"National Treasure: Book of Secrets” is fun and exciting, if formulaic. A strong cast, witty dialogue, seamless special effects and good pacing compensate for a familiar story.

Nicolas Cage reprises his role as treasure hunter Ben Gates. Also back into the fray are Diane Kruger as Abigail Chase, Justin Bartha as Riley Poole, Jon Voight as Patrick Gates and Harvey Keitel as FBI agent Sadusky.

In this go ’round, the honor of Ben’s great-great-grandfather depends upon him and his team finding a lost city of gold. Obviously, with a bad guy fast on their heels, Ben and the gang will need to do some globe-trotting to find and solve the clues.

Each plays his or her part well, falling easily into the repartee that made the first movie so entertaining. The nice thing is that the filmmakers did not exaggerate what was good in the first movie, as so many others have done, as if this will somehow be better. (Think “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” which, interestingly, was written by Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, who wrote both “National Treasure” movies.)

Instead the characters are who we remember: Ben is earnest and determined, Abigail is reluctant at first, then eager to help; Riley provides much of the humor by looking for more attention and credit than they give him; and Patrick keeps up an antagonistic banter with his son.

New this time are Helen Mirren as Ben’s mother, Emily Appleton (who just happens to be an expert in pre-Columbian languages — something the team needs), Ed Harris as Mitch Wilkinson, the “bad guy,” and Bruce Greenwood as the president of the United States.

It is fun to see Mirren having fun with her role as a hard-nosed professor with an unforgotten grudge against her ex-husband, and who gets pulled into an adventure.

Advertisement

It is Harris’ Wilkinson who accuses Ben’s great-great-grandfather of being a conspirator in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. His purpose is to get Ben to find a legendary city of gold, so that he, Wilkinson, can take the credit and have his name go down in history. Seems it would have been easier to just ask for what he wanted, but then there wouldn’t have been a plot.

Harris manages to make Wilkinson’s villainy not exactly understandable, nor forgivable, but the natural consequence for a man who is used to getting what he wants by using force. It is not so much that he is bad at heart, as that it never occurred to him that Ben, or anyone else, would help him without being coerced.

Interestingly, one of the funnier characters in the movie was Greenwood’s president. His interaction with his bodyguards at a party was particularly amusing. Also fun was the way he put on the “Presidential Smile” after quipping, “This ought to be good,” while flagging down a truck for a ride in the middle of nowhere.

Along with globe-trotting, there is the obligatory car chase (not bad) and death-defying traps at the treasure site (also well done, though one can’t help thinking of “Indiana Jones”). The special effects in these scenes are good enough that they don’t call attention to themselves.

As unlikely as it might be for the same man to make two such significant discoveries in one lifetime, it would have been worse to make this movie with other characters. Doing so would have made it appear to be a cheap knockoff — sort of how the first one seemed compared to “The Da Vinci Code.”

Of course, the first “National Treasure” was a much more entertaining film than “The Da Vinci Code.” And so is “Book of Secrets.” What both these films do better than “The Da Vinci Code” movie is to make solving puzzles interesting and exciting. I think this must have something to do with the way Director Jon Turteltaub paces the film, combined with Trevor Rabin’s score. Both manage to keep the tension high and the adrenaline pumping.

The worst thing about the movie is how formulaic it is — but it’s a sequel, so originality is probably too much to ask for. And the story can’t be analyzed too closely.

However, since this movie makes one want to go home and search the Internet for the history of the Resolute Desk and the Statue of Liberty, I can forgive it most of its flaws.

Besides, it was a fun two hours.

One surprising note — the movie opened with a Disney cartoon. This was so unexpected that the cartoon was half over before I realized it wasn’t an advertisement. What a sweet, old-fashioned treat.

Amanda Brooks can be reached at 737-1056 or abrooks@lompocrecord.com.