24th
Phil Bacharach DVD Review: Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian
I know my film critic bona fides won’t be bolstered much by this admission, but I’ve now seen Night at the Museum about 60 times. Maybe more. It’s an occupational hazard of having two children absolutely bonkers about a mugging Ben Stiller, a mischievous monkey and a dinosaur skeleton that plays fetch.
But I will also confess that repeated viewings of the 2006 blockbuster, which reaped more than $574 million in worldwide grosses, have only increased my admiration for it. It’s not high art, by any stretch, but the movie was funny, good-natured and reasonably inventive. Its inevitable sequel, Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian, keeps that agreeable vibe humming right along, and it has the advantage of stellar comic turns by dependable clutch-hitters Hank Azaria and Amy Adams.
