Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Blu-ray Review

Available in a 3-Disc Edition (including DVD and Digital Copy) from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on December 1st, the Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Blu-ray is a follow up to the hugely popular original Night at the Museum, also starring Ben Stiller.

Two years removed from his days as the night watchmen at a local Washington D.C. museum, Larry Daley (Stiller) is now a successful entrepreneurial inventor who no longer has time for his historic friends who came to life during his evenings on security duty.

Now, most of the collection is being transferred to the famous Smithsonian Museum, a move that doesn’t sit well with most of the old guard, including: ‘Mini’ Jedediah Smith (Owen Wilson), Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), Napoleon Bonaparte (Alain Chabat), and other popular characters from the original film.

Feeling compelled to help his new friends adjust to their new home, Larry stops by for an evening visit to the Smithsonian.  It turns out to be quite a night.  Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) and his army take on the role of antagonist in this story and try to seize power over the museum and its new members.  Larry must help stand up against the new power and try to maintain order as much as you can with a group of historic figures that come to life in a museum.

Amelia Earheart is another new character, played wonderfully by the beautiful and talented Amy Adams.  She and Larry combine to produce the romantic effect in Night at the Museum 2.  Other popular new and returning characters in the movie include: Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Octavius (Steve Coogan), Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais), General George Armstrong Custer (the funny Bill Hader), Al Capone (Jon Bernthal), and many more!

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is a nice action-adventure film with loads of ensemble cast talent and intriguing, historic characters.   It is entertainment and history lesson all in one.

One drawback of this potentially family-friendly movie is that there is a good deal of moderate violence for a PG, family targeted movie.  This might be off putting to younger children and their parents.  Fortunately, there is plenty of humor and fun for grown ups, though.  Stiller and Adams make for a nice leading pair.  Azaria is great as not only the lead villain, but also as ‘The Thinker’ and Abe Lincoln.  Williams, Wilson, and others also deliver effectively supporting roles.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Blu-ray special features include:

Disc 1: Widescreen Feature Film

• Forced Trailers: Flicka 2, Avatar, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Percy Jackson, Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
• Scavenger Hunt
• Commentary by Director Shawn Levy
• Commentary by Writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon
• The Curators of Comedy: Behind the Scenes of Night At The Museum 2
• Historical Confessions: Famous Last Words
• Directing 201: A Day In The Life of Director/Producer Shawn Levy
• Cavemen Conversations: Survival of the Wittiest
• Show Me The Monkey Featurettes: Monkey Business, Primate Prima Donnas, The Secret Life of a Monkey Movie Star: Life Off Camera
• The Jonas Brothers in Cherub Bootcamp
• Museum Magic: Entering the World of the Photograph
• Secret Doors and Scientists: Behind the Scenes of the American Museum of Natural History
• Phinding Pharoah
• 11 Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Shawn Levy
• Alternate Ending
• Gangster Levy
• Gag Reel
• FOX Movie Channel Presents: Making a Scene
• FOX Movie Channel Presents: World Premiere
• FOX on Blu-ray: Fame, Amelia, 500 Days of Summer, Ice Age 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs, All About Steve
• BD Live Bootstrap

Disc 2: Digital Copy
Disc 3: Night at the Museum Battle of the Smithsonian DVD

• Actors: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria, Christopher Guest
• Directors: Shawn Levy
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Blu-ray Release Date: December 1, 2009
• Run Time: 105 minutes

Blu-ray Review by Neil of Movie Room Reviews

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!