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!

This is a British comedy, directed oddly enough by the American David Schwimmer (who played Ross in Friends).

Dennis Doyle (Simon Pegg) has run out on his pregnant fiancée Libby (Thandy Newton) on their wedding day. Five years later, he is out of shape, working as a security guard in a lingerie shop and leading a miserable bachelor life, living in a small flat where he can’t even pay the rent. His only friend is the gambler Gordon (Dylan Moran). He misses Libby immensely and tries to get her back, but is failing.

Libby has found a new man to take care of her and her son Jake. Whit (Hank Azaria) has it all: he is rich, handsome, nice to Jake and very athletic. When Denny finds out about Libby’s new boyfriend he gets extremely jealous. It goes so far that when Whit tells Denny that he is going to run in a London Marathon, Denny claims that he is planning on doing the same thing. Of course is hoping to win back Libby’s respect and affection …

Run Fat Boy Run is a light-hearted comedy. The plot is not overly original but the characters are sweet and the film is entertaining. I watched it during breakfast on a Saturday which was exactly the right setting for it.

(photo: Flickr/punkjr)