credit: Jerry Avenaim