Night at the Museum 2 (**½)

Directed by: Shawn Levy
Starring: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria, Robin Williams, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais
Seen: June 14th 20009

**½ Out of ****

Since this film was released in South Africa on May 22nd, I’ve been avoiding it like the plague. Until I was presented with a long weekend with the opportunity to watch everything showing, that is. The trailers made the film look bad, truly bad. Some story elements were presented out of context in the trailer in such a way that they looked incredibly stupid.

That said; let’s get down to the film. The opening credits give the viewer a quick run-through of the characters from the first film, as they are packed away to be moved to Washington D.C., and, more particularly, the Smithsonian, the biggest museum in the world. But not to be used as displays, only to be put away in the Smithsonian’s massive storage spaces underground. The Smithsonian is also not only one building, but pretty much the entire Washington Mall.

Larry Daley (Stiller), the night guard from the first film, is now a well-known TV-inventor, and as he goes to the museum one last time upon seeing them packing things up, he hears of the fate of all of the displays. That night, after the displays have reached the Smithsonian, things come to life again, as the magic Egyptian tablet was also moved to the new museum. Here the evil pharaoh Kahmunrah (Azariah), Ahkmenrah’s older brother, is after the tablet. And in the heat of the first night’s battle Jedidiah (Wilson) calls Larry for help at the new museum, so he sets off for the Smithsonian.

Once there he is faced with Kahmunrah, and in the first hectic chase, he runs past Amelia Earhart (Adams). She joins up with him and for the rest of the night they either evade the bad guys, who include Napoleon, Ivan the Terrible and a black & white Al Capone, or try to save their friends from bad guy threats.

The film is filled with good guffaws right through, a bunch of smart little “historical cameos” everywhere. Particularly entertaining was the group of small bobble-head doll Einsteins. And the giant marble Abraham Lincoln (Azaria again). Also the stupid Thinker (Azaria, yet again). The kissing nurse artwork makes an appearance, the Easter Island Head is back, the Jonas Brothers make an appearance as three pretty annoying Cherubs, and even a mute Darth Vader shows up.

The relationship between Larry and Amelia Earhart is not apparent at first, but as the Cherubs/Cupids come into play, the two become slightly closer and closer as time passes through all their adventures. This made for the smartest moment in the film, right at the end, that can make people believe that the right one is out there, yet again set to the soothing tones of Coldplay’s music.

Night at the Museum 2 is not better than the first, but neither is it worse, it is just plain brain-dead entertainment, and it sure is fun enough, with some great laughs. So there’s no reason not to enjoy it.