Writer: Jim Kouf, Oren Aviv
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Plummer
Rating: PG
Studio: Disney Home Video
Release Date: December 18, 2007
National Treasure was a huge success when it came out about three or four years ago. Using history and an adventure theme, Disney hit paydirt as they did with the pirates theme in Pirates of the Caribbean. This particular franchise is suitable for older children and adults. This makes National Treasure a fabulous family movie. That is one of the things I like about it. As a parent, I hate having to constantly look up DVDs that will work for the kids and others that will work for adults. It’s nice to have some that will be enjoyable for everyone in the family.
When this movie first came out, everyone mentioned how I just had to see it. I don’t know why, but I never did. It was one of those things that it came out and I missed it at the theater, I never picked it up on DVD, and for some reason I just never saw it on television. So, it ruled out my chances of seeing it at that point. I had nothing against the film it just never crossed paths with me. When I was offered this for review, I decided to give it a shot. We all sat down for a night with this movie to see how it would rank in that specific category. I have to say it did pretty well.
Release Information:
National Treasure was released on DVD after the theatrical release, which occurred on November 19, 2004. This special edition was put out on December 18, 2007. This is likely due to the fact that more special features needed to be added and Disney wanted to trump up some added interest with the upcoming release of National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Regardless, fans of this movie will love the plethora of bonus features and the excellent quality of this DVD.
The National Treasure: Special Collector’s Edition Plot
At the heart of National Treasure is an adventure and a mystery that has spanned a family of treasure hunters. The Gates family is notorious for their belief in a national treasure that has been hidden for years and exists somewhere in the world. They believe that the freemasons hid this amazing treasure during the American Revolutionary War in an attempt to protect it from the British soldiers, who might have stolen or wrecked it, if given the chance.
The movie revolves around Benjamin Gates, played by Nicolas Cage (Next). Gates is wealthy, crafty, intelligent, and following in his family’s footsteps full force. While his father (Jon Voight - Transformers) has taken up the belief that the family treasure hunt is ridiculous, Gates is certain that the treasure is real despite what dad may think. The treasure hunting business began when great, great, great, great grandfather Gates learned of the treasure from someone he just met. We are presented with the newest, youngest, most able Gates to head up the quest and find the treasure.
Looking for the treasure will take Gates all over, including to the capital, where he will steal the Declaration of Independence (he has little choice, really), to Philadelphia where he finds glasses that were created by Benjamin Franklin, and to other parts of the world. On his path, he works with his geeky sidekick Riley Poole (Justin Bartha - Failure to Launch) and eventually meets up with the perky and opinionated Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger - Troy), who is a government worker and possible love interest for Gates.
If just the three of them had to worry about deciphering the clues and finding the treasure they might have a chance, but it wouldn’t be much of an adventure movie without a rival. In this case, the rival is Ian Howe (Sean Bean - Silent Hill), a notorious treasure thief that had been working with Gates long enough to try and steal the treasure for himself.
Howe makes it clear the treasure is going to be his one way or another. So, as Gates chases the treasure with his new friends, Howe chases them, trying to make their job incredibly difficult in order to see if he can get the treasure on his own. There is a long game of what can be broken down into a series of wits, cat and mouse style, which lead to a climax in a Masonic crypt.
National Treasure offers a face paced adventure that managed to keep everyone’s attention for one reason or another. There are moments of comedy, action, and plenty of adventure. There are some slight flaws if you look deep into the movie. The second act is kind of slow while the beginning and end are at its strongest. The characters are well acted, but occasionally have a shallowness about them, which is not as plain to see, but can annoy the observant viewer. All in all, National Treasure is an action packed adventure movie that is sure to please.
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
The visual and audio qualities of National Treasure are beautiful to say the least. The compression rate is 2.35:1 and looks fabulous. The colors came through beautifully and the DVD lacked any form of glare, noise, or fuzz, which would have distracted me from enjoying the movie. Disney is known for offering films with stunning visual quality and this is no exception from any of the other releases that you have seen from them.
The audio was loud, dramatic, and booming, which is just what I would have expected from a movie like this. Despite the dramatic feel, the dialogue comes through clean and crisp with a strength that seals the deal for this DVD.
Visual:
Audio:
Bonus Features:
This special collector’s edition is filled with bonus features. I am not sure how many more there are in comparison to the original release, but this edition is filled to the brim. You receive alternative endings, extended scenes, deleted scenes, audio commentary with the director, and several featurettes. The featurettes have an interesting spin to them. Rather than just letting you have at them you need to solve puzzles to get them. These puzzles are made with the goal of ensuring the average person has no problem getting to the available featurettes. If you want to bypass the games there are codes in your DVD case that you can put in and get straight to the added bonuses. Of the available featurettes, my favorite was the Making Of documentary.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
National Treasure is an excellent movie that will offer entertainment for kids and their parents. If you own the original release you may not have much of a reason for this upgrade. However, this is highly recommended for anyone that does not currently own the movie. The whole family had a great time watching this and the boys have watched it again since we watched it the original time. This would definitely be worth the purchase if you were looking for a family friendly adventure film.
Overall Rating: Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Action, Adventure, DVD, DVD Review, National Treasure: Special Collector’s Edition, Standard DVD
Written by - Visit Website
---
Being a stay at home mom to three kids and a freelance writer keeps Lisa quite busy. Lisa is the wife of Patrick and the mother of Tim (17), Jaden (9), and Kayla (3). Having a toddler in the house makes things quite interesting. Lisa is an aspiring writer. She loves working for LI Kids because she can get the whole family involved in the reviewing process and write, which is her passion. In her free time she loves sewing and scrapbooking.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
