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Two years after Larry Daley (Ben
Stiller) defeated the three night guards that plotted to steal The Tablet,
he is now head of Daley Devices, a company that he founded to manufacture
his inventions. These inventions, including The Glow-In-The-Dark
Flashlight, The Unloseable Keyring, and The Oversized Dogbone, were
created from his experiences as a former night guard. Upon revisiting, he
finds that The American Museum of Natural History is closed for
renovations and upgrades, and some of the museum pieces are being replaced
by interactive holograms due to budget costs. The actual exhibits are due
to be moved to The Federal Archives at The Smithsonian Institution in
Washington DC. On the last night, Larry reconnects with his museum exhibit
friends including Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams), Rexxy The
Tyrannosaurus Skeleton, and Dexter The Capuchin Monkey (Crystal the
Monkey) and when Larry asks Teddy where his crate was, Teddy tells him
that himself, Rexy, The Easter Island head (Brad Garret) and Ahkmanrah and
his Tablet are not making the Journey and are remaining at the
museum-Without the Tablet the exhibits won't be coming to life anymore
which is something Teddy didn't tell them so they can enjoy their final
night. The next night, Larry gets a call from Jedediah (Owen Wilson),
saying that Dexter stole The Tablet last midnight and evil Pharaoh
Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria), Ahkmenrah's older brother, is attacking him,
Octavius, Attila the Hun, Sacagawea, Neanderthal and animals. Larry goes
to Washington and visits The National Air and Space Museum, The National
Gallery of Art and The Smithsonian Institution Building to find The
Federal Archives with the help of his son Nick Daley (Jake Cherry).
Larry sneaks into The Archives and locates the exhibits, frozen in the
middle of a battle with Kahmunrah and his troops, who are trying to lock
the exhibits in a crate. Larry gets hold of The Golden Tablet Of
Ahkmenrah, which had been stolen by Dexter, just when the sun sets and all
the exhibits come alive again. Kahmunrah and his soldiers lock the crate
and take The Tablet from Larry, and he tells Larry that bringing the
exhibits to life is just one of the tablet's powers - he intends to use it
to raise an army from The Underworld and conquer the world, by placing The
Tablet into its sister artifact: The Gate Of Kahmunrah. Larry tries to
convince Kahmunrah to give back the Tablet by telling him about the "Cube
of Rubik". He leads Kahmunrah and his troops to a large box which he found
earlier, opens the lock and from it escapes a "Kraken", which escapes and
starts attacking everyone in its way and knocking over other exhibits,
including those of a pteranodon and a saber-toothed cat skeleton. Larry
manages to run away from the Egyptian troops and escapes with the help of
General George Armstrong Custer (Bill Hader), who gets captured, and meets
Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), who is thrilled at the prospect of adventure
and accompanies Larry. Larry and Amelia then go through an assortment of
paintings and photographs and trap Kahmunrah's soldiers in one (V-J day in
Times Square). They escape Kahmunrah's men, but are captured by Napolean
Bonaparte (Alain Chabat) and his soldiers, who joined Kahmunrah along with
Ivan the terrible (Christopher Guest), and Al Capone. Napolean then takes
Larry to Kahmunrah, separating Amelia from Larry.
Meanwhile Jedidiah and Octavius tries to help Larry but they are found out
by one of Al Capone's goons, and Jedediah tells Octavius to run away while
he distracts them, which leads him to get captured by Kahmunrah and places
him in a hourglass, saying that within one hour, he will suffocate in the
sand. Octavius sees this and vows to get reinforcements and save him.
Larry is taken to Kahmunrah and Kahmunrah then attempts to activate The
Tablet to open The Gate Of The Underworld by pressing the symbols on The
Tablet (which difers from the first movie, in which Akmunrah used an
incantation to activate the Tablet's powers), only to find out that the
combination has been changed. He orders Larry to decipher The Tablet's
riddle and figure out the new combination before sunrise, and traps
Jedediah in an hourglass to hasten his attempts. Larry and Amelia consult
a bust of Teddy who says that the answer is in The Heart Of The Pharaoh's
Tomb. The duo then consult The Thinker, but he gets distracted by a
beautiful statue of Aphrodite. Larry and Amelia flee from Russian troops
and arrive at the Lincoln Memorial where the huge statue of Lincoln comes
to life. Finally, at The National Air And Space Museum, they consult a
group of Albert Einstein bobbleheads who tell them that the answer to the
riddle (and hence the new combination) is the value of pi (because The
Tablet is a 3x3 grid, the combination is treated like a phone pad). Larry
and Amelia fly the Wright Flyer, return to The Smithsonian Institution
Building, and Amelia goes for help while Larry delays Kahmunrah. Ivan,
Napoleon and Capone arrive and tell him the code (having intimidated one
of The Einstein Bobbleheads into revealing it to them), and he opens The
Gate Of The Underworld and summons an army of Horus warriors. Suddenly,
the statue of Abraham Lincoln from The Lincoln Memorial bursts through the
window, frightening the bird-men back to The Underworld. Amelia arrives,
having freed the other exhibits and taken all of the Smithsonian's
exhibits ( including the octopus, the "Thinker' and some stoneangels), and
Custer orders them to attack. During this battle, Octavius frees Jedediah,
who is now covered in sand to the head, by smashing the glass with his
helmet. They then attack the gangsters, streltsys, and hussars by poking
their shoes with swords ŕ la 300. When Larry distracts Napoleon Ivan, and
Capone, he runs into Kahmunrah, and when the battle ends Larry duels
Kahmunrah with his flashlight (Which he took out of the locker room) and
Kahmunrah is defeated when Larry kicks him and then grabs Kahmunrah by the
neck. Kahmunrah gives Larry a final comment ("What are you?!") before
Larry then banishes him into the underworld forever. Everybody then cheers
a victory cry and Larry says that he only has an hour until sunrise and he
tells the exhibits he wants them back at the museum. They wave goodbye to
Custer, Thinker, and the gods of love, and Amelia then flies them back to
New York where she tells Larry she knows that she won't be alive anymore.
She then says her goodbyes and she leaves.
Teddy welcomes him back, and Larry assures him he has a way for them to
remain there. He tells Teddy he'll remain at the museum and be happy,
instead of working at Daley Devices. Some time later, it is revealed that
Larry generously sold his company and donated the money to the museum to
pay for Audio-Animatronics exhibits - since the museum now opens late, the
exhibits can come to life under the guise of "animatronic" figures,
including Teddy as a tour guide, Ahkmenrah and Dexter displaying The
Tablet, and Attila as a storyteller. Larry is rehired at the museum as the
night guard so as to watch over the rest of his friends, and meets a young
woman who looks just like Amelia. The film concludes as they talk and walk
off as Larry guides her toward The Hall Of Miniatures. Jedediah and
Octavius then fly by in a miniature airplane. During the credits, a man
from a black and white photo of V-J day in Times Square is seen examining
Larry's Motorola Q cellphone, which Larry left in the photo, and makes a
new discovery (for his time period). His mother calls him, and it is
revealed that his name is Joey Motorola. |
