National Treasure

The idea that historic sites and artifacts hold clues to a treasure trove holds a guilty-pleasure appeal | Andrew Coffin

Jerry Bruckheimer films appeal to the most juvenile of impulses in moviegoers. Rarely, however, are they actually suited for young audiences. That changes with National Treasure.

The film features a PG rating (for action violence and some scary images) and sheds the crudeness and labored self-importance that weighs down Mr. Bruckheimer's other productions. The film is just as silly, if not sillier, but at least it's mostly appropriate for the one audience that could truly appreciate it (adolescent boys) and possesses a certain contagious glee in its goofiness.

Mr. Cage, able as always to deliver preposterous lines with absolute conviction, stars as Benjamin Franklin Gates. Gates is the latest in a line of treasure hunters/patriots searching for a vast treasure hidden around the time of the Revolutionary War. The "scholarly community" looks on the Gates family as kooks, but, to the chagrin of his disillusioned father (Jon Voight), Ben believes in his quest.

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December 04, 2004, Vol. 19, No. 47

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