History Unlearned

Cast: Ben Stiller,Amy Adams,Owen Wilson

Rating: ***

Running at: Inox (Forum,City Centre,Swabhumi)

It’s quite endearing how these Hollywood family dramas take it upon themselves to educate us. The Night at the Museum series for instance,imparts lessons on courage,self-respect and the importance of learning history. Unfortunately,Night at the Museum 2,which showed all the promise of being a fun educational romp for the whole family,is a bit on the bland and mediocre side. It just never is that funny or exciting even with a subplot involving a magical Egyptian artefact. The action mostly consists of people running around and screaming a lot and the lead actor,Ben Stiller,ends up being a mere appendage in a series of CGI generated scenes.

While the first film of the series turned New York’s Manhattan’s Natural History Museum into a madhouse,the sequel is set in Washington D.C.’s fabled Smithsonian Institute. The wares of the New York museum (which magically come to life every night) are being shifted to a new destination,the National Archives beneath the Smithsonian. And once they arrive along with their magical Egyptian tablet,the Smithsonian comes to life. This is not exactly a great thing because the Smithsonian houses a nefarious Egyptian pharaoh (Hank Azaria) who has the predictable ambition of taking over the world. Helping him in this mission are a trio of historical baddies: Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest),Napoleon (Alain Chabat),and Al Capone (Jon Bernthal).

Now it’s upto Larry (Ben Stiller) and his friends — miniature cowboy Jedediah Smith (Owen Wilson),miniature Roman warrior Octavius (Steve Coogan),and of course Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) — to restore order. Giving them company is Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) a feisty explorer (Earhart was the first aviatrix to fly across the Atlantic) who is constantly chiding Larry for not being brave enough.

Coming back to its educational qualities,let’s make on thing clear,Night in the Museum 2 is like a boring history teacher who has no clue that his jokes are collapsing all over. It’s repetitive (how many times do we need to see magically animated creatures scrambling up and down stairs or,in the case of the warlike types,fighting?) and strangely invested in its silly explanation of how the animated creatures phenomenon comes about (something about an Egyptian pharaoh’s tablet). It almost makes a cursory case study of Amelia Earhart,but the immensely gifted Amy Adams comes to the rescue. With her quirky charm and undeniable acting powress she brings credibility to an otherwise mediocre project.