In 2006, Ben Stiller took to the big screen as Larry Daley, a down on his luck, divorced father of one with no real prospects. In an effort to right his sinking ship, he takes a job as a night guard at the Museum of Natural History. Little does he know exactly what he is getting himself into. At night all of the exhibits come to life, caused by a mystical Egyptian tablet. This becomes the centerpiece of the effects and helps Stiller's Daley along his path of redemption. We now return to Larry Daley's world, three years later, and find that he is no longer at the museum and has new impediments in his life, although he does not see this as clearly as he did in the earlier film.
As Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian begins, we catch up with Larry, whose inventing career has taken off. We find Larry hawking his latest gadget infomercial style. Following his pitch, he heads off to the museum to visit with his old friends as night draws near. However, upon his arrival, he discovers something disturbing — a large portion of the exhibits are being packed up for storage, making way for new technological exhibits. Larry is not happy, and despite constant business interruptions from his Blackberry, vows to do something about it.
Larry's efforts are for naught and the exhibits, including such characters as Jedediah (Owen Wilson), Octavius (Steve Coogan), Sacajawea (Mizuo Peck), and Dexter the monkey, are shipped to the national archives at the Smithsonian. Larry then goes about his life, saddened, but seemingly content to move forward with his business. He then receives a frantic call from Jedediah at the Smithsonian. So, off Larry goes to Washington to find out what is going on.
What Larry finds are a host of newly awakened characters, some that are not so friendly, and one that is intent on reclaiming the mystical tablet that brought them to life in the first place. The two factions go head to head in a battle all over the National Mall, leaving a path of destruction in their wake as we speed towards the inevitable conclusion.
I wanted to like this movie. The first film was a lot of fun, it had charm, character, and just wanted to provide an enjoyable time for all. This time around I get the impression that a bunch of men wearing suits sitting around a conference table decided they knew the best way to make a sequel. I can almost here them saying that everything needs to be "bigger" or "more." So, as writers Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant (who appear as the Wright Brothers) went about writing the film, everything got bigger and there was more of it.
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