At the risk of being unpopular amongst the critical elite, I’m afraid that I’m going to give a positive review to the sequel to Night at the Museum. Is it perfect? No, but it is honestly enjoyable thanks to the actors involved and the bounty of this film’s setting. Looking back on my review of the first film, I was just as easygoing about it then as I am now about its sequel. But it also reminded me that the 2006 original was hardly memorable and I wonder if it’ll be the same for this movie. But in the context of the summer movie season, and a public always on the look out for solid family fun, this night at the museum delivers handily.

Ben Stiller returns as Larry Daley, know the former night guard at Manhattan’s Natural History Museum having achieved much success as an inventor. Returning occasionally to the museum he learns that many of the exhibits, who still come to life when the sun goes down thanks to a magical Egyptian tablet, are being packed up and shipped to Washington for storage. The tablet goes to, and when it arrives at the Smithsonian, one of the exhibits it wakes up is Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria), an Egyptian pharaoh who claims to be the rightful owner of the tablet, and that it does more than bring museum exhibits to life. So while Kahmunrah gathers an all-star Axis of Evil including Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Napoleon Bonapart (Alain Chabat) and Al Capone (Jon Bernthal), Larry teams up with Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) to stop them.

Most, if not all, of your old favourites return including Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Octavius (Steve Coogan), Attila the Hun (Patrick Gallagher), Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek), Sacajawea (Mizuo Peck), Dexter the Monkey and crusty old Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais). Fortunately we’re spared this one too much of Robin Williams’ bluster as Teddy, but in his stead we get General George Armstrong Custer as characterized by Bill Hader, who at times I think was channelling another George, George W. Bush, in a cavalry uniform.

That’s not to say that Battle at the Smithsonian doesn’t have its hiccups. For every great cameo or gag you have to sit through something egregiously unfunny such as the statue of The Thinker with a thick accent reminiscent of a certain Austrian bodybuilder turned actor turner politician. And I seriously hope that whoever’s idea it was to give a chorus of Cherubs the voices of the Jonas Brothers finds themselves out of work, because every time they appeared it was like nails on a chalkboard. But these scenes are usually saved by an uproarious Amy Adams whose Amelia Earhart is like a cold blast of wind on a hot day; she’s magnetic every scene that she’s in.

But the actors aren’t the problem, and really the basic premise isn’t the problem either. Using the Smithsonian collection as a backdrop allowed filmmakers to cast a wide net for material, from the Museum’s portrait gallery to the Air and Space Museum to the expansive collection of pop culture artefacts. Still though, the film plays out rather predictably and the gags skewer between the juvenile and the outright shameless. Subtlety has never been Shawn Levy’s gift as a director, even though he knows how to reach a wide audience. Many of laughs are generated through the comedic timing of the actors, or otherwise happen by accident, like the pitch perfect parody of 300 that only a couple of people in the theatre are going to get at any particular showing.

The film does wear in places though. After awhile Azaria’s lisp goes from bearable to irritable and Stiller only has really the two settings: the slow-witted good guy and the pompous blowhard. The action may not be particularly awe-inspiring, and why it deserves an IMAX berth is a mystery beyond me, but it’s fast and bright and reasonably paced while not doddling too long before getting the action going. Fans of mid-brow family comedy have found a friend, but the pundits and the wags will hate this movie regardless, even if it was scripted by Jonathan Nolan. This is a solid movie, if not an overly artistic or ambitious one.