Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian

This latest Night at the Museum was just what I expected: entertaining, cute, and with great visual effects. And it was about a battle at the Smithsonian.

What I loved:
I thought Amy Adams was so great as Amelia Earhart! Just shows that you can have really great acting in a kids' movie. If I were a member of the Academy, I'd fight for her nod. But I doubt this movie is on their radar.

I loved the other dimensions that came to life in the Smithsonian. In the Museum of Natural History (movie #1), T-Rex bones, miniature action figures and stuffed monkeys came to life at night. In this one, the paintings, movies and even bobble heads come to life! And it's all done in a really entertaining and, if I may, logical way.

I loved the story. It managed to make complete sense as a sequel to the original. It had a great moral but didn't get preachy.

For those of you who like The Office, there were three actors from that show who make cameos. I don't know if you can call it a cameo when they're not really famous... but anyway, they make appearances.

Now, parents please don't take my word for it, but I didn't notice stuff that would be inappropriate for kids. I really do try to pay attention to language and innuendos in kid movies like this. I do remember some questionable things in the original, but really didn't catch anything here.


What I didn't love:
As with the original Night at the Museum, I wanted to fast-forward through the climax of the movie, but the theater has no FF button. I don't know, I guess I feel the same way about any action-y movies.

I have mixed feelings about Hank Azaria as a power-hungry pharaoh with feminine tendencies. On one hand, he's a hilarious actor, but on the other hand, WHY do most foreign characters have to have British accents?! Napoleon had a french accent, Ivan the Terrible had a Russian accent, but Egyptian dude was annoyingly British. Whatever! He did make me laugh out loud, though.