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Now "Museum", Now You Don't

In the genre of kid-friendly action movies ("Jumanji", "Zathura", "The Last Mimzy"), 2006's "Night at the Museum" had something of a pedigree. A high-brow setting, A-list special effects, and Ben Stiller to wrangle it all together. The result, a no-questions-asked money-maker - in which a museum's sculptures come magically to life after the sun sets - provided the requisite thrills and chuckles for the family set. The sequel, "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian", follows suit, delivering everything you might want from this history-tweaking franchise (the press notes call it "the Night at the Museum saga", which sounds more like a threat). It's loud, goofy and keeps its tongue firmly in its cheek thanks largely to Mr. Stiller, who has become an affable ringleader in this digitally enhanced circus.

In the years since the first "Museum", Mr. Stiller's Larry Daley has left his job as security guard at Manhattan's Museum of Natural History to become a successful inventor (his latest infomercial proffers a glow-in-the-dark flashlight). He visits his old haunt occasionally, but has otherwise left his waxwork friends behind in the pursuit of wealth (sense a theme coming?). When "Museum 2" opens, Larry discovers his favorite sculptures being stuffed into crates for shipment to the federal archives (at the Smithsonian, of course) to make way for new holographic exhibits (damn you, technology!). When the magic Egyptian tablet which brings them to life is shipped off along with them, nightfall in our nation's capitol is beset by a plethora of reanimated characters. Most nefarious is Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria, channeling Boris Karloff with a lisp), a power-hungry Pharaoh bent on unleashing the Army of the Underworld. Naturally, it's up to Larry to stop him.

Have there ever been screenwriters as lucky as Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon? Returning to the "Museum" franchise, the "Reno 911!" alums have the entire Smithsonian archives at their fingertips; they have but to imagine it and the significant talents of the visual effects team will make it so. The writers appear to have a singular gift for randomness. As Larry runs through gallery after gallery, pterodactyls fly over head, Calder sculptures dance playfully in the background and a giant octopus comes in very (ahem) handy. We're even able to find out what Rodin's The Thinker has been pondering all this time (turns out, it's girls). The writers also extend the magic beyond sculptures to wall art. Much fun is had with American Gothic and the iconic V.J. Day kiss in Times Square.

The film features an impossibly large cast - all the characters from the first film return, in addition to some new ones - and there's still time for winking parodies of "Apollo 13" and "300". Accompanying Larry on his exploits is a spunky Amelia Earhart (she uses words like "moxie") played with franchise-buoying charm by Amy Adams. Also new to the cast is a self-doubting General Custer (Bill Hader, relishing every line), an Einstein bobble-head (Eugene Levy), and three flying Cherubs given voice by the Jonas Brothers. In case you're wondering about the believability of all this (Washington DC, for example, appears completely empty - there are no police, no security guards, not even an innocent bystander), remember this is a movie about wax figures coming to life. And they all speak English.

Parts of "Museum" feel like a straight history lesson (returning director Shawn Levy's camera makes sure to pan over informative plaques so no one feels left out), and other moments simply don't work (Einstein bobble-heads?). But then there's the scene between Earhart and the Tuskegee Airmen, and the sight of the Lincoln Memorial coming to life. If moments like these, of unbridled idealism, don't bring a smile to your face, well... you'd have to be made of wax.