Larry the hapless Museum Guard is now a successful inventor with little time for his waxy old pals back at the Museum. Which is why he’s more than a bit concerned when he learns they are all being packed away and moved to the Smithsonian Institute in DC . The mystical Egyptian tablet that brings EVERY exhibit to life is going too, which promises complete mayhem in what is – with 19 museums, 9 research centres and a zoo – the largest museum in the world. Cue Larry’s madcap attempt to rescue his friends and stop the tablet falling into the hands of some evil Pharoah chappy, assisted en route by the plucky Amelia Earhart, General Custer and a bunch of Tuskegee airmen…….
I watched this movie with two ten year olds and a precocious nine year old who all thought it was too fantastic. I enjoyed it as well – though in my mind, Amy Adams can simply do no wrong. Her presence in this film raises it above the simply entertaining.
What I do also admire is the way the Smithsonian grasped the economic import of what was being offered to them with this movie (Night 1 generated an additional 50,000 visitors – a 20% increase in numbers – for the American Museum of Natural History in New York) and worked with the filmmakers to offer unprecedented access to the Mall. There’s a great article about it here at the Chicago Tribune.