!!The first movie provides examples of:
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Jed and Octavius originally had minor roles in the first film, but after test screenings they proved so popular reshoots gave them a [[IncrediblyLamePun larger presence]].
** The Easter Island Head is also quite popular.
* HoYay: A lot of characters, but most noticeable with Jedediah and Octavius - lampshaded with a ShoutOut to ''Film/BrokebackMountain''.
-->'''Jedediah''': "I ain't quittin' you!"
** In the sequel - no, they weren't ''really'' going to kiss, but yeah...
** It didn't help when [[spoiler:the sand in the hourglass was suffocating Jedidiah, and he was trying to tell Octavius about how their relationship progressed "from enemies to friends and some stuff that will make you cry."]] Subtle.
** Octavius' [[Literature/TheLastOfTheMohicans "Just stay alive!]] IWillFindYou!" before running to get help for Jedediah.
--->'''Steve Coogan''' ''(who plays Octavius)'': There was a certain kind of subtext, what those of a discerning view might read as a subtle homoerotic subtext. If those people read that into it I certainly wouldn't argue with it... Yes, Octavius has a certain fascination with Jedediah because, of course, he wouldn't meet people as irreverent as that in the world of the Roman Empire, I think people were a bit more formal in their behaviour, so that slightly gauche, throwaway attitude that goes with being a cowboy fascinates Octavius, and he finds it quite alluring.
** Then in the third film, [[spoiler:when the tablet is corroding and the exhibits are dying, Jedidiah and Octavius attempt to die ''whilst HoldingHands''.]]
* WTHCastingAgency: '''[[CrazyAwesome Theodore Roosevelt]]''' is played by ''Creator/RobinWilliams''? Hey, it ''worked''.

!!The first sequel ''Battle of The Smithsonian'' provides examples of:
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: UsefulNotes/AmeliaEarhart was pretty cool, but she didn't look anything like Creator/AmyAdams.
* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Let's be honest, this movie is mostly remembered for Amy Adams' fine ass in PaintedOnPants.
* CriticalDissonance: While not hated, the films elicited a ho-hum from critics while audiences loved them.
* CriticalResearchFailure: The combination to the tablet is the value of pi. Ancient Egyptians had no concept of pi.
** Nor decimal notation, for that matter. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_numeral_system That was invented in India a millennia later.]]
** …nor how to make magical tablets that bring wax statues to life.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Amy Adams' take on Amelia Earhart.
* IdiotPlot: Larry, [[MundaneSolution just turn]] [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim the tablet's panels]]. It rendered the exhibits lifeless in the last movie, why wouldn't it now?
* MemeticMutation: "Boom! Boom! [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Fiya powa!]]"
** Custer mispronouncing Sacajawea's name over and over.
** "That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, we like it!"
** "ITT, bro? Intent To Touch?"
** I am ______, and I have come BACK! TO LIFE!
* NeverLiveItDown: [[spoiler:Custer again]].
* OneSceneWonder: [[SesameStreet Oscar the Grouch]] and Selfdemonstrating/DarthVader in the scene they're turned down by Kahmunrah.
* RetroactiveRecognition:
** Joey Motorola, the helpful sailor who Amelia and Larry run into in the picture of V-J Day in Times Square; after star turns in ''Film/{{Fanboys}}, Film/TropicThunder, Film/HowToTrainYourDragon and Film/ShesOutOfMyLeague'', you probably know who Jay Baruchel is by now.
** Creator/JonBernthal as Al Capone, before it became easier to identify him by name with ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' and ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet''.
* StrangledByTheRedString: Larry and Amelia. Amelia screwed around with most of the other exhibits while Jedidiah's life was at stake while Larry looked like an idiot in comparison and everyone around the complex just said that they were a cute couple.
** Which is even weirder when you consider that Amelia is a ''mannequin''.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: [[JustifiedTrope Copyright aside]], the movie would've been a hell of a lot funnier and awesome if the pop culture exhibit of the Smithsonian, aforementioned OneSceneWonder included, joined in on the fun.

!!The second sequel ''Secret of the Tomb'' provides examples of:
* CanonDiscontinuity: Despite the fact that Akhmenrah and his family are having their first reunion in thousands of years, none of them mention his brother Kahmunrah, who was encountered in the second movie (Note: As far as we know, they never found out about Kahmunrah's villainy). This is especially jarring as their father reminisces wistfully about Akhmenrah's birth, but hasn't got a word to say about the birth of Kahmunrah who was also his son and possibly his firstborn.
* CriticalResearchFailure: Unlike the Museum of Natural History in New York, the British Museum in London is solely confined to ''human'' history - mostly ancient cultures like the Romans and Egyptians - and has no reason to feature any dinosaur skeletons; they're all in the Natural History Museum.
** They also don't have a medieval hallway, or a model of Sir Lancelot - who, it must be repeated, is fictional.
** [[http://www.britishmuseum.org/visiting/family_visits/night_at_the_museum/fact_vs_fiction.aspx The British Museum actually released a statement pointing out all the things that the film made up.]]
* HarsherInHindsight: Teddy being among the [[spoiler: New York exhibits dying near the end]] foreshadows Robin Willams' untimely death. Not only that, Teddy losing the ability to properly move himself (due to his body becoming wax again), is eerily similar to Robin's diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (which he hadn't disclosed to the public, but was likely aware of during filming).
** Also for Mickey Rooney, who makes a reappearance. However, unlike his two colleagues, he's wheelchair bound and quite obviously suffering from mild dementia or Alzheimers. Mickey died of natural causes shortly before the film's release.
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Teddy Roosevelt saying goodbye to Larry is lent a ton of extra poignancy from being Robin Williams' last onscreen appearance.
--> ''Smile my boy; it's sunrise.''
* NightmareFuel: The Roman Statues shambling around are quite frightening as the scene seems to have been taken straight out of a zombie movie with how they are missing limbs and stumbling about. So is [[spoiler: Akhmenrah rapidly reverting into an undead human-mummy-zombie hybrid near the end.]]
* OneSceneWonder: Creator/AliceEve and ''especially'' Creator/HughJackman as themselves.
* TearJerker: The fact that this was among the final films of both Creator/MickeyRooney and Creator/RobinWilliams. Both actors received a dedication in the film proper.
* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The [[spoiler: Escher fight sequence]].
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