Night at the Museum 2

Story

In Night at the Museum 2, Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) has left behind his job as night guard at the Museum of Natural History. He is now building a successful career inventing and marketing products such as a glow-in-the-dark torch. He visits the Museum of Natural History to see his historical friends. Unfortunately, they are packed and ready to be shipped off to deep storage in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington. Despite his son’s pleas, Larry bids his historical friends farewell and turns his back on their fate.

Before long, Larry receives a distress call from his little cowboy mate, Jed (Owen Wilson). Jed begs Larry to come to Washington to save his friends from the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) and his evil buddies. An adventure-filled battle unfolds between some of history’s greats and not-so-greats, as Larry and Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) fight to get their friends back. Parents and children will enjoy the comedy and the historical references as the biggest museum in the world comes to life.

Themes

None of concern

Violence

This movie contains frequent slapstick violence. For example:

A large octopus chases Larry and the Egyptian warriors, threatening to eat them.
Larry and Amelia are chased by warriors armed with spears.
Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon and Al Capone make up a team of baddies. They are armed with appropriate weapons (machine guns, rifles, wooden weapons, swords, knives and so on).
Jed is put in an hourglass and turned upside down. He almost drowns in the sand.
One of the small soldier characters is chased by a squirrel that is triple his size.
Kahmunrah states that he is ‘Kahmunrah the blood-thirsty, and I will kill you’.
Ancient Egyptian bird creatures wake up and threaten to eat people.
There is a fight scene at the end of the movie that involves all the characters. It includes punching, kicking, and fighting using hands, knives, spears and so on.
Kahmunrah is thrown through an Egyptian portal.
A dinosaur display comes to life and roars scarily at a group of teenage boys.
In a scene where Larry and two monkeys slap each other, Larry hits the monkeys across their faces quite hard.

Sexual references

This movie contains some sexual references. For example, characters:

use flirtatious language including, ‘Are you looking at my chassis?’
refer to Larry getting to ‘second base’ with Amelia.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

None of concern

Nudity and sexual activity

This movie contains some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

Larry and Amelia flirt. Amelia initiates most of their flirtation.
There are four scenes where characters kiss (three involve Amelia and one involves a nurse). Some kissing scenes are quite passionate.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie: Microsoft, Everlast, Petco, Apple, and Sesame Street and Star Wars characters.

Coarse language

This movie contains some mild coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Night at the Museum 2 is a comedy with many historical references.

The movie’s main message is about encouraging people to ‘do what you love, with people that you love’. Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include standing up for your friends and choosing happiness over success.

This movie could also give you the opportunity to discuss the following issues with your children:

success and its sacrifices
the historical people and events referred to in the movie – for example, Amelia Earhart, Egyptian history, Abraham Lincoln and so on
violence, weaponry and their consequences throughout history.