These National Treasure movies are pure fun. I remember I walked into the first one back in 2004 expecting another dull unimaginative Disney-Bruckheimer flick but was pleasantly surprised. The original became one of my favorite mainstream popcorn flicks of the year. While the sequel isn’t quite up to par with the first one, especially in the tired third act, National Treasure: Book of Secrets still has enough entertainment value to fill two movies. For my money, these two movies are better than most of the summer blockbusters that studios are churning out these days. They’re adventure movies for the whole family, and they are stupid and ridiculous movies that set out to do exactly what they’re supposed to do. Entertain.

The whole thing starts not with a Disney logo, but with a Disney cartoon. Part of the fun of seeing this in the theatre was being treated to a new Goofy cartoon! Huh?? What?? I haven’t seen a cartoon before a movie since I was, oh, 5 or 6. This was a practice used in the 20’s and 30’s when audience members would get a couple shorts and a couple cartoons before the feature film. I figured we wouldn’t really see anything like this again. At least we still get some movie trailers, right? Well, I really enjoyed the cartoon but felt really confused why, of all movies, Disney would put it in front of a PG live-action movie. It just seemed like an odd fit, and I could literally sense the audience around me feeling antsy for the movie to just goddamned start. It’s a cute cartoon though, with Goofy trying desperately to build himself the perfect home entertainment center.

After fifteen minutes of commercials (promoting NBC’s upcoming American Gladiators show!!! uh… woo hoo… ), eight trailers (including the anticipated Prince Caspian and Wall-E and the not-so-anticipated College Road Trip), and the aforementioned Goofy cartoon, the film finally begins. This sequel finds our hero Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) kicked out of his mansion by his ex-girlfriend Abigail (the stunning Diane Kruger), living with his father Patrick (Jon Voight). His assistant Riley (Justin Bartha) has written a book about their previous treasure hunt, but nobody wants to read it. Ben is giving a seminar one night about the missing pages from John Wilkes’ Booth’s diary, when a man named Mitch (Ed Harris) stands up in the audience and presents Ben with a missing page from his diary, a page that could prove that Ben’s ancestor from the 1800’s could have had a hand in killing President Lincoln. This sets Ben out on a mission to discover the truth, sending him to places like Buckingham Palace, the Library of Congress, and Mount Rushmore.

Both of the films have a strange level of intellectual enjoyment. On one hand, it’s fun to watch an adventure movie that deals in a lot of historical information and taking us around the world to see different landmarks. I really enjoy the history aspect to the films. On the other hand, though, absolutely nothing that happens in either film can be taken for fact, and if you actually think too hard about anything the characters are doing, the logic starts to fall apart… a lot. You have to completely turn your brain off and just have fun with it. For example, I think it hard to believe that it would be possible for anyone to kidnap the President and get so much on his good side that he tells you how to retrieve the President’s secret book, a book that has no such copies and includes centuries of essential, irretrievable information. And there’s also a chase through the streets of London that has to be seen to be believed. It’s pretty ridiculous. But I have to admit, I had a grin on my face the entire time.

In a sense, all of the actors in this movie are just cashing a check, but they all look like they’re having a blast. Nicolas Cage, who has been especially lackluster lately, appearing in recent movies like Ghost Rider and Next, has a lot more talent than National Treasure has to offer, but his giddy enthusiasm from beginning to end makes the plot contrivances and logic issues all the more easier to swallow. This is the most I’ve enjoyed a Cage performance, since, well, probably the first installment. The supporting cast all do what is necessary, including Helen Mirren, hot off her Oscar-winning performance in The Queen, taking a small role as Ben’s mother. Back in 1996, Cage won his Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas, then appeared just a few months later in his first Bruckheimer action film The Rock. And now, the same happens with Mirren. I guess every actor wants to be an action star.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets isn’t a great movie, but it features a lot of great moments, and it’s never boring. The first two-thirds are about as good as any other action film this year. Director Jon Turteltaub does a competent job, the cast has fun with it, and the entertainment value, even in the big loud finale, rubbed off. This and the better first installment are what last year’s The Da Vinci Code was supposed to be. But that awful film took itself way too seriously and became a long slow chore to get through. These films, while pretty stupid, are exciting and infectious. If you’re looking for dumb fun at the movies right now, this is a satisfying adventure ride that’s worth taking.