Two Reviews One Post

This week I went to see two movies and I'm going to review both of them in one post. That's why I chose Double Star 2 as today's fractal. Star Trek has "star" in the title and Night At The Museum Two is loaded with stars so the image seems like a particularly good fit.
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Holiday weekends are a good time to see movies so Robyn and I took in two over the Memorial Day break. Sunday afternoon we saw the Star Trek reboot for the second time and Monday we checked out Night At The Museum 2--Battle of the Smithsonian.
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Star Trek is a movie that really needs to be seen more than once (and, as I said before, on a big screen). The plot holes I noticed on first viewing become even more obvious to my critic's eye (but all stories involving time travel have the same hole). Still, those are easy to overlook and the movie holds up as well on a second viewing. The special effects are so big and spectacular it takes at least two viewings to fully drink them all in and there's plenty of story and characterization to keep interest up. I loved the bits tossed in for long-time fans and I find the new directions familiar characters took to be a lot of fun. It may be early in the summer blockbuster season to crown my "Perfect Summer Movie" but Star Trek may well be it for 2009.
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Night At The Museum was roundly dismissed by the critics and Night At The Museum 2: Battle Of The Smithsonian fared no better. Still, audiences disagreed and the original did huge Box Office. The same happened with the sequel: "Museum 2" beat out Terminator Salvation by over 20 million dollars in its opening weekend. (A lot of the money made was for children's ticket so the number of people who actually saw the movie was huge. The sequel does justice to the original and provides a good movie for families.
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Former museum night guard Larry Daly (Ben Stiller) has moved on to bigger (if not better) things but he still goes back to the Museum Of Natural History to visit the exhibits (who come to life from sunset to sunrise) only to find that all his friends are about to be packed up and sent to storage at the Smithsonian. The magical Egyptian tablet that brings the exhibits to life ends up going as well--which brings everything in the 19 museums to life (and Abraham Lincoln as well). All our old familiar characters from Night At The Museum are here as well as a ton of new characters both friend and foe. Mayhem and hijinks ensue but everything turns out well in the end.
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Owen Wilson (miniature cowboy Jedediah Smith) is back as is Robin Willians playing Teddy Roosevelt (although this time he gets screen credit) as many other stars of the original film. This film adds perky Amy Adams playing Amelia Earhart (who ends up being Larry's unlikely love interest) and Bill Hader as General George Armstrong Cutster who is well and thoroughly blond (in other words, none too bright). Hank Azaria plays Kah Mun Rah with verve but never fails to take his performance completely over the top. (I found his vaguely-gay, English-accented Boris Karloff delivery vaguely disturbing but I think I was in the minority here.) Azaria also gives voice to Rodin's "Thinker" and the animated statue of Abraham Lincoln. Still, I think my favorite bit in the movie was the cameo by the Jonas Brothers who gave voice to three cupids who provide the soundtrack for Larry and Amelia's "love affair". There is clearly a lot of improvisation going on here but it usually works. (In fact, it's the scripted dialog scenes where the movie falls down.)
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Sadly, Night At The Museum 2 has one major flaw: almost all the best bits are already in the trailer so there aren't many surprises left for movie: I find that a bit sad. I really enjoyed all the little bits of actual Smithsonian artifacts featured in the movie--especially the odd pairing of Darth Vader and Oscar The Grouch. Thhis is a worthwhile movie: kids will enjoy the action and parents will have enough jokes aimed at them. The movie is harmless fun for the whole family that can be viewed without fear.
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FINAL GRADES
STAR TREK: A+ still (even with the plot holes
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2: B