With robots and aliens dominating Summer 2009’s film offerings for the young and 13-year-old boys at heart, it’s refreshing to return to the relatively innocent world of history and magic in “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”.

Viewers older than 13 might find that “history” here is similar to that in “Time Bandits” (1981) and “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989) - written by European generals and American presidents. While “Night of the Museum” (2006) enlivens such low-key personalities as Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) and Sacajawea (Mizuo Peck), its sequel goes for broke and adds Napoleon (Alain Chabat) and Abraham Lincoln (Hank Azaria) and many other History 101 personages.

So wait, why are all the museum exhibits coming to life? As was revealed in the the first installment, the Tablet of Akmenrah has been bringing the exhibits at New York’s American Museum of Natural History alive from every sunset to sunrise  since 1952. Down-and-out Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) takes a job as a night guard at the museum to provide a model of stability for his son, and assumes the task of managing the nightly chaos and protecting the tablet.

In “Battle of the Smithsonian,” we find Larry’s luck has turned: he’s now a respected inventor and businessman. Is this his destiny? The film sprinkles in some business about Larry returning to his true calling (his magically-enhanced minimum-wage job) but overall, the writers are not concerned with a moral lesson. Their true goal is balancing childlike wonder with savvy humour, a goal somewhat met.

Rating:

Starring: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Hank Azaria

Directed by: Shawn Levy

Written by: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon

There is much on display here that no doubt dazzles children (CGI critters having become far more convincing since 1995’s “Jumanji”), but older viewers are likely to look to Larry for the proper reaction. His “seen it all before” attitude is overplayed, making each encounter with a living artifact a run-of-the-mill situation. Since the Natural History museum figures have been shipped to the Smithsonian for storage, they are joined by a rather larger cast from Washington, D.C.’s 19 museums. From miniatures to giant statuary, wax figurines and art pieces, Larry remains unfazed.

It’s handy, then, that Larry is given a real antagonist this time around: Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria), an Egyptian pharaoh and brother to the gentle, previously-seen Ahkmenrah. (Rami Malek) Using the additional powers of the tablet, Kahmunrah wants to open the portal to the underworld and, naturally, take over our world. In one crazy night, Larry and his sidekicks must outwit the pharaoh and restore the world’s largest museum to order.

The total sum of humour is less than it should be considering the cast of comedians: Stiller, Azaria with a lisping English accent (meant to reference Boris Karloff in 1932’s “The Mummy”), Ricky Gervais as museum director Dr. McPhee, Christopher Guest as Ivan the Terrible, Owen Wilson as miniature cowboy Jedidiah, and Steve Coogan as the equally diminished Octavius.

Amy Adams is a cute addition as Amelia Earhart, with an chipper manner of speech that even she admits is a bit of stretch. Her energy, Stiller’s everyman groundedness, and Azaria’s grandiose carry the film.

The most successful jokes are likely ad-libs, with the not-so-successful ones running too long.  Some jokes are repeats of those in the first film, or those earlier in this film (For example, Larry’s encounter with security guard Brandon, followed by Larry and Kahmunrah’s climactic stand-off.) Also, one suspects that in for the sake of remaining “safe”, Stiller chose not to push his humour to extremes as he did with say, “Zoolander” (2001) and “Tropic Thunder” (2008). As such, “Battle of the Smithsonian” is smile-inducing rather than gut-busting.

The film is most imaginative and high-concept when Larry and Amelia take the tablet into the National Gallery of Art. They are able to leap inside paintings and photographs and trap their pursuers, while abstract semi-personified art pieces roam about. It’s fun to watch Larry and Amelia learn the new rules of the tablet’s spell, and how to solve problems using them.

It’s unfortunate, then, that all for the zaniness Battle of the Smithsonian wears on its sleeve, the film is pretty tame. In order to be “family friendly” and as widely appealing as possible, it takes too few risks. Still, when the alternatives are thrashing metal (”G.I. Joe,” “Transformers”) and rubbery aliens (”Area 51,” “Aliens in the Attic”), “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” is a welcome return to past children’s entertainment.