Prior to this movie being filmed, I hadn’t seen its predecessor and didn’t have much interest. Robin Williams is almost always entertaining, but as Ben Stiller was the main character and that typically makes me wary, given his track record. Because the second film takes place in my hometown area of Washington D.C., it made my list of movies to see. That, and Amy Adams is in it.
Just as I found with the first Night At The Museum, Ben Stiller doesn’t bother me at all in this film, and I actually found myself laughing at his portrayal a couple times. I don’t recall to many ridiculous gags in the film, and we weren’t asked to laugh at Stiller’s misfortunes.
Amy Adams has continued to be a favorite of mine since her first role in Drop Dead Gorgeous, Pumpkin, her great jobs in Catch Me If You Can and Enchanted… and I could keep raving about her, but I’ll try to do another article of appreciation at some point. In Battle Of The Smithsonian, she took on the character of Amelia Earhart valiantly and was mightily successful with it. I don’t know whether or not it was mostly due to her overall likability, but she and Ben Stiller seemed to have some decent on-screen chemistry together.
Aside from being located in Washington D.C. and co-starring Amy Adams, it’s hard for me to say that this film is better than the original. Hank Azaria’s character annoyed me and Robin Williams’ character wasn’t in the film enough for my taste. In trying to be as objective as possible and keeping in mind that the film is made primarily for kids who are less than half my age, I’d probably say this one was better than the other.
If you’ve got a driver’s license and don’t already have kids, you’re probably not going to want to rent this film unless you find a drinking game rule set somewhere. If someone else rents it and you’re there when they want to watch it, by all means, you probably won’t be overly disappointed with it. For folks in D.C., there’s not a whole lot to the film which especially ties it in with the area. I was expecting to recognize at least portions of the museum, and I was a bit let down by that. I don’t regret having seen the film, and while I’d say it could’ve been better, it probably would’ve been less suitable for the target age group if that was the case. As consolation, the pants Amy Adams wore in this film were rather tight…. though she was wearing a heavy jacket most of the time.
