It’s hard not to compare Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian with the sequel to National Treasure; both are family oriented sequels with a faux-spin encouraging an interest in history. National Treasure creates its own conspiratorial links between famous historical references while Night at the Museum just throws it all in a blender and hits “Puree”. Any educational value the films could have had is drowned out by the screaming multitudes of anachronistic characters (or facts) leveraged in favor of cheap one-liners to make the star’s appearance at its center worth the budgetary expense. But was it? With all the cameo appearances in the film, some of which are utterly wasted by lack of screen time, how important was it to have Ben Stiller reprise his role?
After the events of the first film, Larry Daley (Stiller) started his own line of electronics and quit his job as a night guard at the museum. Returning some time later, he discovers that the exhibits which made his job film-worthy are being packed up and moved to storage in the Smithsonian to be replaced by digital exhibits. There’s a very important notion about how America preserves and remembers its history, but it’s swept aside rather quickly in favor of establishing a reason why Larry would have to go to Washington, D.C. to aid his exhibitionist friends who’ve come under fire in the large underground storage of the country’s largest chain of museums. It turns out the rascal monkey which caused no shortage of mischief in the first film pilfered the magical tablet. Now, all the exhibits of the Smithsonian are running wild and it’s up to Larry to battle the dictatorial Egyptian Pharaoh (Hank Azaria) with plans to open a gate to the underworld.
Wait what?
The film throws off any context of sense, beyond that which it already discarded to allow museum exhibits to come to life. But now it suddenly feels very congested. I didn’t think there was a way to make the concept feel even more unwieldy but they did it. Azaria’s character could have any number of reasons to want the tablet (prolong its effects, control its power, etc.) but they chose to throw in some nonsense about opening up an interdimensional portal wherein a bunch of eagle-headed soldiers await. The bi-species soldiers actually make it even more confusing because it’s originally explained as a gateway to the land of the dead where the Pharaoh’s dead army awaits – so his army, back in the day of his reign, had eagle heads? There are so many issues and to attempt to look at the film critically is like trying to tell Eugene Ionesco that teachers aren’t supposed to kill their students. Obviously he knows that, and it’s also pretty clear the film doesn’t care about making sense, but that doesn’t make the whole situation any less confusing.
Stiller dials back his normal neuroticism to play a man with some semblance of control in his life. He knows the routine of exhibits coming to life but now he finds comfort in the relationships and even refuge in the comparative simplicity to his current business-oriented life managing his company. I’m not a fan of Stiller’s work most of the time, but there’s a level of self-control in his performance here that makes his role rather entertaining at times.
The strength of both Night at the Museum films was and forever will be the sheer volume of cameos by recognizable faces. Long-time Stiller friend Owen Wilson reprises his role as a miniature cowboy, although he’s trapped in an hourglass for the last 30 minutes so other stars fill in. The fillers include Bill Hader as General Custer, Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt, Christopher Guest as Ivan the Terrible, Steve Coogan as Octavius, and the two show-stealers Azaria as the villain and Amy Adams as the oddly-positioned love interest Amelia Earhart. Azaria ought to have more work considering how superbly he handles himself in even the smallest roles whereas Amy Adams may give the best performance in the film as the ill-fated pilot who just radiates pure energy (as she always does) and a can-do spirit befitting the character.
The film’s special effects aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, which is surprising considering how CGI-heavy it is. At some points the animated portions fit seamlessly with the real characters while others, like a giant squid, barely pass as decent. The Blu-ray presentation only makes the glaring differences between the real and the animated more painful, though otherwise the film has great visual presentation even if it’s filmed in a very Blockbuster 101 style.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Blu-ray presentation deserves lots of credit for cramming the set (all extras are on the Blu-ray but with a DVD of the film included) with loads of extra features and a digital copy. Besides a decent gag reel (with all the comic talent in this film, the gag reel better be good) and a bunch of deleted scenes, there’s a very generic behind the scenes segment guided by Stiller and another with Hank Azaria as he explains his character and how he creates him. One featurette goes into detail of how the art gallery segment (where characters jump in and out of famous pictures) was created and the final content-based extra has the Jonas Brothers preparing for their roles as the singing cherubs…a gag that doesn’t really fly too well in the film. Finally, “Historical Confessions: Famous Last Words” attempts to re-infuse the project with historical relevance while “Cavemen Conversations: Survival of the Wittiest” gives a little extra screen time to some of the smaller side characters whom, like the Jonas Brothers, don’t really warrant an extra feature. A few activities round out the set with games led by the film’s two monkeys and an animated feature which has you “find” things around the museum.
"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" is on sale December 1, 2009 and is rated PG. Adventure, Comedy. Directed by Shawn Levy. Written by Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon. Starring Amy Adams, Ben Stiller, Bill Hader, Hank Azaria, Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais, Robin Williams, Steve Coogan, Christopher Guest.
