Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining sequel as the Exhibits are moved to the Smithsonian, 25 May 2009
This review is based on having been to see the film in the cinema with my family.
Although the film can stand on its' own, it is a sequel to the original "A Night at the Museum" film (2006), which was very loosely based on the book by by Milan Trenc. There are a lot of little details which will be amusing or poignant to viewers who had seen the first film but will go completely over the heads of those who have not. I would advise anyone who is thinking of going to see this and hasn't watched the first film to rent or buy that one first.
Both films are based on the idea of museums in which all the exhibits come to life at night. Where the first film was played occasionally for drama but mostly for laughs, this film is played for laughs from start to finish. It's no great work of art, but it aims to be funny and entertaining and often succeeds.
As someone who liked the first film a lot, I didn't think this was quite up to the same standard, but my seven-year old twins really enjoyed it, while my wife and I coped by switching off our critical faculties, ignoring the holes in the plot, and just enjoying the humour.
With the exceptions of Carla Gugino as Rebecca the receptionist, and of Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs as the outgoing night guards, almost all the star-studded cast of the first film get at least cameo roles in this one.
Ben Stiller returns as the central character Larry Daley, Jake Cherry as his son Nick, and Ricky Gervais as Dr. McPhee, the Director of the New York museum of natural history.
Robin Williams reprises his role as the statue of President Teddy Roosevelt, Patrick Gallagher as the statue of Attila The Hun, and Mizuo Peck as the statue of Sacajawea (the Indian guide who guided Lewis and Clark, while Rami Malek returns for a brief cameo of his role as Pharoah Ahkmenrah.
Those who liked the previous film will probably be pleased to learn that, apart from Ben Stiller, the characters from that film who get the most significant parts in this one are the tiny Roman and cowboy leaders, Octavius and Jedediah, played by Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson - and this time Wilson gets the billing he should have had in the first film.
New characters in this film include a very feisty statue of Amelia Earhart, played by Amy Adams, wearing a pair of form fitting trousers which will give dads a good reason to follow her scenes closely, especially when the camera angles are from behind.
Also joining in the fun are Bill Hader as a statue of General George Armstrong Custer, and Hank Azaria who gets three roles: he plays the film's villain, Kahmunrah, who is the elder brother of Pharoah Akmenrah from the first film, Rodin's statue "The Thinker" and President Abe Lincoln's statue from the Lincoln Memorial.
Former World Heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman has a cameo role as himself.
The sequel is set some two years after the original film. Larry Daley, who as an unsuccessful inventor took a job as Night Guard at the New York museum of Natural History, has finally managed to become successful and is now CEO of his own company. He occasionally returns to the museum to see his old friends. At the start of the film he comes back to find almost all of them being packed away in boxes. The board has decided to replace most of the exhibits with holographic projections and put the originals into storage in the federal archives underneath the Smithsonian Institute at Washington D.C.
The gold plate of Akmenrah which causes everything in the museum to come to life at night was supposed to stay in New York: but a naughty monkey grabs it, and it is taken to Washington. Larry gets a phone call, and realises that everything in the largest museum in the world is going to come to life. Worse, one of the exhibits in the Smithsonian is the mummy of the brother of Akmenrah, who knows what the plate can do, and is out for revenge, to conquer the world, etc ...
As you would expect from a film with such a big name cast, there is some really good acting: Stiller does a good job of playing "straight man" to the absurd events around him, Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson are brilliant as the tiny heroes, and Hader is mostly entertainingly mad as Custer, though he is given a rather poignant serious scene towards the end of the film. Hank Azaria repeatedly cracked me up by playing the Egyptian baddie with a lisping parody of an effete English aristocratic accent.
But probably the best performance is by Amy Adams, who quite steals the show with her zestful performance as the statue of Amelia Earhart and would have been worth watching even without the daringly tight trousers.
Quality of the humour varies enormously, some of it is pretty basic slapstick such as Ben Stiller getting slapped on the cheek by a pair of monkeys, but one or two moments and lines, which I had better not describe for fear of spoiling them, were absolute classics.
Not everyone will like this film: it has taken something of a caning from the critics, and anyone who tries to take it seriously will end up picking it to pieces. However, most children aged between about six and twelve will probably love it, especially if they liked the previous film. Adults who can suspend disbelief, forget how ridiculous the whole thing is, and just enjoy the ride should also be able to enjoy it. I will buy the DVD for my children when it comes out.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Outstays its welcome, 14 Jun 2009
This follow up to the entertaining fantasy starring Ben Stiller as a museum guard for whom the exhibits come to life at night, is still fun but is ultimately less than the sum of its parts. This movie sees Stiller's character, Larry, running a successful company based on his less than imaginative inventions; when he drops by his old work place he is told by Ricky Gervais' museum manager that the old exhibits are being cleared out and stored in Washington's Smithsonian Museum, whilst the old museum opts for more state of the are interactive exhibits. When he realizes that the enchanted Egyptian tablet that enables the waxworks, stuffed animals, and other exhibits, to come to life at night, will not be going with the others, Larry is galvanized into action to save his friends from an eternity frozen in packing cases.
The thin premise is really just an excuse for a series of set pieces and CGI marvels, as Rodean's `Thinker', three love ballad singing cherubs, a giant squid, and aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, all come to life and are recruited into Larry's army. Their task is made harder when evil pharaoh Kahmunrah also awakens; with a dastardly plot to use the tablet to release and unleash his hordes of bird-headed warriors into our world. Hank Azaria plays this role with camp relish, whilst `Enchanted's' Amy Adams is plucky, perky (and not a little frisky) as the plane obsessed Earhart. Bill Hader's cowardly General Custer is also good value, but one of the problems with this movie is that there are so many characters and so much going on that there is little time for any plot or character development.
After 90 minutes, my five year old daughter and I were equally restless, and the shoe-horning in of a belated romance between Larry and Earhart just prolongs the film unnecessarily. Stiller is his usual twitchy New Yorker, whilst Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan make a welcome return as cowboy and Roman Legionnaire respectively. Robin Williams is as you'd expect reprising his role as Teddy Roosevelt, and a giant statue of Abraham Lincoln also comes to life impressively. Ultimately though, this doesn't quite know whether it's a family or a kids' movie; as a spectacle it's great, but would have benefitted from being at least 30 minutes shorter than its 2 hour running time.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Meh of a mehness, 25 May 2009
The magic formula that was so abundant in the first one is sorely lacking in this, the second. Night at the Museum was excellent because it felt like it sort of stumbled across something lovely - it was the group of mates that get together in someone's garage and throw together something wonderfully haphazard and joyous. The sequel, though, falls foul of the Tricky Second Album Curse with its taking itself far too seriously and being far too polished.
That's not to say it doesn't have its good points. Larry (Ben Stiller) has left the museum having made his fortune selling, amongst other Price Drop TVesque tat, a torch that glows in the dark. (Quite want one.)
He's called back to the museum on what turns out to be the night before most of the exhibits are packed in crates and taken away - some to the Smithsonian, others to the great exhibition in the sky. When they get there, the tablet that brought all the characters to life in the first outing is still making with the jiggerypokery, and it brings to life Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria), an ancient Egyptian dictator type with a lisp who wants to rule the world.
So, with the help of friends from the first, and new friend Amelia Earhart (played delightfully by Amy Adams - who appears to be starring in almost any film you care to mention... how is she doing that? I suspect Disney actually created her, then made loads of copies) he has to wrestle power back from naughty mummy-dude and underlings, Napoleon and Al Capone.
If it doesn't sound overly interesting, it's cos it's not. It's too aware of itself, and it's all a little cynical and lacklustre. If you've seen the trailers, with mummy-dude taunting Darth Vader, you've seen the best bit. It's still a phenomenal cast, with luminaries-British such as Ricky Gervais and Steve Coogan reprising their roles, along with luminaries-non-British such as Owen Wilson and Robin Williams also reprising their roles, and luminaries-sort-of-British, such as Christopher Guest... plus it has monkeys dressed as people which is always funny. And yet, it manages to disappoint.
A perfectly nice family film, but it has very little replay value, and older kids and adults won't be nearly as charmed as little folk.
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