In 2004 producer Jerry Bruckheimer ushered a new action/adventure hero onto the screen with the help of director Jon Turteltaub and writers Cormac and Marianne Wibberly. He came in the guise of Nicolas Cage playing treasure hunter Benjamin Gates. The film was greeted by an enthusiastic audience and was deemed a hit, making a sequel all but assured.

The wait is over and the second adventure of Ben Gates is here, and it as ridiculous as its predecessor, if not more so. Both films play out as a something of a modern day, dumbed down Indiana Jones. That isn't to say they are bad, but they do require a good deal of suspension of disbelief. If you have it in you to let the highly implausible situations slip by, you will find a fun adventure that is safe for the whole family. How often does that happen these days?

As I think back to the first outing, I seem to recall not having a lot of love for that film. For some reason I walked away from that with a bad taste in my mouth. Now I have not seen it since that theatrical viewing three years ago, but thinking back I don't know why. It certainly wasn't a bad movie, and while it has faults (some of which carry over to Book of Secrets) it has certain charms. But this is not about that first film, so let's move along, shall we?

In the first film, Ben was on the hunt for a treasure hidden by the forefathers of America. He followed a complex series of clues and was aided by Riley Poole (Justin Bhartha) and museum curator/love interest, Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger). In Book of Secrets, Gates is reunited with both Abigail and Riley as the story takes on a decidedly more personal bent. The stakes are higher, and the film is stronger as a result.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets opens with Ben and his father, Patrick (Jon Voight), giving a lecture regarding Ben's great-grandfather Thomas Gates' involvement with the assassination of President Lincoln following the Civil War, and how his actions helped to preserve the young nation. Problems arise when a fellow named Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) shows up with one of the pages from John Wilkes Booth's diary, long thought to be lost, which seems to implicate Thomas as one of the - if not the - mastermind conspirators of the assassination. Obviously, Ben and Patrick are devastated by the defamation of their family name. Ben then sets out to prove that Thomas is innocent, that he was just attempting to hide the treasure that could have tipped the balance of power during the Civil War.

Now is about the time that you should give up on any illusion of credibility. If you take everything at face value and go along with the flow, you will be rewarded with a movie that is pure popcorn cinema. It goes down easy, and gives the illusion of a history lesson as it mixes historical fact with historical fiction. If you try to apply actual logic, you will end up with a headache and too many questions with too few answers. This is not to say it is a great film, it still winds up in the mediocre range, but it is enjoyable enough for the whole family, and sometimes that is all that matters.