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Movies / Upcoming / Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

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Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)

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Reviews Counted:158

Fresh:69

Rotten:89

Average Rating:5.1/10

Consensus: Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian is busy enough to keep the kids interested but the slapstick goes overboard and the special effects (however well executed) throw the production into mania.

Australian Rating: TBC

Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins

Genre: Comedies

Australian Theatrical Release:
May 21, 2009 Wide

US Box Office: $177,118,775

Synopsis: Shawn Levy (CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, JUST MARRIED) directs the sequel of his hit film NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM. Night guard Larry Daley (Ben Stiller), now a successful entrepreneur, returns to the Museum... Shawn Levy (CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, JUST MARRIED) directs the sequel of his hit film NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM. Night guard Larry Daley (Ben Stiller), now a successful entrepreneur, returns to the Museum of Natural History to visit his friends--the exhibits that come to life at night--only to learn that they are being shipped off into deep storage at the Smithsonian Institution. To make matters worse, the exhibits at the Smithsonian, including the pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria), are suddenly coming to life--and they aren’t at all happy about their new visitors. Determined to save his friends, Larry rushes to Washington, D.C., and makes his way into the inner workings of the largest museum complex in the world while Kahmunrah recruits the likes of Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Napoleon (Alain Chabat), and Al Capone (Jon Bernthal). Larry, meanwhile, finds himself with spunky Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) as a co-conspirator and love interest, and General Custer (Bill Hader) leading the battle for the Smithsonian. The stakes are higher in this sequel, where even the paintings on the Smithsonian walls come to life at night. Stiller is his capable deadpan self as the now-successful Larry who finds purpose again while helping his friends, and Adams is spot-on as feisty, adventure-seeking Earhart, complete with period lingo. Azaria is a scene-stealer as Kahmunrah, who is menacing despite his lisp. Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Robin Williams, and Ricky Gervais also reprise their roles in this sequel, which is the first film to be shot at the Smithsonian. [More]

Starring: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria

Starring: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria, Robin Williams, Christopher Guest, Alain Chabat, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Bill Hader, Jon Bernthal

Director: Shawn Levy

Director: Shawn Levy
Screenwriter: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon
Producer: Shawn Levy, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan
Composer: Alan Silvestri
Studio: 20th Century Fox

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Reviews for Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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A lack of discipline and a desire to appeal to the lowest common denominator have wreaked havoc on a decent cast and a great idea, almost burying the outstanding effects. It's a flimsy rescue story.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
05/18/09
Andrew L. Urban
Andrew L. Urban
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The two short scenes that bring British comic Ricky Gervais into the movie as the stuffy museum administrator suggest the possibility of a third movie... A decent script surely is needed before that's given the go-ahead.

Full Review Source: Courier Mail (Australia) | comment Comment
05/21/09
Des Partridge
Des Partridge
Courier Mail (Australia)
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Proves to be bigger and better than the first.

Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | comment Comment
05/21/09
Amy Wheeler
Amy Wheeler
FILMINK (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Toy Story-esque plot could be written on the femur of dormouse and some scenes still lean towards inanity. But, in the main, this is a funnier and more coherent slice of kids' entertainment.

Full Review Source: Time Out Sydney | comment Comment
05/22/09
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out Sydney
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Never less than politely entertaining, but often misses its huge targets.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine Australasia | comment Comment
05/20/09
Hilton Thomas
Hilton Thomas
Empire Magazine Australasia
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

When Night at the Museum 2 sticks to its preferred brand of high-jinks, it delivers upon its promise of plenty of throwaway fun for the all-ages crowd.

Full Review Source: Herald Sun (Australia) | comment Comment
05/20/09
Leigh Paatsch
Leigh Paatsch
Herald Sun (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

All up it's Levy's best work so far and while I realise that's faint praise, it's far from being damning.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
05/24/09
Sandra Hall
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
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N/R

The museum sparkles, but the movie is awfully dull.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
05/22/09
Dan Kois
Dan Kois
Washington Post
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This rushed Smithsonian visit skims over laughs and excitement to cram in more museum paraphernalia and messages. Like the original but bigger and faster, it’s harmless but throwaway.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
05/22/09
Total Film

The paradox of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is that a movie so bursting with novelty can feel so utterly familiar.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment 1 Comment
05/22/09
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The plot of this film feels like a garage sale jigsaw puzzle: its pieces out of order, warped and shoved into places they don't go with a few extra pieces thrown into the box.

Full Review Source: HollywoodChicago.com | comment Comment
05/22/09
Adam Fendelman
Adam Fendelman
HollywoodChicago.com

I know not every person is going to agree with me on this one, but I'm going to say it anyway: Azaria's lisping Kahmunrah is one of the most annoying and unfunny characters that has ever appeared on a movie screen.

Full Review Source: Watertown Daily Times | comment Comment
05/29/09
Adam Tobias
Adam Tobias
Watertown Daily Times

It's lazy stuff, a waste of a big name cast in the service of a film that is little more than a boring virtual museum tour.

Full Review Source: Scotsman | comment Comment
05/22/09
Alistair Harkness
Alistair Harkness
Scotsman

Compared with the wit and humour of any Pixar movie or Aardman feature this is shoddy stuff.

Full Review Source: Daily Express | comment Comment
05/22/09
Allan Hunter
Allan Hunter
Daily Express

How can one movie contain Ricky Gervais, Hank Azaria, Steve Coogan, Amy Adams, Christopher Guest, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Jay Baruchel and Craig Robinson while offering so very little in the way of laughs?

Full Review Source: MSNBC | comment Comment
05/19/09
Alonso Duralde
Alonso Duralde
MSNBC

Bloated with visual effects.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
05/21/09
Andrea Gronvall
Andrea Gronvall
Chicago Reader

This is a throwback to those disreputable 70s comedies that found a spot for every unemployed layabout in Hollywood.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
05/22/09
Andrew Pulver
Andrew Pulver
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's still strictly insufferable.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
05/22/09
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

a scattergun trawl through human (albeit mostly American) history and culture, with the emphasis more on entertainment than instruction.

Full Review Source: Little White Lies | comment Comment
05/25/09
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Little White Lies

In bringing history, literally, to life, and having as much fun with it as it is computer-graphically possible to have, director Shawn Levy and Reno 911 writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon at least make [Museum] worth noticing.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
05/22/09
Belinda Luscombe
Belinda Luscombe
TIME Magazine
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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