Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

This weekend I went with my boyfriend and the girls to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.



We went to the theater that for some reason I just really DO not enjoy. I like going to the other theater, but this one was closer so we decided to give it a shot. Every time I we go to that theater it is a bitch. But, everyone deserves a 2…3…4…5th chance. HA, I guess I should have stopped with 4th right. Traffic was evil. They have the lights around it set up so that is impossible to get in and out of, and of course the ignorant drivers really don’t help the matter.

Anyway, we get our tickets and head inside. I am glad we didn’t go to see G-Force, because the line for that was VERY long and they ALWAYS oversell tickets and as I have mentioned in the past were you sit in a theater can make or break a movie. To be honest, I don’t even know why they put those seats up so close to the screen. NO one likes to sit in the first 4/5 rows. So it just seems pointless to put them there (except that the movie theater makes a little extra money giving people neck pain and a horrible movie experience).

So back to the movie, I loved Night at the Museum, the idea of a Museum coming to life just made me…well excited. I love museums, and if I could, I would love to go to every museum in the world. My friend Dave always says that going with me to museums is like having your own personal tour guide. I just love history and art. I like be prepared and know what I am going to see at a museum. When Dave and I went to a number of museums in Italy and Holland, I was like a tour guide, giving dates and artiest etc. But I fade from my point; museums coming to life, how awesome is that!!!! The first movie was great, it was humorous for all ages and it was original, so when I heard about a sequel, I was excited. Now I am not an idiot, I know sequels are never as good as the original, but I really hoped that this one would be almost as good.

So Larry (played by Ben Stiller) had left the museum and created a successful job as an inventor of some very peculiar items, such as a glow in the dark flash light….funny….different. Larry goes back to the museum to visit when he discovers that all of the old exhibits were being boxed up and shipped to the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Larry tries to stop it when he realizes that a few of the exhibits and the magical tablet were being left behind so all of his old friends were no longer going to be able to come back to life every night. However a twist occurs and the monkey actually steals the tablet on his last night, so their first night in the Smithsonian they all come back to life, however it is not just them it is all of the exhibits in and under the Smithsonian. Now if anyone has ever gone to Washington DC (and the movie also explains this) the Smithsonian is not just one museum, it is actually a collection of all the museums between the capital and the Lincoln memorial. And the archives are located underground running the whole way. It is a huge museum, so just image how many exhibits came to life. Well Jedediah Smith (played by Owen Wilson) calls Larry when Kahmunrah (played by Hank Azaria) comes back from the dead and tries to reacquire the tablet to bring his army of death back and take over the world. Larry leaves NY and goes to Washington DC to rescue his friends. Kahmunrah is actually Ahkmenrah’s (still played by Rami Malek) big brother and has some major issues about the parents favoring the little brother. Kahmunrah enlists the help of Al Capone (played by Jon Bernthal), Nepoleon Bonaparte (played by Alain Chabat) and Ivan the Terrible (played by Christopher Guest) to retrieve the tablet and keep Larry in line. Kahmunrah get the table but realizes that he doesn’t have the code so he puts Jedediah into a sand time glass and sends Larry off to solve it giving him exactly 1 hr. Larry enlists the help of Amelia Earhart in his endeavors.

That is all I am going to say about this movie, because I don't want to give away the ending :o)



The movie is cute, you get to see a lot of new characters and even learn a little bit about history in the process. I think one of my favorite parts was when Octavius (played by Steve Coogan) meets a squirrel. Hehe. But to be honest, I do not think the girls enjoyed it as much as if we would have taken them to see UP or G-Force. I guess we should have taken them to one of those instead but they were going to be packed and we were both thinking we would have passed out if we would have gone to one of those, and we figured the girls would like this one just as much. Now I am thinking, it would have been better for the kids at either of the other ones. There were definitely a number of jokes that where targeted at adults and NOT the kids, but it was ok, because they didn’t get them anyway. I was a little frustrated by the was Kahmunrah spoke during the movie, he had this annoying lisp going on or something, grrr, and he was an idiot, but an idiot that managed to speak a minimum of 3 languages (doesn’t sound too much like an idiot to me, but I guess the bad guy always has to be an idiot). Even president Lincoln from the Lincoln memorial comes to life (and he definitely does not like pigeons, but can you blame him, there are tons of pigeons around that area because of all the tourist and they are always all over him. Haha). There are a number of twists and turns in the movie but do not for ONE second think that it is as good as the first. There is an overload of characters in this, because there are millions of exhibits that come to life.

Now during the movie, I got extremely pissed off at this little kid behind me. Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand how kids are during movies; I have been to enough kid’s movies on my own and a number of movies with the girls to get it so it takes quite a lot to frustrate me during a kid’s movie. During a PG13 or R movie, now that is a different matter. But this kid behind me was driving me up a wall. He was about 6-7, so old enough to listen to his father (if his father had even attempted to keep his kid in line). The kid proceeded to not talk but yell and scream throughout the entire movie, not like oh a scream, but a SCREAM!!!! Like kids do at a playground OUTSIDE!!! The kid also stood up in the theater and put his hands on the back of my chair and jumped up and down, which made my chair bounce up and down with me and Esa in it. When he wasn’t standing up and jumping on the back of my chair he was kicking it. He also thought it would be fun to throw all of his half eaten candy at Nat and I, so about every 2 min a piece of candy would fly into my lap, she got hit with a half eaten sour patch kid. By the end of the movie I was about to snap. The father decided to say something ONCE! Then not again, the kid talked and yelled about random things. What really pushed me over the edge, the kid kept touching me. Not nice touching me but WTF touching me! He kept pulling on the back collar of my shirt almost chocking me (wasn’t quite strong enough, but you get the idea) and he kept touching my ear and pulling my hair, and then he would smack the top of my head not once but like 5-6 times in a row over and over again. OMG I wanted to reach around and strangle that mans child to death! I get that kids can be a handful, but this man needed to tell his kid to stop. You DO NOT let your children TOUCH another person for over an HOUR!! And it is not like he didn’t know what his kid was doing, because I kept turning around and looking at the father who looked at me, the first few times I got an “I’m so sorry smile” but after that the father wouldn’t even make eye contact, he would start and then turn away. WTF take your annoying undisciplined child out of the damn movie theater you FREAKING WORTHLESS FATHER. There where tons of other children their and all of them put together were not making ¼ of the trouble that your ONE child was. I know, what a horrible thing to say right, but if NEVER have the girls every been even 1/10 that bad in a theater I have never deal with a child a 1/5 that bad in an amusement park, plane or theater. This was just insane. But I was nice and didn’t yell, snap or attempt to kill! GO ME I am growing up :o)

But besides the child from hell behind me, I would say, don’t waste your money going to see this movie in the theaters unless your kids REALLY want to go and with UP and G-Force out, I am sure they will be ok waiting until you can rent in at theaters.

The trailer of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian definitely makes the movie look better then it is.

I give this movie 5.5 out of 10 (MAYBE a 6 if you really push it) not worth the $60 you spend taking everyone to the theater!