Night at the Museum 2 - The Jewcast

The original was considered a smash hit and many were anticipating great things from the sequel to Night at the Museum. Certainly the casting directors and surely Ben Stiller, once again front and center in the picture as former night guard Larry Daily, assembled quite the entourage of fellow Jewish comedic talent. For those unfamiliar with the story, Larry Daily took the job of night watchman at the Musuem of Natural History in N.Y.C. while in desperate need of a job in the original film. The job was not so easy as he might have thought, as a magic tablet once belonging to Egyptian Pharoh Akmunrah brought the exhibits to life each night. After re-igniting his can-do attitude to invent unique household items most people would never consider purchasing yet starting up quite the successful company doing so Larry is called back into action when a number of the exhibits get shipped to the Smithsonian for archival storage.

Joining him at various points throughout the new film, Jonah Hill who is everywhere since co-starring with Michael Cera in Superbad, joins Night at the Museum 2 as security detail for the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. Hank Azaria joins the cast of characters as Kahmunra a passed over Egyptian would be Pharoh and older brother of Akmunrah. Canada's own Eugene Levy, provides the voice for the over animated miniature Albert Einsteins.

Overall while the film benefits from a more engaging storyline than the stuffy original, it suffers from a chaotic overload of banter between the primary antagonists and protagonist of the picture to useless lines exchanged between second string extras. With few redeeming moments such as those between Ben and his leading lady Amy Adams, and CGI effects are really the most mind blowing aspect of the film. The manner in which they seamlessly blend the interactions between characters and objects that clearly do not exist is fantastic. Hank Azaria, while the standout character of the flick, is grandious in his expressions and extremely intense. Want to see what I mean? Just watch this clip and you'll get the idea.