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Sorry for the delay on Monday’s comic. I know I promised it to you late yesterday, but the Memorial Day holiday kind of got in the way. I thought I was going to have an opportunity to draw and ink the strip while Henry was napping, but it didn’t work out that way. Then, despiteGordon’s upset stomach, Joe and I decided to go through with recording last night’s The Triple Feature podcast and that pushed my time line back further. When it was all said and done, I said to myself, “This is going to have to be a Tuesday comic instead.”

Incidentally, regarding last night’s The Triple Feature, I strongly suggest you check it out. I think Joe and I had a really good show. We were really clicking. We talked about Angels & Demons and Terminator Salvation and I spent a little time discussing Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

Regarding the latter, I saw strong>Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and liked it. The movie is certainly better than the first because it’s smart enough to put the “divorced Dad just trying to do right by his kid” angle into the background and focuses on what people really came to the theater for – classical sculpture preening like a Brooklyn pigeon for statues of antiquity.

“BOOM! BOOM! FIAHPOWAH!”

Amy Adams plays Ben Stiller’s love interest in the film as aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. I found Adams winning in the role, even if she was using some kind of clipped 1920’s vocal affectation not entirely dissimilar from Katherine Hepburn (I’m sorry, but I refuse to believe everyone from the 20s and 30s talked with that way).

I do have to admit that the question of Earhart’s sexual orientation crept into my head while watching the movie. Later, when I was discussing today’s comic, Cami did have to correct me as to her marital status, which I was totally oblivious to.

Doing research for the comic, rumors of Earhart’s sexuality were never confirmed. Truthfully, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was an ugly rumor created to discredit her as being “butch” or some such nonsense for entering into the field of aviation – an arena many men of the period did not feel women belonged.

Ultimately, it doesn’t mater. It matters even less within the context of the movie. It’s Earhart’s Spirit of Adventure that Stiller’s character is meant to fall in love with. It’s his wake up call to leave the corporate world he went on to establish himself in and reconnect with his true passion – being a night guard at a magical museum.

Aside from Adams, Hank Azaria is effective as the slapstick villain Kahmunrah. Again, putting on an usual accent, I found his Karloff-esque lisp funny the first few scenes he was in, but distracting later on.

Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan and Robin Williams show up and get a few good lines. Coogan as the Roman General Octavius probably gets the funniest bit in the movie as he charges toward the White House in an attempt to notify the President of the situation at the Smithsonian. Bill Hader also gets in a few funny moments early on as the vain and self-important General Custer. His hair care regimen alone will leave you ROFLing in your popcorn.

There are a ton of cameos in the movie too many to mention. Truthfully, I wouldn’t want to tell you. I think you’d be better off surprised. But nearly every up-and-coming comedic performer of the last 5 years shows up in this thing and it’s fun to go “Hey, I know that person!”

At least it was fun for me. I’m simple like that.

Between all this comedic talent, you can tell there was room left in the script for improvisation. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Some bits go on a little too long – as if the performers are purposefully trying to push an idea from funny to unfunny an back to “funny” again. They don’t always salvage the effort. But the exchanges are refreshing in the sense that the characters just and spewing boilerplate “Now I will do THIS!” / “No, you can’t!” dialogue at each other.

The last little gripe I’ll make about the movie is that despite the fact it’s promoting history, it’s historically inaccurate. There is a chase sequence inside the Air & Space Museum where Stiller and Adams’ characters dislodge the Wright Brothers plane from it’s ceiling mount and fly it out of the building. Not only do they fly it out of the building, they fly around inside the building for a while. Not only do the fly around inside the building for a while, they make a series of impossible maneuvers, dipping and diving around the other aircraft on displace before launching into the skies over Washington D.C. for a languid, romantic moment.

I’m sorry – but wasn’t this the plane that was only able to maintain flight for about 12 seconds?

I don’t mean to be a milksop. I recognize that the movie is fantasy and has to bend the rules a little bit to be entertaining. After all, if I’m going to nit-pick the aerobatic prowess of the world’s first airplane, there’s probably something I should say about a magical Egyptian tablet that brings wax sculptures to life, right?

But intentionally or not, a movie like this will generate an interest in history. It’s basically on big commercial for the Smithsonian. Shouldn’t the producers be a little bit more responsible with what they are portraying on screen?

Or, considering the audience the movie is targeted toward – young kids – is it acceptable to tell a small lie to foster interest in the larger truth? Personally, I’m not a fan of the idea that kids deserve dumbed down entertainment. Kids are capable of understanding much more than we give them credit for. But I suppose if it get’s them away from video games, I’m okay with the idea that the Wright’s plane can perform loops…

I feel like there is more I can be blogging about. I also caught Terminator Salvation this weekend and have some opinions on that. But I think I’ll wrap things up for now.

Did anyone here catch Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian this weekend? What did you think? Did you find it better than the original? Are you able to look over some of the more fantastic elements if it serves the entertainment value of the movie?

Leave your thoughts below!