Earlier this month, this Night at the Museum Holiday Gift Set hit store shelves. The double DVD pack includes Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and a bonus Monkey Mischief DVD.With such big names in comedic acting, such as Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria, and Owen Wilson, it is difficult to resist watching this movie just out of curiosity. For someone like me who had not seen the first Night at the Museum film, I did not have a true sense of the bond between Larry Daley (Stiller's character) and the museum exhibits until well into the movie. So I would recommend renting the first movie prior to watching this one.
Although I've found other films that were rated PG to be suitable for our nearly 6yr old son, I did not find this one to be. There was nothing inappropriate about the film, but the sense of danger with live actors seemed to be too much for our son. If this same storyline was depicted with animated characters, this would not have been a problem. So my husband and I stopped the movie and ended up watching it by ourselves later on.
Although this movie had some corny parts, both my husband and I found it to be lots of fun. I have to say that your level of enjoyment of this film is directly related to your knowledge of history and pop culture. There were many great punchlines, but if you do not understand the references, then you may not see the humor behind them.
If you have older children, this movie is a great opportunity to teach them a little bit about some of the greatest historical and pop culture figures of our time. Some of the well-known historical figures included Amelia Earhart, Teddy Roosevelt, Al Capone, Attila the Hun, Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon, General Custard, Albert Einstein and Abraham Lincoln. The many pop culture references included the Rubik's Cube, Darth Vader and Jedi mind tricks, Bobblehead dolls, the film 300, and even Oscar the Grouch.
The bonus DVD Monkey Mischief is a fun DVD for monkey-lovers. I had thought it might be a film short or never before seen footage from the feature film, but rather it was different segments showing the monkeys who starred in both Night at the Museum movies during filming and their daily lives. It was cute, but I don't think it is worth paying the extra money for unless you are a huge fan of monkeys.
Currently, you can find Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (Two-Disc Monkey Mischief Pack) on Amazon.com and other major retailers of popular DVDs.
Thank you to Click-Communications for providing a screening copy of this DVD gift set.
