Year: 2009
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Rated: PG
SRP: $29.98
Studio(s): 20th Century Fox
Release Date: December 1, 2009

Film/Feature: C+
Ben Stiller steps back into his role as Larry Daley, a night guard who gets spooked when the exhibits in the New York Museum of Natural History come to life. Daley is now famous and bogged down with success because he pursued his dreams – the message of Night at the Museum – and is smote by the lure of filthy riches! As an unhappy infomercial pitch man, he suddenly gets sentimental when he finds out that his beloved posse of exhibits come-to-life, are being boxed up and sent to the Smithsonian archive.

Upon arriving in the nation’s capital, his old friends; Jedediah (Owen Wilson), Octavious (Steve Coogan), General Custer (John Hader) and Dexter the super capuchin, run into some rival “exhibits” who want to impose their superiority complexes all over the Smithsonian led by Egyptian Pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) with his henchmen Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Napoleon Bonaparte (Alain Chabat) and Al Capone (Jon Bernthal). Jedediah makes a distress call to Daley setting up for another “Night at the Museum.” This time it’s the Smithsonian–the mother of all museums. This of course opens up the realms of possibilities to the Air and Space Museum, pop culture exhibits like Star Wars and Sesame Street, the national monuments (giant Abe) and the National Art Museum. Yes, American Gothic and Degas can come to life.

Kahmunrah’s evil plot comes to light when he needs to get his hands on the tablet which brings everything to life, and tries to open a gate for his world to enter ours. He holds Jedediah captive in an hourglass and haphazardly everything becomes a panic. But it all feels like some cheap way to pit to the cast of the prequel against the new cast, not in any meaningful way; not in any way that makes the audience feel like something truly bad can happen if Kahmunrah is successful. Look, his biggest threat is to suffocate a tiny wooden figurine with sand. Just wait until morning, Larry, it’ll all work out. There are some other moments that will pull at the corners of your mouth, like an action nod to 300, or seeing Craig Robinson cast as one of the Tuskegee Airmen, but outside of being a big mosh pit for some of your favorite historical figures, Battle of the Smithsonian plays out like most blockbuster sequels. Good concept, but poor execution.

The most genuine and interesting figure Daley meets on this Night, is Amelia Earhart played Amy Adams who no doubt, steals every scene with her Vaudeville-esque dialogue and sharp wit. Unlike the prequel, Stiller has someone to play off of, and strangely, be a love interest. She’s a glorified doll, Larry! Seriously though, Earhart is by far the most fleshed out character in this film. Her sense of direction is as present as her pursuit of adventure and I won’t be surreptitious and just say that Adams does the best Amelia this year. In fact, it weren’t for Adams, I’d think far less of this film. We get dollops of character growth bridging over from the previous film like Octavius and Jedediah, once sworn enemies are now homies, and a regretful Custer who comes to grips with being most well-known for his great failure. The most significant, cringe-worthy progression of them all is Daley who realizes at the end of the film that true happiness is practically unattainable because he goes back to his night guard job, which made him unhappy in the first place. Huh?

Battle of the Smithsonian did two things for me. 1) it made me want to go to the Smithsonian and see everything for myself because reminded me that it’s one of our country’s best man-made wonders; and 2) inspired me to see the original Night of the Museum to recapture that unsuspecting magic that’s just not present here. It’s sure to play well with tight-knit families who are bound to be distracted for two hours. Director Shawn Levy’s sequel to his box office winner attempts to carry the honor of being the first feature film shot in the National Museums, but truthfully, the Smithsonian deserved much better.

Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) and Larry Daley (Ben Stiller)

Video: A
Battle of the Smithsonian comes to high definition by way of 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and it’s a great looking film. If you don’t believe me, take the DVD (Disc2) that accompanies the the film and pop that in for comparison. You’ll see that the colors are much more vibrant, details in like the capuchins’ hair is clear and easily definable. The scenes at night are particularly exceptional with deep dark blacks, and the lighting provides great the well-balanced contrast. When characters are shot in black and white (Al Capone and when Daley and Earhart jump into the photo) a dozen more shades of gray are seen than what’s seen on standard definition. The metallic luster of the tablet comes through on the screen and there’s enough grain to give the sense that you’re watching something cinematic instead of a documentary. My biggest problem comes from the inconsistencies of the digital effects. For instance, as seen in the extras, the black and white VJ-Day scene was almost all green screen but is really difficult to tell, even Lincon looks pretty good in several scenes. But other FX shots like the balloon dog (an actual work of modern art), the singing cherubs, and especially the Einstein bobbleheads, look SO fake that they almost take you out of the film. I’m not sure how much of that has to do with the way they put the film together or the transfer, but I’m going to assume it’s the former.

Audio: A–
To go with the high def picture, this film gets a 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track that starts out well. There are lot of little spatial and environment sounds that travel to the rears along with music. The scene in particular of note is when Daley and Earhart are in the Air and Space Museum and planes are zipping by and rockets are whizzing and blasting off reminds one of how nice it is to hear a film in surround sound. The dinosaur roar has a nice rumble to your subwoofer, and when glass breaks you can hear the shards flying all around you. The big battle royale at the end is a bit underwhelming as most of that audio comes from the front and center channels, a bit anti-climactic as far as audio goes. Other audio selections include: French, Spanish, Portuguese; and subtitles are available in English SDH, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Cantonese. Sorry to those who speak French and are hard of hearing, no soup for you.

Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest, left), Al Capone (Jon Bernthal) and Napoleon Bonaparte (Alain Chabat): Not their best moment in history.

Extras: B-
This is a mixed bag of nuts for me. In some instances it’s kind of like walking through the dinosaur fossil room; cavernous and impressive in size and inspires imagination, but at the end of the day, not a lot of meat on the bones. Probably the must-see supplement is the Secret Doors and Scientists special which couldn’t have been long enough for me. I love the inclusion of the DVD and yes, the digital copy disc. A major downer for me was the lack of subtitles for the extras; it’s one of those things that have become standard and if you’re playing to as broad as an audience as they hoped, these extras should be geared towards everyone. So that’s a big misstep.

Audio Commentary by Director Shawn Levy is a chatty scene-specific track that’s not very heavy with technical information nor is it full of stories that you’re dying to hear. A lot of it is what happened on that day of the shoot, what lines were improvised and what wasn’t, as well as, some discussion about Rhythm and Hues’ digital effects contributions. Two-thirds in though it seems like Levy’s coffee wears off because he takes longer breaks between thoughts.

Audio Commentary by writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon keep the energy up all the way through the end and that’s the benefit of having a team in the same room doing the commentary where you can hear each person bounce conversation, but again did not lean too much towards any one way of commentary style, so unless you REALLY love Night at the Museum films, this one isn’t a memorable track, but in relation to this disc, they’re a nice change from Levy.

Museum Scavenger Hunt Game HD is an elaborate variation of the trivia track where users must use the four colored buttons to navigate and seek out historical figures and artifacts while the film is playing. I’m always for different ways to see the film. I mean if you’re going to buy this blu-ray I would expect anyone who does to see it more than once or twice. And again, given the target audience, this is an extra that would play well to kids in a discovery mode.

Curators of Comedy: Behind the Scenes with Ben Stiller HD (27:52) that’s heavily centered around interviews with the cast, some publicity for director Shawn Levy (who you’ll get to know quite well), and set design and recreating parts of the Smithsonian where they couldn’t shoot. It’s solid work, more than an average EPK piece, but not to the diary level of some making of specials I’ve seen.

Secret Doors of the Smithsonian HD (15:58) takes a tour of the museum, the people who work in the museum and those who handle the exhibits, artifacts, and the research done at the famous Smithsonian. Many of the curators and scientists who conduct research on site are interviewed as well brief tours that go into the offices where most people don’t get to go. If you really have a thirst for history and knowledge, then 16 minutes is just too short. I could watch another two hours of Smithsonian tours.

Show Me the Monkey Featurettes HD (18:00) is actually three short featurettes about working with simian actors Crystal and Squirt, the capuchin monkeys who plays both Dexter and Able in the Night of the Museum series. What’s fascinating is the third special that shows the home these capuchins have and what their trainers do for their daily regiment. Crystal in particular has been in too many big movies to count, and is a testament to her and her trainers.

Museum Magic Entering the World of Photograph HD (5:41) reveals the process in recreating the 1945 Times Square VJ-Day moment where the famous picture of the sailor and nurse kissing was taken.

Deleted Scenes HD (26:44) with optional commentary by Levy shows 11 cut scenes including a different ending.

Directing 201 with Shawn Levy HD (19:19) A day in the life of Levy while on the set of shooting Battle of the Smithsonian. This particular day was Steve Coogan’s final day of principal shooting as they film his and Owen Wilson’s big green screen battle with the giant feet, and Levy bounces to shooting multiple scenes, to editing visual effects, and laying down audio. It also shows the other crew members who he communicates with like the costume designer, action choreographer, and assistant director.

Phindering Pharaoh With Hank Azaria HD (4:50) See how the great voice actor Hank Azaria honed the voice for his Egyptian Pharaoh.

The Jonas Brothers in Cherub Bootcamp HD (3:53) A fake doc about the Jonas Brothers rehearsing for their appearance in the film as the sing-songy cherubs in the film. Thankfully, it’s a short piece where the brothers have a pretty good sense of humor about themselves.

Gangster Levy HD (1:57) If you haven’t discovered by now, Shawn Levy is littered throughout this entire disc, almost to the point of nausea. He’s a great, energetic guy who comes off as a interesting and a bit snarky. But this is yet another Levy-centric special, starring in an black and white Al Capone clip.

Gag Reel HD (8:10) The obligatory gag reel full of line gaffs and goofs that’s sure to get a few snickers and giggles.

Historical Confessions: Famous Last Words HD (6:29) Several of the actors talk catty about each other’s characters while in remaining in character. It’s cute but probably not worth revisiting more than once.

Cavemen Conversations: Survival of the Wittiest HD (4:18) is an “interview” with the three cavemen which is funny for the first thirty seconds, but runs way too long. Nothing will make you beg for the Geico Caveman commercials faster than this.

The Making a Scene SD (9:36) is quick EPK/TV show hybrid on how Air and Space Museum sequence was put together.

Fox Premiere SD (5:28) is a red carpet event with questions for the cast and crew at a premiere that was held at the Smithsonian.

Trailers HD is an interesting collection of other Fox productions including Post Grad, Aliens in the Attic, Fame, (500) Days of Summer, All About Steve, Amelia, and Glee.

Disc 2 is a DVD of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Museum for viewing the film on DVD players, whether they be in your vehicle, portable DVD player or computer.

Disc 3 is a Digital Copy of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Museum for viewing the film on portable media and computers.

Larry hanging with Lincoln

Overall Shock Value: C+
I’m certainly not above enjoying a good popcorn film but Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is only enough to get your feet wet. Extras will entertain, but only so far. It does look terrific in high definition and the sound is fine; but the story just seems like a clown car plot, in other words, how many people can we fit in this before people begin to notice there’s not much story? If the family is itching to see something new and familiar, but doesn’t want to get too involved with anything too deep then this is it. Otherwise, Rent It.