Ben Stiller returns as hapless museum night watchman Larry Daley in this sequel to the hit comedy. Though he's now working at the Smithsonian Institution, Daley continues to deal with exhibits that come to life while the museum is closed. His adventures this time include close encounters with Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), George Custer (Bill Hader) and Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest). Owen Wilson and Ricky Gervais co-star.
It’s difficult to find much to like about this surprisingly disappointing sequel to the fun 2006 family film of the same name, but it isn’t completely useless. Almost all sequels are inferior to the original, and that holds even more truth with the sequels of successful summer movies as Hollywood attempts to suck every last cent out of the public without any concern for quality, and this one does feel as though it was produced with the order of more of the same, but it also repeats what I liked about the first one – history meets fantasy. The good news is that it features the wonderful Amy Adams, who is fantastic as Amelia Earhart, and Hank Azaria, who provides almost all of the laughs in this picture as a strangely persnickety Egyptian pharaoh named Kah Mun Rah. Unfortunately, a couple interesting performances as real or fictitious historical figures isn’t enough to pull off the difficult task of bringing back the charm of the first Night at the Museum while still being original. The chances are very strong that you and your kids will lose interest halfway through watching this, not unlike Ben Stiller appears to have done halfway though starring in it.
***/*****
3/5 STARS
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