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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:31

Fresh:12

Rotten:19

Average Rating:5.2/10

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 - 19 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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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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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
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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)
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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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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
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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)
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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
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The result is pretty much a free-form traffic jam in which everyone fights everyone else.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
06/01/09
David Denby
David Denby
New Yorker
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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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Marvel at the movie's cheerful idiocy, which seems definitive -- even though the summer season has just begun -- and at the efficiency with which the filmmakers have dumbed down a dumb premise of proven success.

Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal | comment Comment
05/22/09
Joe Morgenstern
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
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Pleasant, innocuous and intermittently thrilling family entertainment.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/22/09
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
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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
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Unlike most sequels, this “bigger, busier” strategy pays off, resulting in a romp that’s as affable as it is inventive.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
05/22/09
Ed Potton
Ed Potton
Times [UK]
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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]
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Like too many sequels, more money and fewer ideas has made for a disappointing film.

Full Review Source: MovieTime, ABC Radio National | comment Comment
05/22/09
Jason Di Rosso
Jason Di Rosso
MovieTime, ABC Radio National
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It's not so much a movie as a series of running antiquity gags, good for a comedy club, not so much for the multiplex.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
05/21/09
Betsy Sharkey
Betsy Sharkey
Los Angeles Times
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Watching historical figures enact the cliches identified with the most simplistic versions of their images, I found myself yet once again echoing the frequent cry of Gene Siskel: Why not just give us a documentary of the same actors having lunch?

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment 4 Comments
05/21/09
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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Spritely scenarios are drowned out by the manic mayhem.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
05/20/09
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
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Bigger, longer, and even more chaotically crowded (more stars! more f/x!) than its predecessor, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian proves that adding another ring doesn't make for a better circus.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
05/20/09
Lael Loewenstein
Lael Loewenstein
Variety
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This is a bigger and better night out than the first.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment 2 Comments
05/18/09
Helen OHara
Helen OHara
Empire Magazine
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1 - 19 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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