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(Disney)

National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Rated PG
2.5 Stars Out of 4

With typical flair and visual excitement the producer/ director team of Jerry Bruckheimer and Jon Turteltaub deliver National Treasure: Book of Secrets, a by-the-numbers comic book sequel to the very successful 2004 adventure National Treasure.

With much the original cast, a very comfortable Nicholas Cage returns as treasure hunter Ben Gates, who with partner Riley Poole and now not-so-famous author (Justin Bartha), attempt a new adventure to clear the Gates family name and discover the truth behind the Lincoln assassination by deciphering coded messages from the lost diary pages of John Wilkes Booth. The main villain in this episode is Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris), a man who claims the ownership of one page of Booth’s diary, which implicates the Gates relative.

Uncovering the coded secrets leads Ben to reunite with his estranged wife Abby (Diane Kruger), seek the aid of his famed father, Patrick (Jon Voight) and eventually the academic expertise of his mother, Professor Emily Appleton (Helen Mirren).

With much comedic touch and suspenseful tension Turteltaub and screenwriters Cormac and Marianne Wibberly weave a tale reminiscent of the Indians Jones adventures. The film sends Gates and his pals crashing into Buckingham Palace, the Oval Office and the Library of Congress, seeking the help of the President to uncover the messages of hidden panels in a pair of desks that may reveal Queen Victoria’s plan to helping Confederate generals discover a city of gold and eventually defeat the Union and Lincoln. Playful banter between bickering ex-spouses, Ben and Abby, and later Patrick and Emily make for multigenerational dysfunctional family fun. The pairs, Cage and Kruger, and Voight and Mirren, show great skill with light comic dialogue.

No Bruckheimer film would be complete without a requisite number of car chases and suspenseful actions scenes and National Treasure: Book of Secrets is not without a plethora. Shooting in locales from London, Paris, Washington D.C. and eventually at Mt. Rushmore, the film contains several cliff hanging predicaments that will more than satisfy the typical holiday movie going crowd.