Disney Plus' Hidden "National Treasure"

Disney + is brilliant and a stroke of genius commercially.

You've got Disney super-fans who will eat up anything and everything from the Mickey Mouse House; you've got Star Wars fans who were desperate to see "The Mandalorian" and binge all related series and content; you've got Marvel fans, young and old, who are frothing at the mouth for the new MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) limited series'; you've got parents who need clean, trusted films & TV programmes for their kids of all ages; and then you've got everyone else who has some great, nostalgic connection with at least one of the films or shows in their library.

So a dedicated service featuring all of their output at an incredibly competitive price (£5.99 p/m here in the U.K) is a no-brainer for the company and audiences a like, and I for one was very excited. I was so excited that I paid for the full year upfront on the pre-order discount deal. I love Marvel films, I enjoy Star Wars & Pixar and I have a six year old daughter, so lots of excuse to justify it to my wife!

But when the service finally launched, it all felt a bit "meh". "The Mandalorian" episodes were a weekly release, the new Marvel shows weren't due out until the end of 2020 (much later now since COVID-19 has postponed production) and with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others releasing so much new content so quickly, I honestly hardly touched the Disney + App for the first month or so, except for the weekly "Mando" release.

However, the national lockdown in the UK and the closing of schools has meant that we've gone through a lot more films and TV than we normally would and we've been spending a lot more time together as a family. We're in a privileged position financially, so this has genuinely been great for us and I've loved the extra time I've had to spend with my wife and daughter. But this has also meant that we've watched more films together than normal, which means it's more important than ever that we pick films that we can all enjoy...not just another mermaid cartoon or an Australian made kids soap opera (about mermaids!).

And so this is where Disney + has been a god-send, with it's massive back catalogue of classics that my wife and I can enjoy for nostalgia and my daughter can enjoy because they still hold-up as quality entertainment. There's the obvious ones (for me), such as "Cool Runnings", "Mary Poppins" and "George of the Jungle"; there's some of my wife's favourites, like "Flubber" and the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" films, but then there's the hidden gems that you really enjoyed when you first saw them but had almost forgotten about them, until now.

This brings us to the excellent action adventure film, "National Treasure", starring Nicolas Cage, John Voigt and Sean Bean.

Before Disney settled into their current annual cinema release sweet spot of Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and a live-action remake of a classic cartoon, they used to make original live action family films, a few a year at least. These were almost exclusively low-mid budget films with one main star and often fantasy or sporting themed - "Remember The Titans" (2000), "Freaky Friday", "Miracle" (2004) etc.

In the 1990's, Disney signed a first-look deal with uber-producer Jerry Bruckhiemer who was known for producing some of the most successful adult action films of the previous ten years or so - "Beverly Hills Cop", "Top Gun", "Bad Boys", "Dangerous Minds", "Con Air", "Armageddon" (to name a few). Putting his action movie skills into their family-focused creative paid off massively for Disney with the huge success of 2000's "Remember the Titans" and then the mega-hit of 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl", the later grossing $654m worldwide on an estimated $140m budget. No wonder Disney have gone back to the franchise well with a further four more "Pirates" films since.

Disney & Bruckheimer followed this up with "National Treasure" in 2004, starring Nicolas Cage who had worked with Bruckheimer to great success before in "Con Air", "The Rock" and the criminally under-rated "Gone in 60 Seconds". The template was becoming clear - a current star well known for recent quality mature movies (see Denzel Washington, Johnny Depp, Nic Cage), big budget action set pieces and a soft 12A (UK) / PG-13 (US) content rating. This would bring in the parents, older kids/teens and the younger kids excited by the grown-up spectacle of fights and explosions.

And it worked again with "National Treasure" grossing $347m worldwide with an estimated $100m budget; not "Pirates" level, but still very good business for Disney at the time.

The commercials would go on to spawn a higher grossing ($459m worldwide) but surprisingly even more forgotten sequel, "National Treasure: Book Of Secrets" in 2007 but for me, the first film is a perfect family action adventure. Very much like the original "Indiana Jones" films, it has the perfect blend of mystery, swashbuckling adventure and just the right amount of comedy sprinkled in for the ride too.

Cynically, you can say "National Treasure" is a film made by the numbers - big star, check; funny side-kick, check; English villain, check; attractive love interest much younger than the leading man (12-years younger in this case), check; sprinkling of fight scenes, chase scenes and explosions, check. But there's a reason why there's a cliche formula for making movies, it's because it works. Yes, there are examples where it doesn't, or it's just a bit average, but when it does work, boy it sings!

For me, "National Treasure" works. I'm hooked on the mystery and legend in the opening prologue, I'm invested with Nic Cage's giddy enthusiasm for history and solving puzzles in the opening sequence and from there, the film is genuinely thrilling and fun and exciting and a very enjoyable 2 hours 11 minutes. The even greater delight when watching this again recently as a parent with my six year old is that it's a PG, family friendly movie. There is threat and there is compelling danger but it doesn't try to push the limits with how dark or graphic it can be, it's just good, clean action.

So, if you're a parent like me who hates scrolling through all the streaming libraries to see if there's anything, anything at all that everyone can enjoy together, check-out "National Treasure", you wont regret it!

Rating 5/5

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