In the Back Row

with Allison McKinley © 2005

Wild Child Publishing.com © 2005

Film: National Treasure
(Walt Disney Home Video)

Allison's review in ten words or fewer: Another entertaining amusement park ride from Disney Studios.

Grade: B+

Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating (MPAA): PG 13
Runtime (minutes): 131
DVD Release Date (US): 3 May 2005
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Diane Kruger

DVD Features (thanks to Amazon.com):

• Available subtitles: English, Spanish
• Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French
• Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending with optional director commentary
• Opening Scene Animatic with optional director commentary
• "National Treasure On Location"
• "The Knights Templar" featurette
• "Treasure Hunters Revealed" - Meet real life modern day treasure hunters
• "Riley Poole's Decode This!" - an interactive puzzle solving feature

***

You can almost picture the scene in Culver City, California (Wild Child's Headquarters), over at Columbia Studios: Ron Howard and the boys have gathered in the boardroom to discuss their strategy for the making of 'The Da Vinci Code'. The lights dim; the tall, redheaded man flips the projector's switch. A vintage black and white cartoon begins.

It's Mickey Mouse whistling a tune in the 1928 animated classic 'Steamboat Willy', his girlfriend Minnie by his side as they sail off into the sunset, their pockets bulging with stolen loot. Mr. Howard looks into the camera and says in his best 'Opie' voice: "Gee, Pa. It looks like those rats over at Disney beat us to the treasure."

Beat you to the treasure, indeed. For who needs all the research, the painstaking attention to detail, and the long hours of production required by 'The Da Vinci Code' when you can assemble a crack team of screenwriting professionals and bang out a script with the essence of 'The Da Vinci Code', plus have it on the screen and your money back in the bank before the other studio even has film in the cameras or the lights warmed up?

Further, when I say 'essence', I mean the bare essence, as I think the word 'code' was enough to spark the creative juices at Disney (the idea for 'National Treasure' actually came from Oren Aviv, President of Buena Vista Pictures Marketing).

People may cry 'rip-off!', yet all is fair in love and films, and this is love, Hollywood-Style, where one film often 'flatters' another, in the sense that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. 'Steamboat Willie' itself, written and directed by Walt Disney, was a parody of the Buster Keaton film 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.', proving that Disney knew very early on that, if you don't presently have any creative ideas of your own, it is all right to borrow from someone else. (It is interesting to note that Disney has battled fiercely to keep 'Steamboat Willie' from slipping into the public domain, even though it has done so in Australia and Canada).

With a budget of a mere $100,000,000 ('Pirates of the Caribbean' cost about $140m to produce), 'National Treasure' was a shoo-in to garner a few million bucks at the box office ahead of the more methodical, plodding, and perhaps artistic production still in the planning stages over at Sony Pictures Entertainment (home of Screen Gems, TriStar and Columbia Studios). However, there is little need for Ron Howard's team to fret. The cinema-going public have a short memory, and as 'The Da Vinci Code' is not due out until next May, I should think it will reap its fair share of filmgoers' funds, especially considering that Disney has already performed the test marketing. I cannot help but ponder what the Da Vinci crew will 'borrow' from 'National Treasure'?

Nevertheless, forget whatever else you have heard about the film, because 'National Treasure' is fun! It is packed to the rim with action and 'goofy-guy stuff'. The fact is, my children loved 'National Treasure', as did I. We enjoyed it for exactly what the film was intended to be: an edge of your seat, popcorn-munching thrill ride.

The basic story is this: Grandfather John Adams Gates (played by Christopher Plummer) has told little Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage) all his life about a fabulous fabled treasure brought to America and hidden by the Knights Templar (or were they calling themselves the Freemasons at this time?). Ben's father (Jon Voight) thinks his son and dad have both gone mad and are frittering away their lives, but Ben soon finds the answer to a clue when he discovers a ship named 'Charlotte' frozen in the ice. His ex-boss-turned-bad-guy turns up at the same time. From more clues uncovered on the ship, they both surmise that the treasure map they seek is written on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Ben's boss (Sean Bean) wants to steal the precious document, so Ben decides that he'd better steal it first.

Remember that all films require a certain amount of a 'suspension of disbelief', but goofy-guy films require that you watch from the viewpoint and childlike innocence of a five year old.

For instance, at the beginning of the film, I found myself wondering what the value of the discovery of a ship like the 'Charlotte' would be. A perfectly-preserved 240 year old wooden vessel must be worth several million dollars, at least. I mean, some people spend an entire lifetime in pursuit of such a rare find. But Ben Gates (and his ex-boss) stumble upon it the way you would trip over your bedroom slippers in the night... and then blow it up with the 240-year-old gunpowder that they find on board!

Hmmm. I had to scale back my thinking, reminding myself again that I was watching 'National Treasure', not 'National Geographic'.

We soon arrive at the Declaration of Independence (though this scene was actually filmed in Independence Hall at Knott's Berry Farm in Anaheim, California), meet a beautiful woman (keeper of the National Archives with a pronounced German accent), survive several car chases and an assortment of explosions, escape an underground treasure cave (borrowed from 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'?), and unravel some insanely complicated clues, including the eye on the dollar bill, an unfinished pyramid, some nifty multi-coloured glasses that only Ben Franklin (the founding father) could have invented; in short, all the ingredients that, if properly combined, cook up into a big fluffy muffin of a movie that earns bank at the box.

And speaking of big fluffy muffins, let's talk about Nicolas Cage. What is it about him that makes him such a popular leading man?

Did I say popular? He may be one of the hardest working men in the film industry, with eight films currently in various stages of production, and another one, 'The Weather Man' (in which he couples with 'Pirates' director Gore Verbinski), scheduled for release in America on 28 October. He has appeared in over fifty films in his forty-one years.

Here are a few things you may not know about Nicolas Cage. He was born in Long Beach, California, and his middle name is Kim. His last name is Coppola. Oh, yes, he is the nephew of Francis Ford, but he changed his name early in his career to make... well, a name for himself. His first film was 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High', and he even survived 'The Cotton Club', a film now considered by some to be a classic, but which rang the death knell for many at the time it was released, including then Paramount head Robert Evans.

Nicolas Cage is the kind of actor who wears a perpetual smile and makes acting look easy, and that sense of humour and ease were just what 'National Treasure' needed to bring it off. Yes, it was silly at times (goofy-guy movies always are), and at times Benjamin Franklin Gates seemed to be the man who knew too much, but 'National Treasure' is a roller-coaster ride that you can bring home on a rainy day via DVD for the children (husband and/or boyfriend, too). You'll be a hero in their eyes.

Some movies provide food for thought, others might be called soul-food, others just plain 'hearty', and yet other films are delicious junk food that you crave every now and again. If you're young at heart, I'm pretty certain you'll enjoy 'National Treasure'. I'll let you decide which category it fits in.

'National Treasure' is goofy, but it isn't Mickey Mouse.