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

Director:

Shawn Levy

Writers (WGA):

Robert Ben Garant (written by) &
Thomas Lennon (written by) ...

Release Date:

22 May 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

When the lights go off the battle is on.

Plot:

Security guard Larry Daley infiltrates the Smithsonian Institute in order to rescue Jedediah and Octavius, who have been shipped to the museum by mistake. |

Plot Keywords:

Security Guard | Museum | Angel | Al Capone | Astronomer

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Ben Stiller	...	Larry Daley
Amy Adams	...	Amelia Earhart
Owen Wilson	...	Jedediah Smith
Hank Azaria	...	Kahmunrah / The Thinker / Abe Lincoln
Robin Williams	...	Teddy Roosevelt
Christopher Guest	...	Ivan the Terrible
Alain Chabat	...	Napoleon Bonaparte
Steve Coogan	...	Octavius
Ricky Gervais	...	Dr. McPhee
Bill Hader	...	General George Armstrong Custer
Jon Bernthal	...	Al Capone
Patrick Gallagher	...	Attila the Hun
Jake Cherry	...	Nicky Daley
Rami Malek	...	Ahkmenrah
Mizuo Peck	...	Sacajawea

Also Known As:

Night at the Museum 2 (Australia) (Singapore: English title) (UK) (USA) (working title)
Another Night (USA) (working title)
Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian (USA) (working title)
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild action and brief language.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #44999) | South Korea:All | UK:PG | Singapore:PG | Finland:K-7 (re-rating after appeal) | Ireland:PG | Norway:7 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | Portugal:M/6 | Brazil:Livre | Netherlands:6 | Sweden:7 | Hong Kong:I | Iceland:L | Mexico:A | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | Japan:G | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Hank Azaria had previously worked with Ben Stiller in Mystery Men (1999). Azaria also made cameo appearances in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) and Along Came Polly (2004), both of which also starred Stiller.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Amelia Earhart's red Lockheed Vega carries no more than two people and would not reach New York City in a half an hour. They had only one hour until sunrise. The train takes three hours and a jet aircraft would take almost an hour. (Also the Smithsonian only preserves their exhibits and does not maintain their aircraft in flight ready condition.)

Quotes:

[from trailer]
Amelia Earhart: [in awe] Great Gatsby!

Movie Connections:

Spoofs 300 (2006)

Soundtrack:

I Only Have Eyes for You

Just another Hollywood big-budget sequel.

The reason why I went to watch this is because the first one was such a good family movie. It has humour, suspense, slight action and in depth plot and twist.

The sequel unfortunately is far from that. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is about Larry Daley who has a better job since the first movie and has now moved on to a different life. Little did he knows that his friends at the Museum of Natural History are about to be shipped and stored at the famous Smithsonian Institute. Long story short, he now has to save little Jedediah and Octavius from a pharaoh who is trying to take over the world. Sounds weird. Because it is. It feels like the writers were out of ideas.

So what they do was they throw in a hell lot of characters including Kahmunrah, a crazy pharaoh who is trying to take over the world, Albert Einstein, Abe Lincoln and even Darth Vader.

The story seemed rush and some parts didn't make sense. For example, why did Kahmunrah, the threatens to suffocate Jedediah in an hour-glass when Jedediah is just a little statue who will most probably come back to life the night after even if he 'died' today.

But negativity aside, I have to say that the actor that really stood out was Hank Azaria, playing the villain Kahmunrah. He was loud and funny and not to mention he even voiced Abe Lincoln and The Thinker. Ben Stiller is just his usual self. And Amy Adams was fun and very adorable as the female pilot Amelia Earhart, but the gung-ho attitude gets old pretty fast.

The special effect and the score of the movie were okay. Not too good, not too bad.

Overall, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is just another Hollywood big-budget movie that has a massive room for improvement and really could've done so much better.