Starring Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Justin Bartha, Diane Kruger, Harvey Keitel, Sean Bean
Written By: Marianne Wibberley, Jim Kouf, Cormac Wibberley
Directed By: Jon Turteltaub
Studio: Disney / Buena Vista
Buy on Amazon.com link

Its not surprising that Disney is releasing a new, updated National Treasure DVD since the sequel just got released into theaters. If you want to watch the first movie before seeing the sequel, this 2-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD will be something to purchase.

National Treasure is about a bunch of treasure hunters, headed by Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nic Cage). Ben and Riley (Justin Bartha) team up with Ian (Sean Bean) and a few of his shady people. They are looking for the long lost Templar treasure and think they have discovered a way of finding it. Ian & his people double cross Ben & Riley at the ship Charlotte and leave those two for dead. They barely escape and head to Washington, D.C., where they befriend Abigail, who works for the National Archives. Ben believes that the Declaration of Independence has hidden clues to lead them to the treasure. Ben, Riley, Abigail, and Ben’s father team up and try to find the treasure before Ian and his gang do first.

National Treasure was such a fun, surprising hit when it first came out and I still enjoy the movie to this day. I was anxiously waiting the sequel and it’s as fun as the first movie, but not as good. The first movie took place all over the place, and had a great mixture of action and comedy. It was like the Da Vinci Code, only dumbed down and less believable. I like movies that take place all over the world, and especially love when it involves a good old fashion treasure hunt. It worked for Indiana Jones so why not with Ben Gates and National Treasure? Sure, this film isn’t as good as the Indiana Jones movies, but its quite entertaining that makes you want to watch it over and over. Well I know I like to watch this movie over and over. Nicolas Cage is hit or miss with acting, and I like his character in the National Treasure movies. He comes across intelligent and can be funny at the same time. Justin Bartha serves as a good sidekick with the funny comedic lines of the movie. Diane Kruger is hot in both movies, and I didn’t really know about her until this movie. Sean Bean always plays a great bad guy, this time he wasn’t necessarily a total dick though. He just wanted to be rich and was willing to do anything to get that. Just a lot of the right pieces fall together to make this movie quite enjoyable.

If you don’t currently own a National Treasure DVD, this will be the DVD to get. The first NT DVD, didn’t have a bunch of extras on it, but this time around there are a lot more stuff for fans of the movie. You have the usual extras like deleted scenes, various featurettes, on location featurettes, commentary with the director and optional commentary on the alternate ending, and deleted scenes. Some of these extras carry over from the other original but there is a lot of new content as well. With all the new bonus features added to this movie, this is the definite edition of National Treasure you must own!

Features:
Multilevel Treasure Hunt – The More Bonus Material You Find and Watch, the More You Uncover
Alternate Ending With Optional Director’s Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes With Optional Director’s Audio Commentary
Opening Scene Animatic With Optional Director’s Audio Commentary
Four Featurette Gems: National Treasure On Location, The Knights Templar, Treasure Hunters Revealed, Riley’s Decode This – Plus Three Puzzling Challenges
Additional Deleted Scenes With Intros By Director Jon Turteltaub
A Treasure Trove Of Featurettes: Ciphers, Codes & Codebreakers, On The Set Of American History, To Steal A National Treasure, Exploding Charlotte

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Stereo
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Video:
Widescreen 2.35:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:
Spanish, French

Favorite Scenes: Scenes at Charlotte, getting the declaration of independence, and in Philly.
Rating: PG
Running Time: 131 minutes
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