Night At The Museum 2: Movie Review

Night At The Museum 2: Movie Review

Rating 5/10
Cast: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria. Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan
Director: Shawn Levy
In the sequel to Night At the Museum, Ben Stiller's night guard Larry Daley is now a full time inventor, having left his twilight job at the Museum of Natural History behind him.
But on learning the gang who live at the museum (and come to life at night as you'll remember from the first film) is to be moved into Federal storage at the Smithsonian Museum, Larry sets out to try and rescue his old pals.
However, an evil Egyptian Pharaoh, (played by Hank Azaria in a scene stealing turn) has other plans and using an ancient tablet, he plots to rule the world - both inside the museum - and out.
Night At The Museum 2 is not a bad film - kids under 10 will love the animated antics and tomfoolery of the cast - and the Jonah Hill cameo as a Smithsonian guard is hilarious.
But as a piece of stand alone family entertainment, it fails to cross the spectrum of broad entertainment - and were it not for the stand out performance of Hank Azaria as a lisping megalomaniac with some great lines - and the wonderful Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart Larry's companion and would be romantic interest, this would have simply been another of those blockbuster films with special effects and little else.
There's nothing wrong with Stiller's performance as Larry, a man who's become so bewildered in life after becoming successful - and yes, there's a heavy handed message about doing what you love with people you love (an inspired message in these recessionary times) - as ever, he does that deadpan humour which has become his trademark but after a while it starts to get a bit thin.
However, the effects in the film are pretty impressive - there's been a lot of effort to bring to life various backgrounds throughout the museum and nothing's spared in making it all seem lifelike.

Ultimately though NATM2 just falls short of the mark.