Ben Stiller's second foray into the world of museum artifacts springing to life is a fun, summer romp, but it suffers somewhat for the loss of the initial plot arc. There's a lot going on, but it's mostly in the 'excuse to have another movie' category, and not really much that serves a storyline.
Since we last saw him, Larry Daley has moved on from his life at the museum. He's now an infomercial company guru, who sells products like the glow-in-the-dark flashlight (you know, so you can find it), and he's apparently quite wealthy. He visits the old boys once in a while, who still come to life at night, but he just doesn't make it much these days. As our story begins, he finds that the museum is closed for renovations, and those renovations include getting rid of most of the exhibits.
They're being moved to storage in the National Archive below The Smithsonian, and though Larry tries to stop it, they're boxed up and sent off just the same. Then Larry gets a call from Jedediah (Owen Wilson's wee cowboy character), and it seems as though that rascally monkey stole the Egyptian tablet responsible for bringing everything to life, and now the entire archives are going wild. Worse, we've run into Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria), and he wants the tablet so he can use it to take over the world.
Larry flies to D.C. as quick as he can, and as soon as he finds a way into the restricted archives, we're off and running. We quickly run into Kahmunrah, who is fascinated by the fact that he's come Baaaccckkk to Liifffeeee!!! Our initial chase teams Larry up with newcomers to the series General Custer (Bill Hader) and Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams). On the flip side, Kahmunrah soon enlists the aid of Ivan the Terrible (a brilliant Christopher Guest), Al Capone (Jon Bernthal), and Napoleon (Alain Chabat). Our plot is a frantic dash to open a doorway to the underworld, or to prevent same, and to wander as much of The Smithsonian as possible in order to throw around gimmicky tricks.
The movie pulls you along decently, with Amy Adams matching Stiller for pure likability, but the movie has too little story and too many things it wants to show you just for the sake of showing you. Make no mistake there though, both Stiller and Adams are fun to watch and do very good jobs. Unfortunately, many of the returning faces (Owen Wilson, Robin Williams, etc.) don't get much screentime.
In order to pretend some point to the whole affair, Larry seems to have some issues with his new lifestyle, and Amelia Earhart may be just the firecracker to get him to realize he isn't very happy.
Whatever flaws it may have from a very serious film critic perspective (and there are a lot), the movie is a family film gold mine. Not only is the movie really quite fun and filled with laughable moments, it throws out a lot of interesting information about history, and presents a unique vision of, "See, this is why museums are cool." It's been a while since I heard an audience laugh through so much of movie's runtime, and my son (8) would walk to The Smithsonian right now if I let him.
You have to go into this with a very light frame of mind, but it's a sequel, and you knew what you were getting into on that score. Weird pacing, and a misguided focus on gags vs. storyline, among other things, make it impossible to give this one a high rating, but if you've got the right age group in tow or just want to let go to sheer escapism, your money is well spent here.
Rating: 
DVD 2-pack features -
The 2-disc set has several nice bonuses, including two commentary tracks, but if you have the option for Blu-Ray it seems the best way to go. There are more special features, and some of them look to be worth the additional cost.
This one has an audio commentary with the director, and a separate commentary with the writers. While both are interesting, this is really the kind of film where fans looking for a commentary are rather more in the market for Stiller and Azaria to show up instead of the creators.
The film disc also includes Curators of Comedy: Behind the Scenes with Ben Stiller. You may well imagine that I don't impress easily when it comes to behind-the-scenes featurettes, and though this is not the most magnificent you'll run across, it is a lot of fun. At around 20 minutes, there is time to show some interesting production work and Stiller gets several opportunities to add laughs.
There are also six deleted scenes, including a (sort of) alternate ending, and it would have been a nice treat if they would have included it actually. There's a gag reel, and this crew is just the sort of mix to make a gag reel a necessary inclusion. Phinding Pharaoh is a short featurette which takes a quick look at the various vocal stylings the Pharaoh almost took on. The "Southern" Pharaoh might have made for an interesting difference.
You also get Cherub Bootcamp, which is rather a bit of nonsense about putting The Jonas Brothers through the paces of acting.
Disc Two is the Monkey Mischief Bonus Disc, and focuses strictly on monkeying around. Four featurettes, all of them in the 7-10 minute range, focus on the primate additions to the films, and their lives on and off screen. Several members of the cast discuss working with them, and we get a look at the world of being an animal star.
The disc also includes two games -
Monkey Slap Game, which is a ridiculous slap fight between monkey and human with four-button control, that no one will ever play beyond the initial look.
Abel and Dexter's Flights of Fancy, which is a semi-entertaining look at the principles of flight. Possibly something the kids will enjoy for a while, but it is somewhat simplistic.
Overall, this is a film the whole family can enjoy, and you get a nice mix of bonuses, but even this 2-disc set is a bit lacking. Owning the film is definitely worth it if you have the right age mix around to partake, but the bonuses do not really add a lot to the must-own value. The Blu-Ray version may make that a different story though.
Own it on Blu-Ray and DVD today!
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About Marc Eastman
Marc Eastman is the owner and operator of Are You Screening? and has been writing film reviews for over a decade, and several branches of the internet's film review world have seen his name. His reviews have brought him personal praise from the director of a major motion picture, and have been used as required reading in a course at a major University. These priceless rewards, along with just bags of cash, keep him from straying from freelance writing. He is also a member of The Broadcast Film Critics Association and The Broadcast Television Journalists Association.
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