Night at the Museum 2
by Matthew Rodgers
“What happens when the lights go out?” is a wonderful idea manifested from childhood imagination and used as the basis for some of the most brilliant children’s stories; Where the Wild Things Are (to be adapted later this year by Spike Jonze), Monsters Inc. and the peerless Toy Story movies. When Night at the Museum was released in 2006 it only briefly tapped into the magical possibilities of a museum worth of artefacts coming to life when the sun goes down. All flash and no heart was the general consensus. Such is the trend these days that it didn’t stop it going on to be one of the biggest grossing movies of the year.
Three years later and our down-on-his-luck night watchmen, Larry (Stiller), is now a multi-millionaire manufacturer of glow-in-the-dark torches, but is he happy? His former playmates – Jedadiah the cowboy (Owen Wilson), Octavius (Steve Coogan), and Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) – are being boxed up and moved to the Smithsonian archives, something of a resting place for dust gathering exhibits, and being replaced by holographic counterparts. Not so bad you say? Well the tablet of mumbo-jumbo isn’t going with them, so it’s effectively the end for all of our waxwork friends.
As you can probably tell, about as much time has been spent on the plot as the threadbare first instalment, out of the window goes the patriarchal struggle of a man trying to maintain a semblance of family and in its place is a “rollercoaster ride” of special effects that drives the moralistically clichéd “look inside yourself” message.
One things for sure with the attraction this time round, it’s a heck of a lot funnier, and although it struggles to strike a balance between kiddie shenanigans and adult ad-libs, the performances of Hank Azaria as the incompetent bad guy Kahmunrah, and Bill Hader as a cowardly General Custer add some chucklesome moments to those expected, and delivered by Coogan and Wilsons bickering double act.
However, the star exhibit is Amy Adams as the enthusiastic Amelia Earhart; her wide eyed, sassy presence elevates the film above the ordinary, which aside from some ingenious little touches – an animated pop art poster and our protagonists trip into the monochrome world of the famous Eisenstaedt “soldier kissing nurse” photo – is exactly what it is, and remains utterly devoid of anything that distinguishes it from the lacklustre original.
If you enjoyed Stiller slapping a monkey first time round, chances are you’re of the younger persuasion and will lap up this one, simply because he ends up fighting two of the simian troublemakers, but with even less Ricky Gervais and an even lazier plot, it’s hard to recommend another night at this particular museum.
