Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

The Smithsonian Institution does maintain storage for items not on display in the museums but they are located throughout the Washington D.

suburbs, not in sub basements under the museums.

The quick cuts between scenes in the Air and Space museum, the White House, and the 'Abraham Lincoln (I)' (qv) Memorial imply that they are adjacent.

However the White House is 1 mile away and the Lincoln Memorial is over 1.

6 miles away.

The Archives is not part of the Smithsonian Institution.

It is also the National Archives, not the "Federal Archives.

" When Larry first arrives at the Air & Space Museum he sees the twin seat, twin canopy Air Force jet with both aircrew in the cockpits looking at him.

Shortly after the aircraft is shown facing the other direction (no aircrew are in the jet) and one is walking on the ground below the aircraft.

Not enough time passed for the aircrew to get out of the plane nor for Larry to change his visual perspective of the jet.

In the first scene that General Custer is announcing his attack plans and asks if there's any questions, he tries to pronounce Sacajawea's name the first time, he is clearly standing on a crate above everyone else.

The second time he tries, he is at the same level of everyone else.

On his final attempt to pronounce her name, he's back on top of the crate.

Although George Armstrong Custer is typically portrayed with long hair and referred to as General, he had been reduced to his permanent rank of Captain after the Civil War.

He was a Lieutenant Colonel at the time of his death at Little Big Horn - and had also cut his hair short to protect himself against being scalped.

However, it's apparent that here he's portrayed in his Civil War "glory days" - he has a major general's shoulder boards and his double-breasted frock coat has the correct number of buttons.

Additionally, he has his trademark red scarf and pin he wore on it at the time.

Finally, he's portrayed as the 20-something he was 12 years before his death in Montana.

There is no lettering on the outside of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum indicating the name of the museum.

Larry and 'Amelia Earhart' (qv) take off in the original 1903 Wright Flyer.

This Flyer is only capable of carrying one person.

Athough they fly it using a stick control, it was actually controlled using a mechanism attached to the pilot's hips whereby he could turn the aircraft by shifting his body from side to side.

Also, it no longer hangs from the ceiling of the National Air and Space Museum, but is in a second floor exhibit hall sitting on the floor.

'Napoléon Bonaparte' (qv) speaks with a French accent.

It is known that he never had one to speak of, always speaking French (a second language of his) with a Corsican accent, which sounds closer to an Italian accent.

Custer is portrayed with a southern (perhaps Virginian) accent, but he was from the Ohio-Michigan region.

He introduces himself as "General Custer of the 7th U.

Cavalry," but he was a general only in the 3rd Cavalry, and a lieutenant colonel in the 7th.

Finally, far more than "208" Federal soldiers died at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Larry calls Able and Dexter "proud Capuchins.

" Although Dexter is a Capuchin monkey, Able is a Rhesus monkey.

(However, Larry is not a monkey expert.

) _Night at the Museum (2006)_ (qv) explained that at sunrise, anything that gets left outside the museum after being brought to life turns to dust.

In this one, 'Abraham Lincoln (I)' (qv) is in the open-air Memorial, but since that is his authorized space, he is considered to be "inside.

" When Sacajawea is placed in her crate during the opening credits, she is laying in curly straw, with no white Styrofoam surrounding her.

The lid is then put on the crate, however when she bursts out of the crate white Styrofoam is seen exploding out as she lifts the lid.

When 'Amelia Earhart' (qv) lands her plane outside the museum in NY at the end, you can see Attila the Hun and others exit the plane, but not Sacajawea.

But in a later shot, she is seen among a group running up the stairs to the museum, but we saw everyone who got off the plane, and she was not one of them.

Octavius removes his helmet to free Jedadiah from the hour glass.

Shortly afterward he is shown with it back on his head and tied.

He would not have had time to do it back up between scenes.

The light on top of the Capitol is first shown as on when Larry and 'Amelia Earhart' (qv) race to the Air & Space Museum.

In later shots it is off.

The light is supposed to be lit only on the rare occasion when the House or Senate are in session at night.

When the Wright Flyer is flying in the National Air and Space Museum, the timing chain is moving.

While outside the chain has stopped moving, although the propellers are still turning.

There is nothing in the plot to indicate that they ran out of gas.

Grant Wood's "American Gothic" and 'Edward Hopper' (qv)'s "Nighthawks" are at the Art Institute of Chicago.

'Auguste Rodin (I)' (qv)'s "The Thinker" is at the Musée Rodin in Paris.

"Venus Italica" is at the North Carolina Museum of Art.

'Edgar Degas' (qv)'s ballerina is at the Royal Academy in London.

'Jeff Koons' (qv)'s "Balloon Dog (Red)" is not part of any museum's collection.

Octopuses are ocean creatures which can only live in salty water, but this is a magic octopus which can breathe air in the museum corridors and saltless water in the Washington Monument Reflecting Pool.

Larry tells his son that the Smithsonian Institution is a collection of 19 museums, which is true.

However, he also says that they are all located on the National Mall.

Some are actually located in New York City, Chantilly in Virginia, and different parts of Washington, D.

The National Zoo is also part of the Smithsonian group of museums.

The National Gallery of Art, though located among the Smithsonian, is not part of the Institution, contrary to the implication in the film.

'Amelia Earhart' (qv)'s red Lockheed Vega carries no more than two people (not the entire museum crew) and could not make a Washington-New York round trip in a single hour before sunrise.

Real trains take three hours and jet aircraft take almost an hour, one way.

The fantasy parameters established by the storyline do not provide any explanation as to how the plane's capacity and speed could exceed those of a 1930s machine.

Larry needs Brandon/Brundon's security pass so he can move around the Smithsonian, and is shown using it on several occasions, yet Kahmunrah's gang are able to roam about freely.

This could be a perk of being magically bound to the Institution.

The Egyptians did not have any concept of PI until over 800 years after the pyramids were built and when they did their calculation was (incorrectly) 3.

The reason why PI seems to pop up in certain ratios of measurements of the pyramids is most likely because they could have used wheels as measuring devices.

The WWII Tuskegee airmen are wearing modern USAF flight jackets with Velcro.

Although Velcro was invented in 1941, it was not patented and in common use until the 1950s.

The same jacket has a 50-star flag patch, but there were not 50 states until 1959, 14 years after WWII ended.

Even if Jedediah died that night being buried in sand, it might not have mattered.

He is not a human but a toy figure who returns to life each night in presence of the tablet.

However, this was an unknown experience, and the friends could not know for sure if the magic would work.

When the giant octopus jumps into the reflecting pond in front of the 'Abraham Lincoln (I)' (qv) Memorial, it shows him jumping into a pool deep enough that he has to float up a bit to have most of his body above the surface.

In fact, the pool is only 30 inches deep at the very center of the pool.

When Kahmenrah calls first his army from the underworld, he uses the same language he used to command his own Egyptian followers, to kill Larry, and they understand them perfectly.

Yet, when 'Abraham Lincoln (I)' (qv) crashes in after Octavius to save Larry, Kahmenrah has to caw like a bird to command them, as they don't seem to understand him.

Larry's black tie mysteriously disappears somewhere after he shakes hands with the space monkey and arrives at the desk to speak to the 'Albert Einstein' (qv) bobbleheads.

In the scene where Custer is announcing his plan to attack when he yells "attack!" you can see Attila the Hun behind him in a corner of the crate.

As he tried to pronounce Sacajewea's name, Attila is behind her.

Then, as Custer sits back down, Attila is once again in the corner by Custer.

'Amelia Earhart' (qv) addresses the Tuskegee airman as "Captain", but his captain's bars are not visible.

As Larry is walking towards the Smithsonian Castle, you see his cell phone on his belt.

As he is walking by the 'Al Capone' (qv) exhibit near the entrance, his cell phone is gone.

Then, as he approaches the Kahmunrah gate, his cell phone is back on his belt.

When Larry and Kahmunrah are arguing and Kahmunrah is trying to get the tablet from Larry, and Larry is trying to get the hour glass from Kahmunrah, there are points when no sand is pouring through the hour glass, where according to the position of the hour glass, there should be sand flowing through.

When Jedediah is in the hour glass, he is in the lower chamber, and the area between is too small for him to go through.

When the minions are returning to the portal, in a close up he is obviously in the top chamber, only to return to the bottom when Octavius breaks him free.

Some might say that the hourglass could have been turned, but that would obviously have caused him to suffocate if it weren't already an established fact that he could shift his weight around enough in the case of a turnover to be able to continue to breathe.

McPhee has no reason to allow Larry to stay in the museum after closing, as Larry is no longer a night guard.

However, Dr.

McPhee may feel indebted to Larry after the events of _Night at the Museum (2006)_ (qv), and decide to owe him this special favor from time to time.

When Custer is knocked off the bike, he holds a hand up to his nose, indicating that it may have been broken, and, finding out it wasn't, uncovering it.

It could also have been that he was "fixing" it, knowing it would be fine and not need extended healing.

In the scene where Larry and Amelia are cornered near the painting American Gothic, Larry grabs the pitchfork from inside the picture, but he is shown using a four-pronged pitchfork.

The pitchfork in the actual painting is a three-pronged one.

The first _Night at the Museum (2006)_ (qv) established that if the tiles aren't perfectly flat on the tablet the magic didn't work.

When Larry throws the tablet to 'Amelia Earhart' (qv), the tiles are obviously not flat but the magic of the tablet remains.

Brandon's security badge he has clipped on his belt has his picture on it but not his name.

In the movie, 'Wilbur Wright' (qv) had a mustache while Orville did not.

However, 'Orville Wright' (qv) was the one that had the mustache, not Wilbur.

When Larry explains to Amelia why he left the job as a night guard he places the tablet on a pillar near Lincoln's statue.

Short time later as he is trying to tell Lincoln that he and Amelia are not a couple, he does not have the tablet.

As they leave, Larry is holding the tablet without ever picking up the tablet from the pillar.

When talking about pi, the 'Albert Einstein' (qv) bobble heads describe it as"3.

14159265, to be exact".

Although the real Einstein would know that pi has infinite decimals, his bobble heads are giving the new combination to Ahkmenrah's Tablet, which is an exact number.

Throughout Kahmunrah's conversation with Oscar the Grouch and Darth Vader, a Russian soldier is standing behind Ivan the Terrible's shoulder.

However, when the camera flicks back to Kahmunrah as he waves goodbye to Oscar the Grouch and Darth Vader, not only has the soldier disappeared, but visible in the background is Al Capone whose skin is clearly not black and white as it should be.

When the Wrightflyer (the Kitty Hawk) is shown in closeup (scene with Amelia Earheart and Larry flying the plane) you can see that the engine is mounted mirrored to the correct position.

The intake and exhaust of the engine was on the pilot-side, not the crankshaft.

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) has moved on from his night watchman job. The American Museum of Natural History is closed for renovations.

This film doesn't live up to the original Night at the Museum but it is still good. The filmmakers introduced a lot of new exhibits and characters to keep things fresh and it really paid off.

I was always a fan of the first Night at the Museum movie because it has a fun premise and mixes enough excitement and comedy for adults with all the more playful stuff for the kids. Battle of Smithsonian couldn't feel less necessary, though.

Yes, It's true to many that Night at the Museum 2 is better than the first, but why?:1.

The original Night at the Museum was a coming of age comedy about a single father. It was witty, self aware, and original.

Yes, It's true to many that Night at the Museum 2 is better than the first, but why?:1.

The original Night at the Museum was a coming of age comedy about a single father. It was witty, self aware, and original.

I don't know which was more tortuous: watching the fingernails-against-the-chalkboard annoying Ben Stiller for 100 minutes, or the historical figures here made ludicrous. Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon, and Al Capone as incompetent twits taking marching orders from a Boris Karloff impersonator?