Smithsonian-set 'Night at the Museum' sequel couldn't be more lively

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian takes a great idea -- what if the inhabitants of a museum came to life at night? -- and milks it for every drop of fun it's worth.

Happily, it's worth plenty.

Rodin's The Thinker stops thinking and starts talking. A Roy Lichtenstein pop-art woman cries. A balloon dog scampers about. Albert Einstein bobbleheads simplify complex equations -- even though, with all that nodding, it's tough to figure whether they're signaling yes or no.

This sequel to 2006's Night at the Museum, in which an ancient Egyptian tablet brought to life the figures inside New York's American Museum of Natural History, ups both the energy and the laugh quotient. Yeah, it plays fast and loose with the rules set down by the first film -- everything comes to life, even inanimate objects like model airplanes, regardless of whether they're in the museum or not -- but that's OK. The sense of wonder the movie engenders is palpable, and anything that makes museums look cool (which this movie does, in spades) deserves a vote of thanks from civilization as a whole.

Ben Stiller is back as Larry Daley, the security guard who, in the first movie, discovered the New York museum's animating secret. Since then, he's turned into a successful marketer, getting George Foreman to shill for his glow-in-the-dark flashlights. But is this what he's meant to do? Not when his friends back at the museum are about to be sent into storage at the Smithsonian, and only he knows what a terrible tragedy that would be.

So he high-tails it down to Washington, arriving just in time to hear details of a truly nefarious plot being hatched by the evil Egyptian Prince Kahmunrah ( Hank Azaria, doing Boris Karloff with a lisp). His plan: Use that magic tablet to unleash his armies of the dead and conquer the world.

As noted earlier, don't waste time trying to think through the plot's inconsistencies (if Kahmunrah only comes to life at night, for instance, he's not going to make much of a conqueror). The fun to be had here comes from simply going along for the ride.

Most of the principals from Night at the Museum are back, including Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt and Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan as tiny diorama figures of, respectively, a cowboy and a centurion. But it's two new additions that really breathe life into this sequel.

Azaria, after years of being one of the secret weapons behind The Simpsons, clearly relishes putting both his face and voice on display. His Kahmunrah is the funniest bad guy this side of Mel Brooks, whether he's arguing with Larry over possession of the fabled Cube of Rubik or turning down some Hollywood types (a pair of hilarious cameos) who can't imagine evil happening without them.

But the most welcome energizing force behind Battle of the Smithsonian is Amy Adams, who gets to play Amelia Earhart as one saucy, spunky aviatrix. She gives Larry someone to fight for, as well as alongside, and manages to inject both humor and warmth into the proceedings.

With so much comedic energy being tossed around, it is perhaps inevitable that some of it lands with a thud. Christopher Guest is wasted as Ivan the Terrible -- in fact, a whole plotline involving Ivan, Napoleon and John Dillinger as Kahmunrah's henchmen is strangely inert, as if all their best lines ended up on the cutting-room floor somewhere. An appearance by the Tuskegee Airmen seems forced. And the big laugh that Mizuo Peck's Sacagawea gets from her only line suggests she deserved something more.

But for anyone who's ever been to a museum, and wondered for just a moment how cool it would be to have that stuff in your bedroom, Battle of the Smithsonian should prove a delight. And maybe, perhaps, a bit of a cautionary tale: Having a live rocketship in the house, it turns out, can be a little dangerous. Funny, but dangerous.