博物馆惊魂夜2 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian 英语影评

　　 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (* * out of four) resembles an enthusiastic but undisciplined child running amok through an exhibit. The exuberance might be admirable, but the headlong dashing and lurching around are major distractions.

　　 This sequel to the hit Night at the Museum is set at the Smithsonian and in its (invented) subterra archive.

　　 The original, set in New York's Museum of Natural History and directed by Shawn Levy, focused on animal and historical figures coming to life after hours, but the follow-up is more ambitious.

　　 Levy brings back favorites from the first movie and introduces legions of new characters, from Pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) to Gen. George Armstrong Custer (Bill Hader), Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest) and Einstein bobble-heads (Eugene Levy).

　　 Ben Stiller's Larry Daley, who has gone from night guard to corporate honcho, is called on to rescue his exhibit friends being put in storage at the Smithsonian.

　　 He joins forces with spunky Amelia Earhart (an engaging Amy Adams) and fends off the intrusions of a Smithsonian guard (Jonah Hill) and various other museum threats. The plot feels cobbled together and the writing slapdash, however, and many of the jokes fall into broad slapstick of the lowest-common-denominator variety.

　　 Stiller's character in the first film was outwitted and slapped around by a Capuchin monkey. This time he's slapped around by two monkeys. The more-is-better philosophy dominates, obscuring some of the subtler comic historic allusions. And in most cases, the talents of the cast, a who's who of comic actors, are underused.

　　 Yet there are inspired segments, including fantasy scenarios in which famous paintings and sculptures come to dazzling life. Stiller, fighting a horde of ancient warriors, borrows the pitchfork from the elderly farmer in Grant Wood's American 's The Thinker turns out to be a muscleman dolt, and Degas' Little Dancer sculpture provides a brief respite from all the peril with enchanting ballet steps.