Night at the Museum 2 -The Review
Night at the Museum 2 -The Review
Night at the Museum-Battle of the Smithsonian - The Review
To begin this review, I should admit that I was a little surprised someone thought the original Night at the Museum needed a sequel. Let alone a really big budget summer sequel. The original movie was... well... ok. Nothing ground breaking or even overly funny. But somehow it was pretty successful and went on to make FOX Studios a lot of money so naturally they felt compelled to try the formula again.
Admittedly, having spent most of my life working late nights in a museum, I guess maybe I am not the best person to review either Night at the Museum movies. I can tell you that when you really are in a darkened exhibit floor meandering by dinosaur bones and ancient artifacts you do sort of ponder, “what if these things came to life?” But its never the stuff of whimsy. Museums are collections of long dead things and oddities. Things that are sort of creepy in the light of day. These are not the things that you would regularly associate with family friendly film making.
Yet thats basically what these movie attempt to do. Take the inherent creepiness of being locked in a museum after hours and try to make it fun and fanciful, Let me give you a few examples of the things these movies try to make lovable; Cursed mummies, a T-Rex, a giant octopus, and Ghengis Khan. Its a little like trying to make a kid friendly beverage from items you find in your liquor cabinet.
The premise of this new movie is Larry Daily has become a success selling his odd inventions through infomercials. But he clearly misses his late night adventures with his reanimated historical friends at New York’s Natural History Museum. So he pays his old pals a visit only to discover the museum is being renovated and overhauled. Traditional museum exhibits are being replaced by state of the art interactive video displays. His friends are being boxed up and shipped to the Federal archives located in secure storage underneath the Smithsonian in Washington DC.
Days later he is phoned by his miniature cowboy friend from those archives that the mischievous monkey has released the power of the magic Egyptian tablet that is now bringing all the exhibits from the Smithsonian (the worlds biggest museum) back to life. A problem only night guard Larry Daily can solve. Though how could the monkey release the power of the tablet when the tablet is the thing that allows the taxidermed monkey to move? And how did the tiny little cowboy guy get, and then dial, a telephone? Ok, if these sorts of details really bother you, this is not the movie for you.
This is, however, clearly a movie aimed at kids. Its silly. Its predictable. And its really not made for grown ups. Its made to be the the one live action movie this summer that families can go to together... and in that, it does succeed. Parents might get a kick out of seeing their kids willingly being entertained by historical figures. And from what I can tell, thats why this movie was made. Its something families can enjoy in the cinema together.
To begin this review, I should admit that I was a little surprised someone thought the original Night at the Museum needed a sequel. Let alone a really big budget summer sequel. The original movie was... well... ok. Nothing ground breaking or even overly funny. But somehow it was pretty successful and went on to make FOX Studios a lot of money so naturally they felt compelled to try the formula again.
Admittedly, having spent most of my life working late nights in a museum, I guess maybe I am not the best person to review either Night at the Museum movies. I can tell you that when you really are in a darkened exhibit floor meandering by dinosaur bones and ancient artifacts you do sort of ponder, “what if these things came to life?” But its never the stuff of whimsy. Museums are collections of long dead things and oddities. Things that are sort of creepy in the light of day. These are not the things that you would regularly associate with family friendly film making.
Yet thats basically what these movie attempt to do. Take the inherent creepiness of being locked in a museum after hours and try to make it fun and fanciful, Let me give you a few examples of the things these movies try to make lovable; Cursed mummies, a T-Rex, a giant octopus, and Ghengis Khan. Its a little like trying to make a kid friendly beverage from items you find in your liquor cabinet.
The premise of this new movie is Larry Daily has become a success selling his odd inventions through infomercials. But he clearly misses his late night adventures with his reanimated historical friends at New York’s Natural History Museum. So he pays his old pals a visit only to discover the museum is being renovated and overhauled. Traditional museum exhibits are being replaced by state of the art interactive video displays. His friends are being boxed up and shipped to the Federal archives located in secure storage underneath the Smithsonian in Washington DC.
Days later he is phoned by his miniature cowboy friend from those archives that the mischievous monkey has released the power of the magic Egyptian tablet that is now bringing all the exhibits from the Smithsonian (the worlds biggest museum) back to life. A problem only night guard Larry Daily can solve. Though how could the monkey release the power of the tablet when the tablet is the thing that allows the taxidermed monkey to move? And how did the tiny little cowboy guy get, and then dial, a telephone? Ok, if these sorts of details really bother you, this is not the movie for you.
This is, however, clearly a movie aimed at kids. Its silly. Its predictable. And its really not made for grown ups. Its made to be the the one live action movie this summer that families can go to together... and in that, it does succeed. Parents might get a kick out of seeing their kids willingly being entertained by historical figures. And from what I can tell, thats why this movie was made. Its something families can enjoy in the cinema together.