Christmas Shopping Tradition
Each Christmas I usually purchase a handful of movies for the entire family.
Then in the evenings, we light the Christmas lights and the candles, I throw a blanket over my lap, kitty settles down on my lap, my kids nestle in, and we enjoy a new movie each evening.
National Treasure Exceeded our Expections
Intrigued when I saw it on the shelf…secret clues to a hidden treasure (I like thinking games), Knights Templar (we studied them in school), Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington (history love!)…I dubiously purchased it.
We tend to prefer older movies, but the reviews I read on-line looked promising for this contemporary, yet original story line.
National Treasure was a hit for the entire family!
On the edge of our seats for many scenes of the movie, with poor kitty on the edge of my lap, we enjoyed guessing all the clues.
Familiar Scenes from last Summer’s Vacation
Upon sighting the many Washington DC scenes, we exclaimed with enthusiastic memories, “We were there! I remember that!” as the action went to the White House, National Archives and the Library of Congress.
Scenes of and from the various memorials excited the kids!
They knew exactly where those places were, so they were able to feel more involved with the action!
Declaration of Independence Analysis from our Vacation
We’ve never been to Philadelphia, however we know the Declaration of Independence inside and out from our many studies and Washington DC tour of the National Archives.
When the familiar Assembly Room appeared in the movie, I thought, “Wow, just imagine…the last time the Declaration of Independence was in that room was over 200 years ago.”
Well I no sooner thought that than the Nicholas Cage character took my very words out of my thoughts! lol
Of course this fun movie used a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence.
The movie effectively caught us up in the movie to enjoy the fun.
Even my kids were commenting during the movie that it wasn’t the original.
While visiting the National Archives last August, we saw the real Declaration of Independence, which we observed was so badly faded, that it is difficult to read.
Also, it is too fragile to let loose in the streets like that!
The one in the movie was obviously not that fragile and it was easy to see the calligraphy.
National Treasure Cool DVD Extra Features
After the movie my son took charge of the controls so that we could view the behind-the-scenes components.
One showed a different ending to the movie.
The director explained how they changed the ending, to get a different reaction from the audience.
I told the kids that even the professionals must edit their work and keep their audience in mind. This was a great application for writing skills.
There were also lots of puzzles for us to solve and we had a lot of fun learning about the various methods of secret codes.
To our shock, suddenly midnight struck! Where did the time go?
National Treasure Mount Vernon Tour
I have discovered that there is a part 2, where they uncover information of Lincoln’s assassination, using 18 missing pages from the diary of John Wilkes Booth.
Apparently, Mount Vernon has been hosting tours of National Treasure 2…I’m guessing that some of the scenes were shot there.
That link for the tour may not be available much longer.
Apparently this tour ended Dec 28.
Oh how we would have loved to have done this tour!
The kids are already trying to puzzle out the connections in National Treasure 2!
Spy Book helped us decode National Treasure
For Christmas, I gave my son a copy of George Washington Spymaster which has opportunities for the reader to decode secret messages throughout the book.
Even one of my Lafayette books has an example of a coded message between Washington and Lafayette.
My son has so far flipped through his Spymaster book and seen some of the same examples he saw in National Treasure, that were actually used during the American Revolution.
I think my son will enjoy that book, especially now that he’s caught the excitement of National Treasure.
For more photos of our trip to Washington DC, Mount Vernon, and more, check my Flickr set.
