The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Jerry Bruckheimer, you should usually know what you get and pay for with his films, but every so often one hopes that the bar will be raised. Sometimes the action and excitement works in delirious ways (a former Nicolas Cage vehicle, Con Air), and other times it sinks to new lows (Bad Boys II). Most other times, it’s the home of the mall-cineplex brand of generic, mundane action movies that have competent direction and cinematography and are so over-produced that they sound much like the over-produced pop songs featured on the soundtrack. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, another Bruckheimer movie directed by Jon Turtletaub and starring Cage is no exception. But the potential that is squandered is what is kind of sad. Kind of, I say, since it could have been worse.

Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) was one of the three apprentices to the great Merlin, nearly 1300 years ago. The other two, Veronica (Monica Bellucci) and Horvath (Alfred Molina) were all quite skilled at sorcery but, one foul day, Horvath turned to the dark side. Now, his master was Merlin’s foe, Morgana Le Fey (Alice Krige). While attempting to destroy Merlin, Balthazar watched helplessly as Morgana invaded Veronica’s being, a sacrifice she made for him. It took all of Balthazar’s power, over Horvath’s prowess, to encase Morgana in a “grim”, a sort of nesting doll for evildoers.

Flash forward to modern times. Balthazar runs a magic shop in Manhattan and is constantly searching for an apprentice to fit Merlin’s ring, a ring that will bring down Morgana and Horvath for all time. So far, no luck. But, on a school trip, Dave (Jay Baruchel) wandered into the shop and got into the middle of another fight between Balthazar and Horvath. The ring jumped onto Dave’s finger, signally him as the chosen one. Horvath turned his wrath to the young lad and to save Dave, Balty got himself and Horvy locked into a large covered urn. Unhappily, Dave accidentally dropped the grim in the street.

Without giving away too much of the plot (Spoiler alert: be ready for plasmoid CPR), this film suffers from a trend that is becoming all too common for Disney. Disney hit it big when they created Pirates of the Caribbean based on the classic and iconic rides at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Since then, they have been trying to repeat the phenomenon of taking something that at its core is Disney and elaborating on it until it is almost something entirely different. Case studies would consist of Haunted Mansion, Country Bear Jamboree, and possibly even Enchanted (although the argument would be a little different here). Everyone who knows Disney recognizes the link between this new film and the classic scene from the original Fantasia. If this doesn’t ring any bells google image Disney’s Hollywood Studios and see what the main picture is. The scene where Mickey dons the blue stars and moon hat has forever been immortalized in film and Disney culture as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. While Disney tries to create a link with a mop scene and some borrowed music in the new film, the link is at best weak and disappointing. Disney has become complacent in using old classic themes to drum up interest in new entirely different enterprises and this is just the latest example.

My main beef with The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is not is that the plot is terrible, its just poorly executed. Again, as any Bruckheimer production of late, it dazzles with some impressive effects and CGI, but much of the substance is missing. There are allusions to Lucas blockbusters Indiana Jones and Star Wars, but this film is at best in a galaxy far far away from those two. The movie does a great job of using the hit single “Secrets” by OneRepublic to push forward the college-aged romance and makes some of the sappiness OK. However, lots of the rest of the plot seems hokey and forced. If you’re a big fan on Cage, special effects, or OneRepublic try this one out. Its not terrible, just mediocre. Otherwise, grab a bag of popcorn and pull out your old VHS of Fantasia.

The only thing i found really really good in this movies was the special effects that made sense when they were used. Even the way the actors moved when they were doing magic was very good.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is not a terrible film, but it is not good either. Sure, it is not quite as fun or good as it could have been, but it still makes for a fairly enjoyable throwaway.