NATIONAL TREASURE (2004)

NATIONAL TREASURE (2004)

Tagline: From the producer of "Pirates of the Caribbean"

(Adventure, Mystery, Action) [PG]

Yeah, well I'm not all right! Those men have the Declaration of Independence!

In this one, historian Benjamin Franklin Gates (played by Nicolas Cage) is in a race against time to string together several clues that will eventually lead to one of the greatest treasures ever collected. He is helped by Riley Poole (played by Justin Bartha) and Abigail Chase (played by Diane Kruger who is not in any way related to Freddy Kruger) who both show reluctance at times, but ultimately get sucked into the adventure. Can Gates find one of the most prolific treasures of all time, does it even exist? 

First off, Nicholas Cage is in this so if you are a fan of his, you probably already ran to this thing. It’s also got the distinction of flying under the pre-PC Disney banner. They still wanted to be family-friendly and didn’t put the movie (which had been under “Touchstone Pictures”) on its line-up till after it got the PG rating, but they still weren’t PC at that time. How do I know?...  because freakin Jon Voight is in the movie and even at that time he was getting flack in Hollywood for being a conservative.  Voight plays Patrick Gates the crotchety old father of Benjamin. 

When you see the preview for this is plays a bit like a soft INDIANA JONES type flick, but after seeing the movie several times now I would put it more in the wheelhouse of “The Librarians” TV show. That means is a pretty fun romp if you can look past all the Federal Laws Benjamin Gates and Riley had to break just to even try to get the Declaration Of Independence in the first place. The pace is pretty frantic even with the brief stops to explain what the heck is going on. 

If I do have an issue with this movie it’s that Benjamin Gates would probably give Dr. Jones a run for his money when it comes to knowledge of old groups like the Masons and Templars, but his clue-following ability is almost over the top. They also kind of make his accomplices almost unbelievably loyal in spite of the fact that he kidnapped  (or adult-napped) one of them.  

None of that takes away from how fun this movie is, but in my analysis, it’s almost too nonchalant if there is such a thing. I do like the forethought that went into this movie regarding the sequence of things and how the clues are laid out etc. 

Overall I have to give NATIONAL TREASURE a solid 5 out of 7. It falls in line with a lot of other adventure flicks targeted at younger audiences but holds up its end of the bargain unlike a lot of them. We get a fun lighthearted ride. It is a bit of a classic at this point. I mean it’s produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, you almost can’t go wrong.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF WALT DISNEY PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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