National Treasure movie review

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security." Before I watched Disney's "Nationial Treasure," I didn't know that this was in the Declaration of Independence. This sentence from one of our "national treasures" sets the tone for the entire movie.

Ben Gates (played magnificently by Nicholas Cage) is a member of a family of treasure hunters (although Ben would say they're treasure protectors) whose passion for seeking a particular treasure, called the Templar Treasure, has made him unpopular with scholars. When Ian Howe (Sean Bean) agrees to fund an expedition to the arctic to find a ship known as the "Charlotte," Ben takes him, tech-savvy Riley Poole, and others to find it. He doesn't find the treasure, but he finds a clue that leads him to believe that the treasure map is hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Ben is reluctant to steal the Declaration, which he would most certainly have to do in order to find the map. Ian, on the other hand, is willing to do anything to get his hands on the treasure. All of a sudden, Ben has a rival who wields a gun and three cronies. After getting back to the States, Ben and Riley try to warn the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and American History specialist Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), but their warnings go unheeded. Ben then sees he has no choice but to steal the Declaration in order to preserve it.

"National Treasure" is heavy on action and American history. It also begs the question "Is it right to steal something when you've warned those responsible for its care of the lurking danger?" One lesson that's definitely learned from this movie is "Don't give up just because you're told it can't be done." In the words of Thomas Edison, "I found a thousand ways to not make a light bulb. I need to find only one way to make it work." Ben is told twice that something couldn't be done: Riley told him that the Declaration couldn't be stolen because it was too heavily guarded and his father, Patrick Gates (Jon Voigt) tells him he can't find the treasure because it doesn't exist.

"National Treasure" is rated PG for Action Violence (including shooting and a man falling to his death) and Some Scary Images (including frozen skeletons on board a wrecked ship). The movie is well worth the rating, however.