Usually, “movie tie-in” and “Wii game” don't quite fit together in the same sentence. I'm sad to say that in the case of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, both ideas prove to be a great source of unease and discomfort. Rarely, I prefer a DS incarnation to its bigger, more “robust” console brethren, but in this case after playing through both, I have to say I would rather play the DS version of this tie-in than spend any more time with the Wii's rendition.

Battle of the Smithsonian is set two years after the original movie, where Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) conquered three night guards in a falling-out. These days, he's head of Daley Devices, a company headed by none other than himself in order to keep pumping out his inventions smoothly. As it turns out, the American Museum of Natural History, where he experienced his madcap adventures in the first movie, is being closed for renovation. The familiar museum exhibits that he had come to know and love are being transported to the Smithsonian Institution located in Washington, DC. After paying a visit to the museum on its last night, Larry discovers that many of the exhibits will not, in fact, be moving to Washington. This means that the exhibits they accompany will cease to be animated.

After taking this all in, the next night Larry is contacted by Jedidiah (Owen Wilson), and informed that an important tablet has been stolen. Kahmunrah is attacking it thief in Washington, and Larry hops a plane in hopes to stop the fierce battle. For the sake of the game (I can't confirm this as the movie's story), the tablet is shattered into several different pieces. Larry must collect small, glimmery pieces of the power released from within the tablet in order to circumvent certain disaster. With that, the game begins.

For all intents and purposes, both games tell the same story and are played in the same ways. Unlike the DS edition, however, this Wii title is a relatively soulless port. At the very least the DS version had an excuse for its less-than-stellar graphics and its simplistic gameplay that, despite its faults, could still be enjoyed as a casual platformer.

This is essentially a platformer with a few spices thrown in for good measure. You're tasked with collecting fragments of the tablet Kahmunrah so violently destroyed. With each new piece gained, you're gifted a brand new ability with which Larry can perform something different. He can glide, jump further, cross areas that were previously unavailable, and he can even summon lightning bolts to make some insurmountable tasks a bit lighter. While there are plenty of things that Larry can do, the Wii makes performing these feats an exercise in frustration. As is the case in plenty of other Wii titles, imprecise and rushed control schemes impede your progress before you can say “Let's just see the movie instead.” Poor collision detection and twitchy motion controls turn simple jumping and navigating levels into work – why should it be so hard to reach an area that's logically only a few feet higher than Larry stands?

To break the monotony, there are various other sequences that Larry must take place in, such as navigating the museum via Lunar Lander, or even riding on the back of a dinosaur skeleton. Unfortunately, wonky controls rear their ugly head during these (what should be) diversions. When you find yourself smacking into the same wall over and over, you wonder why exactly you're still sitting in front of the TV sticking it out, enduring an extremely dull game when you could just go check out the movie on a bigger screen without the poor controls.

At the very least, Ben Stiller lends his voice and likeness to his digital self, which is more than we can say for other celebrities these days (Mr. Bale, anyone?), but even Stiller's brand of comedy seems tired and drawn-out – it does nothing to brighten up this dullard of a game. Cut scenes do little to retain your interest, though at least the loading screens offer small tidbits of historical facts that the younger set (and even adults) would do well to pay attention to! You never know, you might learn a thing or two! Between the lazy, sloppy gameplay, bland graphics and musical score, and overall tone of this title, there are two main glaring flaws: the length and the price point.

Though Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is priced at what is considered a budget value, it's still far too expensive for a game that will barely last you two or three hours. For a fraction of the cost, you could have enjoyed the movie at the theater with some good old buttered popcorn, had more fun, and kept some cash in your wallet to boot.  It's great to see attempts being made to liven up the movie tie-in business, but for every step forward the industry makes, games such as this take two steps back. Unless you have the money to drop on any title you find interesting, opt for the DS version that you can carry along and enjoy on the go, or just go see the movie. Really, you'd be better off.