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"National Treasure" DVD Reveals Its Secrets |
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Written by JORDAN BRANDES
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Tuesday, 08 January 2008 |
Disney’s film National Treasure teaches an audience the simple fact that nothing is as it seems. That same concept applies to their DVDs as well. This winter Disney released a special edition of the first “National Treasure” film just in time for the release of the sequel. For those smart enough to be paying attention it is immediately obvious that everyone that bought the first edition of the DVD got ripped off.
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National Treasure
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 Entertainment
 Art
Special Features
Directed by Jon Turteltaub
Written by Jim Kouf, Marianne and Cormac Wibberley
Starring Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean, Jon Voight and Harvey Keitel,
Rated PG
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The first disc is the original edition that was released when the film first came out. While it does contain some deleted scenes they are minimal and a little disappointing. The same can be said of the featurettes. While they do help to clarify certain parts of the film they do not contribute all that much to the total package. Though it should be said that adding in an interactive treasure hunt with the special features was a good idea. The audience has to watch all the special features in order to decipher a code. Very clever and helps to get the viewer more involved with the film as a whole.
It is in the second disc where the DVD really shines. Much of the second disc plays upon the featurettes of the first, in some cases greatly expanding upon them. For instance, the first disc contains a featurette called “National Treasure On Location”. This short documentary gives viewers a quick run through of what it was like for the cast and crew to film in all the famous historical locations. It is interesting but not really all that involving.
But on the second disc there is the much longer featurette “On The Set of American History”. They are basically the same concept only greatly expanded upon. The viewer gets an inside look at all the locations the film was shot and why they shot there. Those unwilling to go out and buy this new edition seem to only be getting half the message.
By far one of the most interesting special features of the new edition is the “Cipers, Codes and Codebreakers” documentary. The longest of all the featurettes in the film the documentary takes viewers on an in-depth journey through the history of code breaking. Not only exciting but surprisingly educational as well. Using real life historians and code breakers the viewer gets an inside look at many famous historical codes and how they were broken.
Though this may be Disney this film deals with a lot of big concepts. This new edition does delve a little deeper into those ideas. This film is made for mystery lovers and treasure hunters. These are the kind of people that love to crack open a new puzzle and dive in. Those holding on to the first edition of this DVD are going to feel like they are missing some of the facts. It was no doubt cunning of Disney to employ that tactic but in this case it worked in their favor. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
