Former night guard Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is drawn back to his old haunt, the Museum of Natural History, where he once had the magical night of a lifetime. There, he discovers that his favorite exhibits, indeed some of his truest friends, have been deemed out-of-date. Packed into crates, they await shipment to the vast archives of the Smithsonian. Their fate is unknown until Larry receives a distress call from the miniature cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson), who informs him of an impending disaster. It seems the newcomers have awoken in their new digs, including the Egyptian ruler, Kahmunrah, who's in a nasty mood after 3,000 years of slumber. Now, he and a trio of history's most heinous henchmen—namely Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon Bonaparte and Al Capone—are plotting to take over the museum (and then the globe), as they unleash the Army of the Underworld. Along with his old buddies, including Teddy Roosevelt, Octavius, Sacajawea, Attila The Hun and the Neanderthals, Larry will stop at nothing to regain his friends and restore order to the National Mall.

The first Night at the Museum had such an original and fun storyline that it was the kind of film that you would almost want to see get a sequel. Hollywood is so littered with sequels and remakes that it was fun to see an original idea so you could almost forgive the film for trying to bank on the success of the first film. The problem arises with the fact that to do a sequel all you are going to be doing is repacking the original with a different set of circumstances and rehashing the first film all over. So while the idea of a sequel seems great when you first hear about it, the film never had a chance to deliver on that promise and just becomes an OK second film following up on a much better first installment.

Now to add insult to injury is the fact that movie is very cluttered. In an effort to top themselves from the first time they expand the universe and grab onto a bigger and grander museum allowing themselves the ability to go hog wild at the Smithsonian and all its wonderful exhibits. The Smithsonian allows them the ability to add everything from Amelia Earhart to Al Capone to Darth Vader to the story. The problem is it becomes to much, it becomes an overkill and what was once likely a good idea and seem liked a lot of fun becomes a clutter mess that threatens to strangle the film to death. Simplicity is sometimes the best answer displayed to perfection by the first movie which had just a few major characters instead of hundreds like the new film.

Now despite this major flaw of the movie being too cluttered the film can actually be quite fun and quite enjoyable at times. I mean the story is still interesting and still a great idea and lots of fun and while the movie does feel cluttered it’s like a jewel buried under a pile of rubble. The jewel is still there you just have to move all the clutter and garbage out of the way to get to it. So yes I like the film and yes it was a fun film but a film with one serious flaw and that was overkill.

I am not a fan of Ben Stiller. He is likable enough but he really isn’t that great of an actor. He rarely shows much range in any role he plays and when backed into a corner he reverts to his backup plan of uttering gibberish and acting the fool. Amy Adams on the other hand puts in a masterful performance as the fast talking and very charming Amelia Earhart. She steals the movie and makes it so much fun and is the saving grace to the film. Without Adams the film would have very likely fallen flat and gone from pretty good and enjoyable to just your meaningless and pointless sequel.

Grade: C+