After retiring from being a night guard at the Natural History Museum in New York City and becoming a successful inventor and TV salesman Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is shocked to find out that the museum is being re-invented. All the museum’s items are being shipped to the underground archives of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. Larry has almost forgotten about his friends, the museum pieces which come alive at night and which we learned to love in the first movie, Night at the Museum. But when the tiny cowboy figure Jedediah Smith (Owen Wilson) calls him to tell him that they are all in big trouble at the Smithsonian’s, Larry doesn’t waste any time and flies right down to Washington to help them.

Thus the great battle of the Smithsonian’s begins. Some fun new characters and ideas are being introduced in this movie. My personal favorite is Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) who plans to unleash his undead army. I absolutely love Hank Azaria and always wonder when he is going to get a leading role. I’d watch him for 1 1/2 hours! The giant statue of Abe Lincoln (Hank Azaria) also comes to live. I wasn’t too impressed with Amy Adams in this movie. She plays Amelia Earhart and although she seems to do a good impersination, she doesn’t seem believable as a human being. You could argue that she is not a human being in the movie but there is a little love story going on between her and Larry and I somehow didn’t buy it.

Overall the movie is great fun. It is almost as good as the first one, although it is missing the surprise effect, because we have already seen the museum collection coming to live. Some funny new things were added though. In this movie, even paintings and sculptures start moving.

We went on a short trip to Washington this weekend (alright, I’ll admit it, the trip was slightly inspired by watching the movie) and went to a few of the Smithsonian museums as well as Abraham Lincoln’s monument. Seeing it all up close really showed how much is invented or changed to serve the movie. The distances that they walked or ran between all the museums are really a lot further then the movie leads us to believe. Especially Abe’s statue is quite a way away from the rest of the museums. One museum shown in the movie doesn’t even exist in real life. Neither do the underground archives. Well, they do exist, but not in Washington. It is absolutely worth the trip to see the Smithsonian Institute though. The Air and Space museum is beautifully made. The others are, as well, but that one really stands out. And the admission to all of them is free, so go and see it for yourself!

We did a double feature of Madagascar, parts one and two, last night. It involved a lot of pizza, sweets, Caipirinhas and laughter (especially as the evening went on…)

Madagascar

Alex (Ben Stiller) is the most beloved lion of the New York Zoo. While his friends think that he is a bit lame, Alex enjoys nothing more then putting on a good show for the tourists. The zebra Marty (Chris Rock) on the other hand can’t think about anything else than going to the Wild. At his birthday party he announces this to his best friend Alex and his other good friends, the giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) and the hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith). They are shocked and upset about the news. For them the Zoo is the best place in the world.

During this night, Marty goes to Grand Central station to take the train to Connecticut (which he believes to be the Wild). Alex and the others run after him to bring him back to the zoo. Animal rights activists insist that this break-out is a sign for the animals to be sent back into their natural habitat. The ship they are put on is heading for Africa, but through some circumstances it lands on Madagascar.

Here the movie really starts. The animals have to get used to the new environment, to the other animals living on Madagascar and to not having food served to them anymore. This is especially hard for the lion Alex. He doesn’t even know what his favourite food, steak, is made of. Suddenly he gets urges to bite his best friend.

Although not as good as some other Dreamworks movies (such as Shrek) Madagascar has some funny and original ideas. The beginning of the film, before the group goes off to Madagascar, feels quite long. Once they get to the island, it gets really funny though. A group of lemurs, with their King Julian (Sacha Baron Cohen), is hilarious. They really make the film. As do the other side characters. There are some clever penguins and very upper-class British monkeys that will make you smile.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Alex and the others have had enough of Madagascar, they want to go back home. Using a plane that has crash-landed on Madagascar, they want to fly back to New York City. Unfortunately the plane isn’t properly repaired and crashes again – this time somewhere in Africa (Tanzania?). Alex, Marty, Melmon and Gloria are shocked. This is where they belong! The Wild! There are thousands of hippos, giraffes, zebras and lions.

For Alex it is more then just being with other lions: he meets his real parents again. Now he has to be accepted into the pride. There is an official coming-of-age fight among the young lions, at which Alex obviously fails. Now his father, the king, has to banish Alex from the pride. I really don’t want to get into too much detail of the story here but, of course, there are many other obstacles.

In my view, the second film is better than the first. The pace is quicker and you already know all the characters, so they don’t have to be introduced again. There are some fun new characters as well (such as the hippo Moto-Moto who Gloria starts dating). The African scenery is done extremely well. I would have liked to see it on a big screen, rather than on my laptop…

Lemurs I saw at the Zoo. They are so cute!

What I didn’t like about this movie were the similarities to The Lion King. Why does there always have to be a bad lion, who wants to ruin the party? I mean, I like the obvious mocking or quoting of other films (the plane crash is, for example, obviously stolen from Almost Famous) but with the story of the lions it feels more like the makers couldn’t come up with something else.

These two movies are absolutely worth watching. They almost deserve a MovieCat award (and go onto my !Must see! category), but not quite. There is just something missing to make them perfect.

Derek Zoolander is a top male model who gets brainwashed by the fashion industry into killing the Prime Minister of Malaysia at a fashion show.

If you haven’t seen the film, you’re probably thinking something along the lines of ‘What the heck?’ or ‘She must be joking’. But I am not.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is.” – Zoolander

Ben Stiller (of all people) plays the top male model Zoolander who is by far the dumbest person on earth and therefore the perfect candidate to be brainwashed. The only help he gets to fight against the fashion czar Mugatu (Will Ferrell) is from the Times-journalist Matilda (Christine Taylor) and the newcomer male model Hansel (Owen Wilson).

I felt like, “This guy’s really hurting me.” And it hurt. – Hansel

As absurd as it sounds, Zoolander is a brilliant movie. It is the most unlikely story with two main actors who are very far from looking like male models, but it somehow works. This isn’t a typical comedy and doesn’t use conventional humour. I can’t really explain what makes it great, but I really enjoyed watching this film.

I’m not an ambi-turner. - Zoolander

Have any of you seen Zoolander? I mean, you must be absolute nuts to come up with stuff like this!

Zoolander gets the MovieCat award for being a really, really ridiculously funny film.

Along Came Polly is one of those light-hearted comedies that are fun to watch but easy to forget right after seeing it.

Ben Stiller plays the risk assessment analyst Reuben Feffer whose life’s dream it is to get married. That day has finally arrived, but on the honeymoon in St. Barts his wife Lisa (Debra Messing with straight hair) sleeps with her scuba-diving instructor (Frank Azaria). Back home Reuben needs to move into the new house in the suburbs that he bought for Lisa and himself to live in. Life is understandably miserable for him until he meets Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston), whom he knows from grade school.

The two of them couldn’t have more opposing personalities. Reuben is overly careful about everything, has a mild case of IBS and hates spicy food because of it. Every few months Polly moves to a different country or at least state, has never been in a long term relationship, dances Salsa and only eats spicy food. Oh, and she has a cute, almost blind ferret called Rudolfo. Despite all their differences they find a way to like each other and things are looking up for Reuben until Lisa comes back from St. Barts and wants to get back together with him…

Along Came Polly is not one of the better chick flicks I have seen but it certainly has its moments. Frank Azaria for one is absolutely hilarious. I have no idea how the actors around him could do their scenes seriously while looking at him. Rudolfo is a small but essential part of the comedy and Rueben’s disgusting friend Sandy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is another.

Ben Stiller really has no problem with embarrassing himself, which makes him endearing. The toilet humour is disgusting but you can’t help but laugh, especially when Reuben is flooding Polly’s bathroom the first time he comes up to her apartment.

I wouldn’t go so far as to calling it a bad film, but you don’t have to put it on the top of your netflix (or lovefilm or whatever you use) list. Save it for a rainy day.