"NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN"
Blu-ray Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars)
BLURAY EXPERIENCE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars) STARRING Ben Stiller as LARRY DALEY Amy Adams as AMELIA EARHART Owen Wilson as JEDEDIAH SMITH Hank Azaria as KAHMUNRAH Robin Williams as TEDDY ROOSEVELT Christopher Guest as IVAN THE TERRIBLE Alain Chabat as NAPOLEON BONAPARTE Steve Coogan as OCTAVIUS Ricky Gervais as DR. MCPHEE Bill Hader as GENERAL CUSTER Rated PG Studio: 20th Century Fox Directed by: Shawn Levy Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Museum night guard Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) has seen his luck turn. His invention business has taken off, and he is now selling product worldwide, allowing him to quit his fun but not very lucrative job as a night guard at the Museum of Natural History. However, when he comes back to visit one night, he discovers that the museum is dismantling many exhibits and shipping them off to the Federal Archives in the Smithsonian for storage.
As Larry tries to use his newfound pull to keep the museum exhibits in New York, he gets a frantic call from Jedediah (Owen Wilson). Apparently, the monkey has stolen the tablet that brings the exhibits to life, and now the evil Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) in the Smithsonian wants to use it to take over the world. Larry travels to Washington, where he sneaks into the Smithsonian as a security guard and tries to steal back the tablet, defeat Kahmunrah and set things right with the magical exhibits.
WHAT I LIKED
“Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” is made for fans of the original and no one else. These fans tended to be kids and their parents who liked the silly, whimsical nature of Ben Stiller trapped in a museum with exhibits that come to life. Being the father of a couple young boys, I count myself in that group of fans.
What I found most impressive with this film isn’t necessarily the special effects, although they are pretty good. Instead, I loved the one-on-one comedy that relied on no special effects. Hank Azaria steals the show as the evil Egyptian Pharoah who has come back to life and wants to take over the world. Another scene stealer is Bill Hader as General Custer, who plays the dimwitted leader perfectly. Finally, from a cast perspective, Amy Adams gives us one of the most charming (albeit probably unrealistic) interpretations of Amelia Earhart – far more adorable than Hillary Swank gave us in “Amelia.”
This film covers similar territory, rehashing the general feel of the first film. It relies on silliness rather than solid plot structure, but for those who liked its predecessor, it’s a fun ride.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
The only real problem I had with this movie is that it gets a bit busy at times. There’s not a feature film’s length worth of a plot, and things get stretched a bit thin. This leads to some randomness in the jokes and a scattershot approach at loading in as many historical figures as possible.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The Blu-ray comes with a nice assortment of bonus material, including two commentary tracks, one featuring director Shawn Levy and the other featuring writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (who play the Wright Brothers in the film), along with trailers, a slate of deleted scenes and a gag reel.
There’s an interactive Scavenger Hunt Mode, which provides a set-top game for the kids to enjoy. The half-hour featurette “Curators of Comedy” takes the viewer behind the scenes of the movie. The “Famous Last Words’ featurettes gives the actors a chance to give their characters their final words as a reanimated historical figure.
Additional features include “Directing 201” which provides a day in the life of Shawn Levy on the set, “Caveman Conversations: Survival of the Wittiest” which gives a spotlight on the Neanderthals in the film, a look at the WWI Times Square photographic sequence called “Museum Magic: Entering the World of the Photograph” and a look at the behind-the-scenes working of the American Museum of Natural History with “Secret Doors and Scientists.”
Scene stealer Hank Azaria gets a spotlight in the five-minute “Phinding Pharoah” featurette which shows Azaria trying on different voices for Kahmunrah. There are also three “Show Me the Monkey” featurettes which spotlight the capuchin monkeys that steal their own scenes. Three other monkeys – the Jonas Brothers – also are featured in the tongue-in-cheek “Cherub Bootcamp.”
The special features are rounded out with the behind-the-scenes of the movie-within-a-movie gangster movie for the Al Capone display, as well as two “Fox Movie Channel Presents” segments: Making a Scene and the World Premiere.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the Blu-ray comes packaged with a DVD of the film and all the special features, as well as a third disc with Digital Copy for download to a portable device.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Kids and fans of the original.
