'Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian' review

Ben Stiller (Credit: Doane Gregory/20th Century Fox)

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Whoopee, yet another story revolving around things coming to life. Though friendly dweeb Larry (Ben Stiller) quit his night guard job at the Museum of Natural History to invent products like the glow-in-the-dark flashlight, he returns to protect his magical, museum-inhabiting, historical figure friends when they face new foes in the Smithsonian.

The buzz: If the 2006 original had been any more exhaustingly manic it might have leapt off the screen and punched viewers in the face, demanding, "Be entertained or else!" At least the sequel adds a class act like Amy Adams (as Amelia Earhart) and normally funny people like Hank Azaria (Pharoah Kahmunrah) and Bill Hader (General Custer). Hopefully "Smithsonian" also minimizes the first movie's awful throwaway gags like the grouchy Easter Island Head ("Dum Dum give me gum gum"? Really?).

The verdict: Did writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon have any ideas they didn't use? Like a packrat with not enough closet space, "Smithsonian" overstuffs itself with nearly all of its original characters plus so many new ones—Abraham Lincoln! The Thinker! Napoleon! Al Capone! Darth Vader!—that the movie is less of an adventure than a comedic revolving door. Even Adams, a sweetheart as always, doesn't fit in here, greatly contrasting with the different comic styles of people like Christopher Guest (as Ivan the Terrible) and Owen Wilson (back as Jedediah), not to mention Stiller, who contributes nothing but indifference. Azaria and Jonah Hill (in a small role as a security guard) score some laughs and the movie's not as panicky overall as its predecessor. But it's just as tiring.

Did you know? It doesn't matter how big of a Jonas Brothers fan you are: No one needs to see them lend their voices to three creepy, flying Cupids as they offer a rendition of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On." That is just so wrong.

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