Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
Starring: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria, and Robin Williams
Directed by: Shawn Levy
Running Time: 105 minutes
Ratings: PG
Movie Review
I think a stipulation should be made in terms of reviewing kids movies. It’s hard to say “this worked, that didn’t work” when at the end of the day, a kid is going to like the movie no matter what. Partly because a kid likes shiny things, mostly because kids have horrible taste.
The first Night at the Museum is a fun movie with key elements: a tangible story for kids to follow, funny comedic moments, and inspired performances. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian doesn’t have any of these. The story picks up with Ben Stiller as a successful “inventor”. He has since left his night guard job at the museum and is highly successful in his new venture. When he finds out that all of the artifacts that took part in his adventure in the first movie are being sent to the archives in the Smithsonian, he goes out of his way to stop them before it’s too late. What follows is a very loose, flimsy-at best-story that ultimately leaves the adult viewer not caring about what they just saw. There was a lot at stake in the first Museum, but here, there doesn’t seem to be any. If Stiller’s character cared about his museum friends, why did he leave in the first place? Why, now that he’s a successful “inventor” with a TV show and tons of money, does he decide that he NEEDS to save the museum artifacts? The underlying theme that the characters talk about in the movie is making sure you’re happy, and doing what you love. That part I liked about it and is honestly a pretty good message to kids that are often bombarded with material issues and social status dictating how they live their lives.
The story then follows a plotline with Hank Azaria’s character, a pharaoh named Kahmunrah, and a tablet that will allow him to summon an army and take over the world. If you can find a little kid that can follow this convoluted storyline, then have that kid watch Memento after this. The story doesn’t make any sense, and really is a chance for Ben Stiller to run around the Smithsonian complex and interact with various parts of history including the Tuskeegee Airman, the statue The Thinker, famous paintings here and there and a Teddy Roosevelt bust. The various paintings, sculptures and historical figures are actually one of the high points for anyone that follows history or the arts and makes for good, referential eye candy.
Overall, the performances are pretty good. Amy Adams is great as Amelia Earhart, Ben Stiller didn’t necessarily sleepwalk through but did seem lackadaisical in his role. Ricky Gervais, Jonah Hill, Christopher Guest and Robin Williams were all very funny in their respective roles. I just wish I could say the same for Hank Azaria. His Pharoah character annoyed me to no end and I cringed every time he came on screen and since he’s the antagonist of the flick, he was on screen a lot. Even being a big fan of the dude, I still couldn’t find anything to like about his character.
Crave Factor – 4
Video
The quality on this is pretty disappointing considering it’s Blu-ray and all. Just for kicks I threw in the DVD and honestly couldn’t tell the difference between that and the Blu-ray. I guess the high point was seeing the Avatar trailer in full HD, which looked phenomenal.
Crave Factor – 3
Audio
English 5.1 DTS-HD
Crave Factor – 5
Features
Commentary by director Shawn Levy – Shawn Levy comes across very passionate in this commentary, but also has one of the key components for a listenable commentary: energy.
Commentary by writers Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon – The boys from Reno 911 and The State start off the commentary by chastising the viewer for listening to a commentary by two writers of the film when they could be finding a hobby or going outside. Good stuff. The ADD set will love these guys talking since they’re all over the place.
“Scavenger Hunt Mode” – In this little game, you’re given four items to find that show up at various moments in the movie. Once the item is spotted, say George Foreman for example, you push the corresponding button (in the PS3 case, a colored button) and if you’re right, the item disappears, and if you’re wrong, a buzzer sounds. The items change chapter after chapter. A neat feature, especially for kids who would wind up watching this over and over.
“Curators of Comedy: Behind the Scenes of Night at the Museum 2” – Your standard behind the scenes documentary. There’s a lot of talk about how the set pieces were amped up, the action amped up and the inclusion of more historical figures.
“Historical Confessions: Famous Last Words” – Interviews four of the historical figures that play a big part in the film, General Custer, Al Capone, Napolean Bonaparte and Ivan the Terrible. The interviews are all done in character as they’re asked about the other figures in the movie. Short feature, pretty funny though.
“Directing 101: A Day in the Life of Shawn Levy” – A 20 minute feature following director Shawn Levy on a single day of shooting from the moment he steps on set to the end of the day. They talk about the planning of the shooting day, scheduling of shots and actors and how assistants play a big part in production. Cool stuff if you’re into filmmaking.
“Caveman Conversations: Survival of the Wittiest” – The GEICO cavemen weren’t funny, the caveman TV show wasn’t funny and this, by the rule of the universe, isn’t funny. An interview with three of the cavemen in the film, in character, answering questions by grunting over and over. It’s the longest 4 minutes of your life.
“Museum Magic: Entering the World of the Photograph” – A quick five minute feature that shows how they recreated the famous photograph of the sailor macking on a woman on the streets of NYC after the Allies won the war. Very cool to learn how much research they did to recreate this scene, which was filmed in Vancouver.
“Secret Doors and Scientists: Behind-the-scenes of the American Museum of Natural History” – Has the Night at the Museum movies effected attendance at the American Museum of Natural history, and museums in general? Find out here! Also, you get to learn facts about some of the museum pieces in the movie.
“Phinding Pharaoh” – Hank Azaria plays the Pharaoh Kahmunrah. Anyone who knows Hank Azaria’s work knows he’s insanely talented voice actor. This feature is a collection of Azaria’s take on the distinct voice of the Pharaoh. It’s cool to see how the voice evolved to what you see on screen.
“Show Me the Monkey” Featurettes – Anyone who loved the first flick loved “Dexter” the adorable monkey, who among other things, pissed on Ben Stiller as well as slapped the hell out of him. The feature showcases the training of the monkey and also conversations with the monkeys’ trainers. Monkeys rule.
“The Jonas Brothers in Cherub Bootcamp” – The cherub angels in the movie are played by the Jonas Brothers and this feature, basically a skit, shows how director Shawn Levy whipped the boys into shape so they could make the angels more believable. All light hearted and fun.
Deleted Scenes – A crap load of deleted scenes that don’t add a whole helluva lot. Some are extensions of the existing scenes, some don’t even last long enough to be considered a scene. Commentary by Shawn Levy optional.
Gag Reel
Crave Factor – 7
Conclusion & Final Thoughts
In the end, your kids, nephews and nieces or neighborhood kids will enjoy the flick. And really, that’s all that matters. The Blu-ray is stocked with goodies which will keep the little rugrats entertained beyond the movie.
