National Treasure

Cool concept: There is a collection of treasure, acquired over thousands of years, that the Founding Fathers of America decided to hide.

Time-honored plot idea, well executed: A trail of clues, hidden throughout America, that lead to the location of the treasure.

Dubious physics: Pretty much anything involving fire or explosions made me wonder what sort of scientific logic, if any, was supposed to explain how X was causing Z....

Great actors: Nicholas Cage is probably near the top of many lists, some with the title "Great Actors" and some with the title "Weirdos." Personally, I think he may be a little of both. I happen to like him, and I think he does an excellent job in this movie. Diane Kruger may or may not be a good actress, but she has the advantage of being jaw-droppingly beautiful. Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings, The Island) also does an excellent job of acting, although his character is much less interesting.

Cookie-cutters (but yummy cookies!): Speaking of characters, National Treasure is filled with stereotypical ones. There's the hero, his side-kick and his girl, there's the bad guy, and the police guy, and the father, etc, etc. Same goes for the plot. It may be cool, but that doesn't mean it's original. However, this movie is so well made that I didn't care. I had fun watching it. Maybe I knew what would happen next, but I didn't care, because the characters had such an interesting way of getting there. Maybe a relationship was conventional, but then someone would say a funny line, and I would laugh and forgive them.