In the original museum movie – the one that brought newfound interest (in real life) to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City – Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) was a security guard who managed to bring everything to life. This time, he’s still a single dad, he’s not a guard, but his Tim-the-Toolman type business has taken off and he even has a TV show. When he learns that Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais) is shipping his beloved wax figures off to the permanent Federal Archives at the Smithsonian in D.C., Stiller is on the case. What makes this movie more special than the original is the constant cell phone technology. Know why? Because people don’t want to remember ‘history’ or what’s old, they want what’s next. There’s a lesson to be learned here, especially when Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) is about to express the key to happiness to Stiller, who instead, busies himself with checking a cell message and misses the entire point. Hank Azaria does triple time as Lincoln, The Thinker and Kahmunrah. Owen Wilson is underused as Jedediah Smith, but Amy Adams steals the show as a Amelia Earhart, returning in her bubbly, daffy, screwball, romantic fashion much as she did in “Miss Pettigrew” and “Enchanted.” It’s very cute when Earhart, the Goddess of Airplanes, calls Stiller “Fly Boy” and you can’t help but tear up when she gets to walk into the air craft area of the museum and learns for the first time that men actually walked on the moon! After awhile, the movie becomes repetitive, but it’s still highly entertaining and certainly safe for kids. To sum it up best, it’s like watching a bunch of silly friends stay in character as they imitate famous people at a Halloween party. Three tiaras
