Movie Review: Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

Sorry for my rare appearance around our blog but it's been a wee bit crazy around here. Two of my dearest friends were over the other day and mentioned they had really been wanting to go to see Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian at the 'cheap theater' in Pleasant Hills. So I decided to write up a movie review on the movie....I think our family will end up owning it or seeing it again soon. :) (Just click the title of the movie anywhere in this post to see a review of the movie from PluggedinOnline.com)

A few weeks ago, when dear Gabrielle was still here, we saw the aforementioned movie at the same theater. Then we went out to Arby's for their Wednesday freebie! All together, the night ended costing my parents about eight to ten dollars for us all to see a movie together and get drinks and huge sandwiches afterwards. Aren't we frugal thinkers? :) The movie was hilarious and we laughed uproariously through out it. The giant squid was a teeny bit gross but not entirely repulsive. Most of the characters from the first movie return, including Teddy Roosevelt (though not as much as in the first one) Sacajawea, Jedidiah, Octavius, Dexter the monkey, with a whole bunch of equally hilarious characters strictly from the Smithsonian museum.

The Plot of Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

Larry Daley is now a big-shot CEO of his own company with a Blackberry and Blue tooth to boot! His friends at New York's Museum of Natural History are rather annoyed and offended by him as he rarely comes to see them anymore. One evening he visits the museum and speaks with the manager of the museum (who is equally as unhappy with Larry as his friends) and Larry learns that all of his friends, Attila, Cavemen, Sacajawea, Dexter, the miniatures and more are all going to be shipped to the Smithsonian's Federal Archives. The tablet of Akmunrah is staying in the museum as well as Teddy Roosevelt. Larry learns this, alarmed, and asks when this will all take place, in between cell-phone calls, he learns that this night when he visits, is their 'last night.' Their move to perpetual sleep in the Federal Archives is because of the new hologramic (if that's a word) exhibits. Bummed out, Larry asks Teddy what he can do but then his cell phone rings just as the sun rises. After he finally shuts the cell off, Teddy is back to wax. Larry goes back to his apartment to look more into the Smithsonian Institute. He is doing research when his phone rings and he hears Jedidiah's voice and much hubbub in the background. Jedidiah haltingly explains that the "monkey stole the dad-blamed tablet!" And there's some guy there who really wants it and says it's rightfully his. This 'guy' is Kahmunrah, Akmunrah's older brother who feels the tablet rightfully belongs to him to bring back his army from the underworld and control the world.

Larry, with the aid of his son Nicky via cellphone, goes into the Smithsonian, steals a security guard's ID card, and sneaks into the bottom of the huge museum-that in truth is many buildings that make up the Smithsonian institute. The Federal archives are stories under all the buildings and Larry goes down there in a race against the sunset. The whole movie is the span of about a very long night. Amy Adams plays the tight-pants clad Amelia Earhart whose every other word is 20's or Depression-era slang-we loved it! She's very spunky, opinionated, and takes a liking to Larry. He handles the situation nicely without telling her until almost the end that she'll be wax again by morning. They race against the clock and the group of wannabe world dominators, Napolean, Ivan the Terrible and Al Capone-all with their respective soldiers and cronies, led by Kahmunrah.

Along the way they see a gigantic Lincoln from his memorial, a giant squid, and many, many other unforgettable characters that will leave you holding your sides with laughter. Not the least of which are the Einstein bobble-heads in the Smithsonian gift-shop and the three, ever singing stone cupids that seem to pop up around Amelia and Larry when least expected. The cupids had Sara and I almost rolling on the floor laughing as they started singing two recognizable songs. The credits read: Cupid 1: Joe Jonas, Cupid 2: Nick Jonas and Cupid 3: Kevin Jonas. Sara and I were howling!!! One of my favorite parts was when Amelia Earhart and Larry Daley were in the art building being chased and the paintings have come to life via the tablet!! One of pictures was the famous WWII picture of the sailor and nurse smootching in Times Square. To get away from the bad-guys, the two hop into the picture and dodge the group of power-seekers.

Moral Issues:

They say the 'd' word twice and take the Lord's name in vain, regrettably, more than once. For a PG movie (only rated because of the 'd' word and some mild violence) that's pretty good.

Amelia and Larry kiss twice and Larry kisses the nurse in the picture to evade the bad guys. Also, Amelia Earhart, aka: Amy Adams, where's very tight pants that look much like jodpurs-what most horse-back riders where.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else halfway to objectionable. Even the previews before the movie were a bunch of commericials and one movie preview-that's pretty good!

(Gabrielle, I'm adopting your family's movie rating system!) Out of five stars-five being the best and one being the worst, I'd give Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian a 4.25. :) There was no call to take the Lord's name in vain or to swear-like in the first one. Overall it was a hilariously funny film and very sweet. After Amelia and Larry say goodbye, and she flies her plane back to the Smithsonian, there is an absolutely sweet twist when Larry visits the 'new' museum full of 'holographic' exhibits. That's all I'll say-my mom will probably say I gave away waaay too much already, so I'll be done now. :)