Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com Ben Stiller and director/producer Shawn Levy have worked together for quite some time now. It may not seem like much but Levy has been attached to a number of Mr. Stiller's films. For a partnership to occur, there are always pros and cons. A positive side to this would be that the two are comfortable with each other. They know their quirks, habits, preferences, attitude and whatever else. This means the possibility of having conflicting ideas is slim to none. However, the downside to this kind of double act is that if not looked after, the method of which going about making certain projects becomes repetitive and no longer unique. In other words, the people working on the project begin to get lazy with what they are doing and do not put much extra thought into it. Unfortunately it seems as though the sequel to the hit family film Night at the Museum (2006) went more of a marketing direction.Audiences who saw the first movie reconnect with now ex-night guard Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) as the owner and inventor of Daley Devices. Turns out a few months after Daley found his dream job, which was working at the Museum of Natural History, his own business took off and left the museum to pursue his own goals. As a result, the owner Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais) agreed with the board of directors that it is time to retire the physical models and put in new technology for people to enjoy because "everybody loves new technology". With that, all of Daley's friends from the first movie get shipped off to the Smithsonian in DC where they get stored with all the other kinds of ancient artifacts. But when it turns out the mystical tablet that brings everyone to life was also shipped to the Smithsonian and Ahkmenrah's (Rami Malek) brother Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) wants the tablet to release his army from the underworld, Daley decides he needs to get it back before the whole Smithsonian becomes a mess.The script penned by the writers from before (Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon) demonstrated that they favored more special appearances than anything else. The plot exists but it takes a backseat to a lot of special effects and a forced subplot. Seriously though there are a lot of appearances by other characters/actors. There's scenes with Eugene Levy, Jonah Hill, Clint Howard, George Foreman, Caroll Spinney, Christopher Guest, Jay Baruchel, Alain Chabat, Jon Bernthal and even a dark lord of the sith (and that doesn't even go with a museum). That's also just the tip of the iceberg. Then you have the main new additions consisting of Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart and Bill Hader as General Custer. Now add that to the original cast of the first movie and you see there's a lot to look after. It's nice and all to see these various individuals show up but some of it feels rushed while others feel out of place. One of those parts that feels really out of place is the romance between Larry and Amelia Earhart. The idea of having Teddy Roosevelt and Sacajawea having a romance is acceptable because they both know where they stand. However, a human and a wax figure? Who thought of including that in the script? Wasn't Daley's life turned around at the end of the last movie anyway?The humor to this movie does feel like it was improved a little but unfortunately it still misses several times. Ben Stiller finally doesn't react so jitterishly but his character is still forced to do things he doesn't want to do. Either that or incessant bickering between him and Kahmunrah. The actor who probably had the best comedic moments was Hank Azaria as Kahmunrah, there are some moments that feel more spontaneous than scripted. The special effects although overabundant are creative in a number of ways and it is interesting to see how all the other pieces of artwork come to life due to the tablet. It does bring up a question as to what's the signal strength of this tablet? At first it seemed as if it only reached from with inside the Museum of Natural History. Now it seems as if it go beyond state borders. How does that work? That's also not the only noticeable thing left unchecked. There are lots of damages that occur and yet later on none of it is spoken of? And how does one sneak into the Smithsonian with nobody else seeing what's going on? Don't they have night guards?The cinematography shot by John Schwartzman who has worked on all ranges of projects either wide scale (Armageddon (1998)) or small (Airheads (1994)) looks adequate for this film. Some of it is CGI driven but most of the scenes nicely capture the grand scope of how vastly enormous the Smithsonian is and how many things are kept locked away. Schwartzman also went on to film for The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and Jurassic World (2015). Creating the film score is returning composer Alan Silvestri from the first film. Silvestri maintains the wondrous main theme from the first entry and expands on that by including new tracks. One specific track is more synthetic because it involves Larry infiltrating the Smithsonian. Another track sounds more like his work from that of The Mummy Returns (2001) because of Kahmunrah's army from the underworld. Is it worth collecting? Not exactly, but it still is an easygoing listening experience.This sequel really tries by giving its fans some improved humor and loads of historical characters and other actor cameos but that's really where it gets hung up. The music, cinematography, acting and special effects are all commendable, but it attempts to tackle more than it can handle leading to a forced romance and a lot of continuity errors.

Amy Edwards Night At The Museum was a great movie. The idea was genuine and it was a pleasure to discover all the great characters in human history coming back to life and transform the New York Museum of Natural History into a very big mess.But this sequel lost a lot of its magic mostly because of a bad written plot. The scriptwriters probably thought that moving the story into the biggest museum in the world and adding dozens of new characters would keep us entertained. But you need much more to achieve it. From the beginning. Larry, who we left as an ordinary man, now is a powerful and tyrannic CEO who pushes his staff to cancel their family place to make business. He's also manipulating his lamp like Bruce Lee. Why did they do that? Why not just keeping Larry as a continued night guard having fun at each shift when the museum came alive? Thankfully there are some characters who are really enjoyable to see like the lovely Amy Adams, who stars as Amelia Earhart, the first woman who crossed the Atlantic Ocean with her plane. She really steals the show throughout the movie. The other one is the villain, Kahmunrah, played by Hank Azaria, the evil twin brother of Ahkmenrah who wants to steal the tablet in order to rule the World. Azaria, who also voice the Thinker and President Lincoln, is really showing his huge talent as a comedian. Anyway I'm deceived to not see Robin Williams as much as I did in the first movie. It would have been great to see him throughout the entire movie instead of some scenes there and there.In brief, this movie is not as good as the first one but it's still worth to watch in Family.

SnoopyStyle Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) has moved on from his night watchman job. The American Museum of Natural History is closed for renovations. The exhibits are moved to the Smithsonian in Washington where they must battle the forces of evil Pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) for the Tablet of Ahkmenrah.Basically it's a story looking for an excuse to bring in new characters and a new location. A lot of the charm is missing mainly due to the fact that many of the characters are separated and reduced in role. There is one great addition. Amy Adams is fantastic as Amelia Earhart and she makes a great duo with Ben Stiller.

Holden Caine Larry Daley (Ben Stiller), the somewhat reluctant security guard assigned to keep a museum, filled with exhibits that come to life at night, secure returns for a sequel to the first film, in which he visits the Smithsonian museum to rescue some of his friends that have been shipped out to its archives due to the museum manager (Ricky Gervais)'s desire to replace them with modern, interactive exhibits in a bid to attract visitors. That mischievous monkey from the first film also steals the tablet that gives the exhibits life as his latest prank. Joining him for the sequel are some familiar faces. Hank Azaria of Simpsons fame makes an appearance as the over-the-top villain of the film, clearly taking a leaf out of Michael Palin's book by effectively replicating the latter's portrayal of Pontius Pilate in Life of Brian, what with the lisp and bizarre facial expressions et cetera. Due to this similarity the comedic quality of this character is limited - provided Monty Python's classic has not passed you by - but he still retains enough charisma to make him watchable. Amy Adams features as the adventurous Amelia Earhart, whom Larry Daley meets as he runs through the chaotic archives, and together they blunder around the Smithsonian, all the while being pursued by typically useless Ancient Egyptian security guards. This section of the film drags on a little but the tension builds as Daley is given a time limit to find a combination to open a door to Ancient Egypt in order to save his cowboy friend Jedediah (Owen Wilson). Einstein bobble-heads, a statue of Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon, Ivan the Terrible, Al Capone and others encounter them on their way, and eventually, in time to save Jedediah, Daley returns and wages a battle against the evil pharaoh and another bunch of useless Ancient Egyptians that have emerged from the portal the pharaoh opened up. The question of 'why did lisp pharaoh want to open the portal so badly if all it bore was yet more incompetent guards?' remains, but the producers add a deliberate action sequence to take your mind off it straight away. The outcome is predictable, but the heart of the film shows itself a few moments later as the exhibits are returned and it becomes obvious that Daley has developed certain feelings towards Amelia and is upset to see her return to a lifeless eternity in the archives of the Smithsonian. Daley leaves his job as CEO of his own company in order to return to the museum, where business is flourishing courtesy of the active nightlife of the exhibits becoming common knowledge (surely people noticed a living, breathing mammoth enter the museum at the end of the first film, and would therefore have spread the word already? No?), and there meets an Amelia Earhart lookalike, blatantly played by the same actress disguised by a pair of spectacles. Larry isn't fooled, though, and the film ends with him asking her whether they are related, receiving a disappointing answer. Then, we have another scene portraying the prosperous nature of the museum, and the film ends. This is a perfectly conclusive ending to the film, and the production company's decision to make it a trilogy seems unnecessary.From a critical point of view, the film has its flaws. The plot is nothing special, the villain is frustrating at times, it offers little more than the first film in terms of subject matter and the acting is far from outstanding, but none of these problems will affect the main target audience, children looking for a fun family movie to enjoy. In that respect it's good, the highlight comedy-wise being Larry's argument with Brunden (Brundon?), the overweight Smithsonian security guard played by Jonah Hill. For adults, there's little to enjoy about Night At The Museum 2, but if you're in need of a family movie to get the kids out of the way while you're doing important business, this could be your movie. If you're in that situation, rent this. If not, then there's better quality cinema out there. 6/10.