‘National Treasure’ not such a treasure

In theaters

NATIONAL TREASURE, directed by Jon Turteltaub, written by Jim Kouf, Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberley, 120 minutes, rated PG.

The big, overblown wazoo of absurdity that’s unearthed in John Turteltaub’s “National Treasure,” which has been No. 1 at the box office for three weeks now, is exactly what fans of its producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, expect – a ripe, ridiculous B-movie served up with generous helpings of cheese.

Based on a script by Jim Kouf, Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberley, the movie finds Nicolas Cage ending his current run of satisfying movies – “Adaptation,” “Matchstick Men” – to make a film that will make him and his studio money.

He succeeds. To date, “National Treasure” has made $110 million, well on its way to becoming the most financially successful movie of Cage’s career.

One hopes, those returns will allow the actor to return to the sort of quirky character roles at which he excels. In the meantime, we have “Treasure,” which finds The Walt Disney Co. applying its formula to U.S. history with predictably far-fetched results.

In the movie, Cage is Benjamin Franklin Gates – insert groan here – whose family has been trying for generations to find the buried treasure of the Knights Templar. Allegedly, on the back of the Declaration of Independence is an invisible map that offers a series of clues that will lead Cage and his assistants to a colossal bounty.

Since Gates wants that map before thieves get to it first, complications and machinations ensue, only a few of which – remarkably – deal with the actual theft of the declaration itself.

Considering the security involved, that’s extraordinary, but ripping off the document nevertheless proves the least of Gates’ concerns. Along with his goofy buddy, Riley (Justin Bartha), and a come-hither conservator played by Diane Kruger (“Troy”), he must outwit a group of mincing bad guys led by the Euro-trashy Ian (Sean Bean, also of “Troy”), whose tossed golden locks are so well appointed that they make Cage’s dyed plugs look uncomfortably obvious onscreen.

The action scenes in “Treasure” are passably entertaining and the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously, but maybe it should have. Nothing here is extraordinary and nothing matches what Spielberg created in the “Indiana Jones” movies, which “Treasure” tries to emulate. For a fresh blast of adventure and fun, “The Incredibles” is still the film to beat at the movies.

Grade: C-

Coming soon to theaters

FINDING NEVERLAND, directed by Marc Forster, written by David Magee, 116 minutes, rated PG.

Marc Forster’s “Finding Neverland” is filled with so many heavy-handed moments of forced revelation, audiences are barely allowed to think for themselves.

Production values are excellent and the cast is good. But Forster generates so little magic from what should have been an honest story about a famous playwright and the creative process that this odd, evasive movie only occasionally sparks enough imagination to light the screen.

Beginning in London in 1903, the film follows the Victorian playwright James M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) as he comes to know the family that would be the muse for his great children’s classic, “Peter Pan.” Barrie meets widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet), her haughty mother, Emma (Julie Christie), and Sylvia’s four boys, including the lonely Peter (Freddie Highmore).

At the start, we’re told that the movie is inspired by true events, not based on them, which is Hollywood code that the filmmakers have taken great liberties with the truth.

It shows.

The movie draws slavishly from the more famous elements of “Peter Pan” to offer easy, canned insights into those moments that allegedly inspired key scenes in the play.

Evoking those moments less obviously would have made for a richer movie, but Forster and his screenwriter, David Magee, don’t trust their audience to bridge the connections between the conception of art and art as a finished product. As such, we get a series of “ah-ha!” moments that are wholly manufactured.

Unhappily married to the icy former actress Mary Ansell Barrie (Radha Mitchell), Barrie begins the movie in a slump. His marriage is a sham and his new play, “Little Mary,” is a resounding failure, scolded by critics and audiences alike, which hardly pleases his bristling producer Charles (Dustin Hoffman).

But then one day at Kensington Gardens, Barrie’s life takes a turn. There he meets Sylvia and her boys, who come to give him the sort of affection and attention he doesn’t receive (or give) at home. The boys inspire him. What he sees in them is childhood on the cusp of adulthood, which concerns Barrie to no end, mostly because he’s rather childlike himself. As he sees it, it’s awful to grow up, which these boys are doing far too quickly.

It’s the imagined story Barrie pulls from this story that becomes the basis for “Peter Pan,” with Barrie consistently telling the boys that to endure the hardships of life – such as the death of their father, or the deepening illness of their mother – all one needs to do is “believe” and everything will be all right.

Will it? As an adult, the real Peter Davies committed suicide, which hints at a darkness “Finding Neverland” doesn’t dare to go near because it would shatter the foundation of its own fantasy.

The moving ending comes close to achieving the depths of despair life can offer. But mostly, this is tidy, well-acted filmmaking wrapped in a sumptuous holiday bow. Some will warm to it, but those who know Barrie’s real story might find themselves clapping not for fairies but for a better script.

Grade: C

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, 5:30 p.m. Thursdays on WLBZ 2 Bangor and WCSH 6 Portland, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.