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'Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian'
This wasn't supposed to happen. A sequel to a mildly amusing family adventure flick isn't supposed to be funny, entertaining and easily the most delightful film seen this year, yet, despite nearly the same plot from its predecessor and most of the same jokes, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is a blast. But please, the sequel to 2006's mammoth hit Night at the Museum (it made over half a billion worldwide, not counting DVD sales), is world class summer fare, not to be confused with anything artsy or deep. Instead, its mayhem keeps its target in mind and presents not only silliness and an upsurd amount of witticisms, but a good dose of historical education to boot.
Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is back, yet this time he's successful. When his needless gadget company is booming, Larry is knee-deep in Blackberry calls and business suits. But the perils of success makes lovable Larry a sad sack. Lucky for him, his former posse made up of Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), mini Jed (Owen Wilson), mini Octavius (Steve Coogan) and the Huns and Neanderthals, are there to point it out. However, Larry's absence in the museum has left the exhibits without an advocate, forcing them to be replaced with technologically advanced features like a buggy holographic President Teddy. The exhibits next stop? Buried in the Federal Archives -a basement- at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.
Shortly before yet another late night business meeting, Larry receives a mysterious call from Jed screaming about Egyptian pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) coming back to life. Quickly, Larry embarks to D.C. and discovers what the ruckus is. As he soon learns, the Tablet of Akmenrah has brought back to life some of history's greatest villains including Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Al Capone (Jon Bernthal) and Napoleon (Alain Chabat). With his friends in grave danger, Larry, alongside Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), works towards ridding the world of Kahmunrah before he unleashes his army of the dead. Sounds treacherous, but with a giant stone Abe Lincoln on your side, who can be against you?
While Stiller is in vintage form, easily the break-out performances are courtesy of Amy Adams and Hank Azaria. Adams, through her exuberant charm, makes any scene that is lucky enough to include her, instantly better. Azaria not only plays Kahmunrah hilariously, but pulls voice duty on The Thinker (who turns out to be a meathead) and Honest Abe, who turns Battle of the Smithsonian into his own playground. SNL funnyman Bill Hader as General Custer is humorous though, tragically for the notorious scene-stealer, winds up being more annoying that pleasant.
As fun as Shawn Levy's film is, viewers can not escape the fact that in order to get the Smithsonian's approval to film in the museum, certain measures had to be taken. Namely, it was turning the film into a giant advertisement. This pales in comparison to other features that blatantly showcase Coke cans in every scene or that every citizen has been assigned a Ford to drive. That aside, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is one fun drive through Popcornville.
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