Product Description
New Blu-ray Movie DVD Disc -
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
20th Century Fox | 2009 | 105 mins | Rated PG
Shawn Levy directs the sequel of his hit film 'Night at the Museum'. Night guard
Larry Daley (Ben Stiller), now a successful entrepreneur, returns to the Museum
of Natural History to visit his friends--the exhibits that come to life at
night--only to learn that they are being shipped off into deep storage at the
Smithsonian Institution. To make matters worse, the exhibits at the Smithsonian,
including the pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria), are suddenly coming to life--and
they aren'抰 at all happy about their new visitors. Determined to save his
friends, Larry rushes to Washington, D.C., and makes his way into the inner
workings of the largest museum complex in the world while Kahmunrah recruits the
likes of Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Napoleon (Alain Chabat), and Al
Capone (Jon Bernthal). Larry, meanwhile, finds himself with spunky Amelia
Earhart (Amy Adams) as a co-conspirator and love interest, and General Custer
(Bill Hader) leading the battle for the Smithsonian.
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian comes alive on Blu-ray
with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. I popped in the
included DVD for comparison and, as expected, there抯 no contest; the Blu-ray
version is sharper, ultra- colorful, and much more vivid. Throughout the movie抯
run-time I was impressed by the depth of the color saturation. Steve Coogan抯
cloak is an absolutely intense red, Ben Stiller抯 guard uniform is a deep blue,
and every corner of the frame bursts with color, from the bold golden yellows of
Egyptian relics to Amy Adams?fiery orange hair. Contrast runs a little hot
during the few outdoor daytime scenes, but once we get inside the museum the
image is nearly perfectly tuned, with inky and substantial blacks and luminous
but never overblown highlights, all coming together to create a satisfying sense
of dimensionality and presence. The black and white scene inside the VJ- Day
photograph is equally impressive, with a strong gradation of smooth grays.
Clarity is excellent in both close-ups and long shots; just examine the
intricate detailing on Hank Azaria抯 tunic or watch as he sits in Archie Bunker抯
recliner atop a pile of ornate treasures. Shot on 35mm, NATMBOTS definitely
retains its filmic quality in this transfer, with a thin layer of fine grain
that gives the image some cinematic warmth, and that carries no traces of DNR or
overt edge enhancement. My only real complaint is that some of the digital
inserts and artificial backgrounds can flatten the otherwise dimensional
image.
Compared to the stellar visuals,
Battle of the Smithsonian抯 DTS-HD Master
Audio 5.1 surround track comes as somewhat of a disappointment. With all the
shenanigans and tomfoolery caused by museum pieces come to life, I was expecting
a raucously immersive audio experience. Instead, I got a much more subdued track
that抯 almost entirely front-heavy for the first half of the film. Even when the
action heats up, there抯 really not as much engagement as there could have been.
Take the scene inside the Air and Space Museum; there are rockets warming up and
dozens of aircraft taking off and flying about, but the rear channels only get a
few timid fly-bys and swooshes. Where are the loud cross-channel dynamics and
pin-point pans? Or listen to the climactic battle scene; for a sequence of such
action and intensity, the soundstage is comparatively barren. There are some
nice flourishes條ike the tinkling of shattered glass on the floor as the Wright
Flyer crashes through a window梑ut the sound design is surprisingly anemic. That
said, Alan Silvestri抯 larger-than-life score picks up some of the slack with
deep bass, frenetic orchestration, and pounding electronic elements. Dialogue is
almost always clean, clear, and easily understood, though there were a few
moments when it could stand to be a little louder in the mix. There are some
missed opportunities here for a truly bombastic audio track, but the mix is at
least well-balanced and dynamically solid.
Blu-ray Movie DVD Disc - Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Features
Video
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1 (less)
Subtitles
English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese,mandarin
Package Content
Blu-ray Movie DVD Disc - Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian x 1
