Battle of the Smithsonian is far from art, but there's plenty of art in it, and for parents seeking a reasonable afternoon's entertainment for the kids, that's recommendation enough.
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)
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Reviews Counted:156
Fresh:69
Rotten:87
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 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
Reviews for Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian throws everything -- history, high jinks, lots of famous faces in supporting roles -- at the museum walls to see what sticks. Happily, much of it does.
Adults who see this movie unaccompanied by a child should sign up pronto for therapy with Gabriel Byrne on In Treatment.
Adults have the choice of either admiring the scenery or taking a nap. There's not much else worth doing. Certainly, paying attention to the story is an exercise in futility, but you're welcome to try...
If you aren't enchanted and a little thrilled by the sequel's setting -- well, you probably hate puppies and sunshine, too.
Smithsonian whips itself into a kind of frenzied exhilaration that's both fun and funny.
Your 12-and-unders will dig it, and it might even serve as a sort of movie-Bookmobile and get them to read a little history, or at least a little Wikipedia. But otherwise it's utterly dispensable.
Pleasant, innocuous and intermittently thrilling family entertainment.
The paradox of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is that a movie so bursting with novelty can feel so utterly familiar.
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian seems to go on for several days and nights, though in fact it lasts just 105 minutes. I checked my watch. A lot.
The sequel to the big family hit Night at the Museum struggles with a big creative challenge. The sense of wonderment you feel in seeing museum displays magically come to life is not as strong the second time around.
The film offers enough ingenious touches and playful humor that the less-inspired elements hit with a screech.
This is yet another hard-sell "family" film that tries to bludgeon viewers into submission with loud and overly elaborate special effects set-pieces instead of charming them with a compelling story or any discernible traces of genuine wit and/or whimsy.
You can actually hear the writers pulling ideas out of their butts and flinging them willy-nilly at the screen.
Once these creatures do come to life for a second outing, the promise soon evaporates and the clever comedy, built largely on crisscrossing anachronisms and various sly cultural references, is not enough to sustain a romp that is all rather predictable.
The Godfather Part II of family-oriented, museum-based CGI spectacles.
Battle of the Smithsonian is packed with odd characters, eccentric arguments and ornate special effects, and while it's never transcendently funny enough to be seriously impressive, it is chock full of family-friendly giggles.
Latest News for Night at the Museum: Battle of the...
May 26, 2009:
Tune In to the Rotten Tomatoes Show This Week!
This week, The Rotten Tomatoes Show will be looking at the movies that opened over the weekend, with help from you (the Rotten Tomatoes community), the Current TV community, and... More...
May 25, 2009:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Museum Terminates Salvation
Fox won the holiday battle of the sequels as the adventure comedy Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian debuted at number one over the long Memorial Day frame easily... More...
May 22, 2009:
Review Terminator Salvation, Night at the Museum 2, and Dance Flick on TV!
Did you miss last night's episode of the Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV? Watch it online here for slam-bang reviews of last weekend's Angels & Demons, The Brothers Bloom,... More...
May 21, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Terminator, Night Are So-So Sequels
This week at the movies, we've got deadly machines (Terminator Salvation, starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington); historical hysterics (Night at the Museum: Battle of the... More...
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