National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets is coming out on DVD tomorrow, and thanks to a review copy, I can give you the scoop on the plot, plus I’ve got information on a special event happening in Venice Beach, California to celebrate the DVD’s release.
I received the 2-Disc Gold Collector’s Edition, which makes me happy because I love Bonus Features. Starring Nicolas Cage, Justin Bartha, Diane Kruger, Jon Voight, Helen Mirren, and Harvey Keitel, National Treasure 2 is one of those rare sequels that surpasses the original movie. And that’s saying a lot considering how good the first National Treasure movie was.

The movie starts with Ben Gates (Cage) giving a presentation about missing pages from the diary of John Wilkes Booth, when a man stands up and shows him a piece of one of the missing pages, with Gates’ great-great-grandfather’s name written on it. The man is Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris), and he is the great grandson of Confederate General Albert Pike, who has exchanged letters with the Queen of England over a stockpile of lost missing gold to help fund the Southern War Machine. The document implies that the senior Gates was conspiring with the Knights of the Golden Circle, which sounds made up, but actually isn’t, and I didn’t even know it existed until this movie. But, I digress.

In order to prove that his ancestor did not have anything to do with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Gates teams up with his partner Riley Poole (Justin Bartha), and his ex-wife Abigail on what becomes a far-fetched but rockingly fun trip to find a secret Presidential Book that will assist them in locating this pile of treasure before Mitch Wilkinson does. They are joined by Jon Voight as Gates’ Dad and Helen Mirren as his Mom (the interaction between the two is hilarious), and their quest leads them to concoct wild schemes to get into the Oval Office, takes them to the Paris replica of the Statue of Liberty, to Mt. Rushmore, Gates even briefly kidnaps the President. Trust me, it’s fun!

To celebrate the movie’s DVD release, the world’s foremost sand sculptor Todd Vander Pluym and his team are constructing an enormous sand replica of Mt. Rushmore, using 400,000 pounds of sand! The sculpture is expected to be ten feet tall, twelve feet deep, and twenty five feet wide! If you live near the area and want to go see it, here are the details:

WHEN: Monday, May 19, 2008 7:00am to 8:00pm

The sculpture is scheduled to be completed Monday afternoon and
Artist available for interviews upon completion. Time Lapse footage
being taken from start to finish and will be available on request.

WHERE: Venice Beach, End of the street Windward Ave.,
at lifeguard stand BRKWTR (stands for breakwater.)
PCI Parking, 2700 Ocean Front Walk, Venice, CA 90291.

The time lapse video will be available tomorrow and I’ll post it once I have the code, and here’s a map of how to get to the sand sculpture:

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On Amazon.com you can get any of the versions of the movie-National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (Widescreen), or the 2-Disc Gold Collector’s Edition, and also the Blu-Ray version. Add a little extra something to your order so it totals $25.00 and you get Free Super Saver Shipping! You’ll enjoy the sequel if you liked the first National Treasure movie, for sure.