My problem with the first Night at the Museum, along with the corny dialogue and stupid scenes, was the lack of laughs. The first film possibly produced one laugh from me, where this was definitely a lot funnier. With that said, it's also a drop in quality. The whole premise is so ridiculously stupid, and various aspects of the film are almost unbearably bad and unthought out.
After being a night guard at that wacky alive museum, Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is now a business tycoon with his glow in the dark flashlights. He decides to return to his old museum stomping grounds, where he finds all the museum exhibits are being moved the the Smithsonean, except for the tablet that brings them to life, so they will forever be lifeless if he doesn't do anything. After an overly long encounter with a familiar faced security guard, Larry makes his way to the Smithsonean basement, where the tablet was taken by the little monkey. Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) wants the tablet to put together an army, and in order to stop him, Larry ends up investing in the help of Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams). If he doesn't stop Kahmunrah, he'll take over the museum and kill his little buddy Jedidiah (Owen Wilson).
The fist movie was not very funny (as I stated earlier). There weren't many jokes in it, or if there were, they weren't very funny. There are probably ten times as many jokes here, but they grow old very fast. Many of the jokes are analytical, and involve a character analyzing the situation, pointing out the ridiculousness of another character or the situation. The jokes are just very corny all too often. "Hey dumb dumb, me want gum gum." was never funny, and despite the character only having a whopping three lines in the film, it's still three too many, and the joke still isn't funny. The jokes are just repetitive.
There is never any sense of danger in this movie. Hank Azaria is more of a comedian than a villain, and he had more jokes to tell than almost anyone, and he loved giving overly long comedic monologues. Ben Stiller makes sure no situation ever seems dangerous. He has an "I don't care!" attitude, which is part of his lovable, witty and sarcastic character, but it limits how believable any sort of danger can be. But then again, the fact that this is a kid's movie limits how much danger any important character can be put through anyways.
A love story between a human and a dummy brought to life by a tablet at night is not going to work out, but might as well throw it in to add to the incompetence. Amelia Earhart and Larry have a fling, and it's about as silly, contrived and corny as it sounds. Speaking of corny, Albert Einstein bobble-heads were corny and annoying. They somehow know the song "That's the Way I Like It", despite that they are supposed to be Einstein, just in bobble-head form. Apparently being brought to life in the museum gives you a head full of bad pop culture references.
For my final thought, here's what really peeved me. The Smithsonean apparently has no security cameras. At night the whole museum is alive, and nobody notices? What! That makes no sense! Then, Ben Stiller just leaves the museum to go to another part of it...they leave all the museums open at night? Or does Ben Stiller with the guard keys just have access to every one of the museums around? And the Lincoln Memorial gets up, and there is not ONE person around to see this? Not even a passing car? Nobody saw any of these museum creatures leave the museum either it appears. People say that this is a fantasy, so that's okay, but no, that's not true. This is set in reality, with the museum fantastical element. It's just dumb that no one would see this.
Overall, this is much worse than the lackluster first part. However, it is also more funny, but that's because the first part was so dry of laughs. This starts off somewhat promising, and ends up a head turned perplexing note.
My rating: * 1/2 out of ****. 99 mins. PG for mild language.
After being a night guard at that wacky alive museum, Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is now a business tycoon with his glow in the dark flashlights. He decides to return to his old museum stomping grounds, where he finds all the museum exhibits are being moved the the Smithsonean, except for the tablet that brings them to life, so they will forever be lifeless if he doesn't do anything. After an overly long encounter with a familiar faced security guard, Larry makes his way to the Smithsonean basement, where the tablet was taken by the little monkey. Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) wants the tablet to put together an army, and in order to stop him, Larry ends up investing in the help of Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams). If he doesn't stop Kahmunrah, he'll take over the museum and kill his little buddy Jedidiah (Owen Wilson).
The fist movie was not very funny (as I stated earlier). There weren't many jokes in it, or if there were, they weren't very funny. There are probably ten times as many jokes here, but they grow old very fast. Many of the jokes are analytical, and involve a character analyzing the situation, pointing out the ridiculousness of another character or the situation. The jokes are just very corny all too often. "Hey dumb dumb, me want gum gum." was never funny, and despite the character only having a whopping three lines in the film, it's still three too many, and the joke still isn't funny. The jokes are just repetitive.
There is never any sense of danger in this movie. Hank Azaria is more of a comedian than a villain, and he had more jokes to tell than almost anyone, and he loved giving overly long comedic monologues. Ben Stiller makes sure no situation ever seems dangerous. He has an "I don't care!" attitude, which is part of his lovable, witty and sarcastic character, but it limits how believable any sort of danger can be. But then again, the fact that this is a kid's movie limits how much danger any important character can be put through anyways.
A love story between a human and a dummy brought to life by a tablet at night is not going to work out, but might as well throw it in to add to the incompetence. Amelia Earhart and Larry have a fling, and it's about as silly, contrived and corny as it sounds. Speaking of corny, Albert Einstein bobble-heads were corny and annoying. They somehow know the song "That's the Way I Like It", despite that they are supposed to be Einstein, just in bobble-head form. Apparently being brought to life in the museum gives you a head full of bad pop culture references.
For my final thought, here's what really peeved me. The Smithsonean apparently has no security cameras. At night the whole museum is alive, and nobody notices? What! That makes no sense! Then, Ben Stiller just leaves the museum to go to another part of it...they leave all the museums open at night? Or does Ben Stiller with the guard keys just have access to every one of the museums around? And the Lincoln Memorial gets up, and there is not ONE person around to see this? Not even a passing car? Nobody saw any of these museum creatures leave the museum either it appears. People say that this is a fantasy, so that's okay, but no, that's not true. This is set in reality, with the museum fantastical element. It's just dumb that no one would see this.
Overall, this is much worse than the lackluster first part. However, it is also more funny, but that's because the first part was so dry of laughs. This starts off somewhat promising, and ends up a head turned perplexing note.
My rating: * 1/2 out of ****. 99 mins. PG for mild language.