Amy Adams: The only reason to watch this sequel

Shawn Levy’s Night at the Museum was a relatively charming comedy with a clever and potentially fascinating premise: Museum exhibits coming to life at night when no one is looking. However, the novelty of the concept is now gone and with Battle of the Smithsonian, Levy gives us a numbing and unoriginal sequel which is only intermittently entertaining at best, and certainly quite bland overall.

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller), now a successful inventor, heads for the Smithsonian institution in Washington D.C to rescue his museum pals from being stored in some crates for eternity. Yes, that’s it folks… That was the plot of the movie. Sure, there is some story about a power-thirsty Pharaoh (Hank Hazaria) going berserk and not being happy about the presence of the new visitors but the various turns of events are only a pretext to bombard the audience with some nifty but ultimately empty CGI effects.

This movie is the perfect example of a dumb and fluffy movie sequel. The movie grossed $177 million at the  US box office and an additional $235 million outside the US, which is really quite unbelievable given the overall mediocrity of this movie. Battle of the Smithsonian is simply not very funny, quite idiotic and has very little substance that would appeal to most adults. Children may find the movie relatively entertaining but it’s only because it was dumbed down to the level of a 4-yr old kid.

Most of the cast only goes through the motion. Ben Stiller looks like he has had more fun before and gives a tired performance as Larry. Owen Wilson is wasted, spending most of the movie in an hour-glass while Robin Williams has only a few short scenes in the movies. Amy Adams is the lone highlight of the movie as the perky and bubbly Amelia Earhart. Adams is her reliable and sparkling self and elevates Stiller’s bored performance. Despite acting her heart out though, at the end of the day, she is only in a thinly written supporting role and can’t carry the movie by herself.

A decent entertainment for kids. Adults, however, will have a hard time enjoying this unintelligent, unfunny and bland sequel.

C

Notes: Rated PG, 105 minutes