"Night at the Museum:Battle of the Smithsonian" Review

There was only one thing i was missing from the original Night at the Museum as I watched its sequel, and that's the great older actors Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs as the older retiring security guards. I understand that they retired in the first one, but couldn't they have found some way to bring them back in a cameo or something. Their humor, especially Rooney's, was missed, yet there were some all new friends to appreciate, mostly in the form of favorite people from history.

Ben Stiller is back as Larry Daley, but it seems he's had some great success since the last movie. He developed a glow-in-the-dark flashlight and began selling it on infomercials, along with many other products. He pays a visit to his old stomping grounds at the museum and finds they're phasing out some of the more popular figures at the museum and replacing them with interactive holograms. Some of the old favorites such as Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) and Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek) stay behind, but Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Octavius (Steve Coogan), Sacajawea (Mizuo Peck), and Dexter the capuchin monkey are all boxed up and shipped to storage in the Smithsonian.

Not only are they being separated, but the tablet that allowed them all to come alive at night is staying behind, or so they think until Dexter steals the tablet and takes it to the Smithsonian. This has brought the exhibits there alive, including Ahkmenrah's brother, Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria). Larry realizes he let his friends at the museum down by not visiting them after he became successful and feels guilty, thinking maybe if he could have done something to stop all this. He goes to the Smithsonian with the hopes of getting tablet back and stopping Kahmunrah.

Larry rejoins his old friends in the Smithsonian and makes some new ones, including Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) and General Custer (Bill Hader), yet Kahmunrah has enlisted help as well in the form of Al Capone (Jon Bernthal), ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), and Napoleon Bonaparte (Alain Chabat). There's just as much humor as before, and some great sight gags, such as them taking their battle into the famous painting at the end of WWII of the nurse and soldier. Larry is surprised he still gets four bars on his cell phone, even in 1945.

There honestly isn't anything not to like in Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian. While I definitely missed those old security guys, the rest of the movie was a lot of fun, just like the first one. In addition, it's such a great history lesson, and kind of makes it a fun way for kids to learn about it.