17th June, 2009

DAVID ADAMS

A Night At The Museum 2 (PG)

In a word: Solid

WHAT'S HE REALLY THINKING ABOUT? Ben Stiller stars as security guard Larry Daley in Night At The Museum 2. 'The premise of A Night At The Museum 2 is basically the same as the first movie - what would happen if everything in a museum came to life? - but taking it to a new venue allows director Shawn Levy to go larger and bring even more weird and wonderful creatures to life than in the first movie (his take on Rodin's The Thinker is a ripper!)."

It’s been a couple of years since Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) worked as a night guard at the Museum of Natural History in New York and discovered its amazing secret - that an ancient Egyptian tablet brought the exhibits in the museum to life between dusk and dawn every night.

But, despite having foiled an attempt to plunder the museum of its treasures - including the life-extending tablet - by its former guards, he’s moved on and is now chief executive of his own company, whose primary task is to market his inventions including the glow-in-the-dark flashlight.

When Larry drops in to see his old friends however, he is shocked to discover the museum is undergoing a makeover and many of the old exhibits - including his little friends, the cowboy Jedediah (played by Owen Wilson) and the Roman general Octavius (played by Steve Coogan) - are being sent away to be stored under the Smithsonian in Washington.

Bad enough as that sounds, he also finds out that because the tablet itself is beings sent into storage, those who aren’t being moved - including Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), Rexy the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Dexter the capuchin monkey - won’t be animated at night any longer.

Larry swears to do what he can but it’s when he receives a phone call from Jedediah saying that Dexter had stolen the tablet which in turn had brought to life the evil Pharoah Kahmunrah (played with aplomb by Hank Azaria) who was now attacking them.

So Larry sets out on a rescue mission with the help of his son Nick (Jake Cherry) and soon ends up undercover as a security guard (watch out for his torch moves). He’s soon embroiled in a fight to defeat Kahmunrah which sees him make some new friends including General Custer (Bill Hader) and Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) as well as joining with Jedediah and Octavius in battling Kahmunrah and his evil allies - a monochrome Al Capone (Jon Bernthal), (Is-he-really-that-bad?) Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest) and the ever-short Napoleon (Alain Chabat).

The premise of A Night At The Museum 2 is basically the same as the first movie - what would happen if everything in a museum came to life? - but taking it to a new venue allows director Shawn Levy to go larger and bring even more weird and wonderful creatures to life than in the first movie (his take on Rodin's The Thinker is a ripper!).

Action and comedy abounds and there’s enough suspense to keep you guessing. It could be a little scary for young viewers - like the first movie, there's a few shocks.

It would have been a fun movie to make and that’s reflected in the outcome. A solid sequel.

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