My dad and I recently hit the theater for the new comedy “Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian.” Like the original “Night at the Museum,” the story is about a museum full of exhibits which come to life every night because of a magic Egyptian tablet stored within the museum.

I was extremely excited to see it, because I liked the first “Night at the Museum” so much, so I am happy to announce that the latest “Night at the Museum” film was just as thrilling and hilarious as the first one!

This time the main character, Larry, played by the always funny Ben Stiller, has moved on from being a museum night guard to his own big invention company. But when the curator of the Natural History Museum, where Larry formerly worked, decides to replace all of the old exhibits with newer, more interactive ones, he sends them to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., for storage, along with the magic tablet.

The tablet then animates all the exhibits at The Smithsonian, including an evil Egyptian Pharoah who wishes to possess the tablet’s power.

Larry follows them to Washington, D.C., to retrieve them, and finds himself in a life-and-death struggle with the Pharoah.

Along the way Larry meets new friends, including Amelia Earhart, and new enemies, such as Al Capone and Napoleon. Finally, Larry must rescue his friends and decide whether he is truly happy in his new career.

Compared to the first movie, it was just as funny and exciting, if not more so, but it did have some plot holes. For example, his love interest from the first movie is never seen or mentioned in this movie, and his son from the first movie plays a very limited role. Also, after meeting a Smithsonian guard named Brandun and stealing his access card, he also is never mentioned again.

Stiller, playing Larry, really brought most of the laughter to the film with his sarcastic humor, but my other favorite characters, Jedediah, the mini-cowboy and Octavius, the mini-Roman, didn’t play quite as big of a roll as in the first movie. The new characters, however, were really fun and created many well thought out jokes and hilarious scenes.

One of the best was when Dexter, the troublesome monkey from the first movie, meets another look-alike monkey named Able, and they become angry and take it out on poor Larry. Another humorous new villain was Ivan the Terrible who really thought he should be called “Ivan the Awesome!”

Overall, if you liked the first “Night at the Museum,” I definitely recommend the second, “Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian!” It was a hilarious, thrilling and exceptionally entertaining comedy that I suggest for kids of all ages. Even adults will enjoy it.

Aran Kirschenmann, 12, is a contributing writer for the Bellevue Reporter and a seventh grader at The International School in Bellevue.

Bellevue Reporter’s young critic, Aran Kirschenmann, has been chosen to be a participant filmmaker in the SuperFly Filmmaking Experience, a partnership between Longhouse Media and the Seattle International Film Festival.

As one of 50 select young filmmakers, Aran will collaborate over a span of 36 hours on Squaxin Island to create/shoot/edit a film with professional mentors on hand to guide them. The resulting five films will be screened for the public at 4 p.m. Saturday, June 6, at the Egyptian Theater in Seattle. For tickets or info go to the Seattle International Film Festival or call 206.324.9996.