Genres

Visitors Review

Ed Uyeshima 2012-05-25 14:43:35

Flavorless Fantasy Rides Heavily on Effects But Lacks Genuine Heart

It's sad to see the current state of Nicolas Cage's once-promisingcareer stuck in Jerry Bruckheimer's series of bombastic blockbusterslike this uninspired 2010 Disney fantasy adventure. One wonders if theactor's current financial woes have forced him to make heavilycommercial choices at the expense of worthwhile projects like hisOscar-winning turn in Mike Figgis' 1995 "Leaving Las Vegas" or SpikeJonze's 2002 "Adaptation". Apparently, Cage is the one responsible forthe concept behind this movie based only tangentially on the famousMickey Mouse sequence in the 1940 animated classic, "Fantasia". Thereis a weak homage to the earlier film with a series of uncooperative wetmops, but the rest of the story is calculated, hokey Arthurian legend,the patchwork result of three credited scriptwriters, Matt Lopez, DougMiro, and Carlo Bernard, who play strictly by the cliché guidebook.The convoluted plot, such as it is, focuses on one of Merlin'sapprentices, the noble Balthazar Blake, who must fight to save mankindfrom the evil machinations of Horvath, who of course, wants to destroyit. It's a grudge match that starts in 740 AD when Balthazar's lady,Veronica, gets stuck in a nesting doll called a grimhold with themalevolent Morgana le Fay. The action moves forward to Manhattan at themillennium where ten-year-old Dave Stutler meets the ageless Balthazarin an antique store. Complications ensue, as Horvath shows up and bothmythical characters get locked into a vase for ten years. The storymoves forward again to current-day New York with Balthazar finallyfreed and Veronica's liberation dependent on the discovery of anenchanted being called the Prime Merlinian. This turns out to be thenow-twenty-year old Dave, a NYU physics student who epitomizes puregeekdom. Meanwhile, Morgana plans to gather an evil army to destroy theworld when she gets freed. Dave also has a love interest in a comelystudent named Becky who has been his crush for the past decade.As elaborate as the special effects are, they strike me asstandard-issue and at times downright cynical with very little of a wowfactor. The film is at its best only when Cage and Alfred Molina asHorvath are trying to outwit each other with competing feats of screenmagic. It's a credit to both seasoned actors that neither embarrasseshimself too badly in the superficial roles they accepted here. The samecannot be said for Jay Baruchel ("Knocked Up") who plays Dave as anexcessive case study in constant awkwardness. The women fare even worsewith Monica Bellucci and Alice Krige in barely-there roles as Veronicaand Morgana, respectively. Teresa Palmer nicely underplays Becky, thegirl of Dave's dreams, although her character's role in the climax isabsurdly contrived. Leaden direction from Jon Turteltaub does little tooffset the manipulative nature of this Disney-merchandise extravaganza,which by the end, leaves very little impact. In fact, I'm havingtrouble remembering it now.

2012-05-24 22:29:45

Cast can make or break

Almost all principal cast is excellent.Molina is a great actor, he does from comedy to drama with wonderful subtlety. Cage is an Actor with a capital A, he sure can act. He is a little strange in his preferences, tending to the supernatural and fantasy. Belucchi's screentime is minimal, but whenever she's on, she is fenominal. Dave (Jay) is such a strange choice. It is clear that director wanted laughs and humor from the actor's nerdiness. I dont know if the actor is lacking or the direction was misguided, but all the supposedly funny moments were nearly unwatchable. I am one of those people that doesnt like seeing others embarrassed. Pretty much everything Dave did and said was nerdy in an embarrassing way, not funny/cute way. Even though I liked the movie and enjoyed the 3 actors very much, I cant rate it very high. To me Dave's casting broke the movie. Pity.

2012-05-18 16:01:50

Bad improvements

This review is from: The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo+Digital Copy) (Blu-ray) We have not gotten any feed back from Disney or from Samsung why this move will not play in Blue-ray format. We have a new player and it will not play with the "new" programing updates and disk formatting. People and techs have been good in helping. We thought it was the disk and had it replaced but the "new" formatting will not allow playing. We carried it to a store and tried it in several other Blue-Ray players and got the same negative playing response. I am sure that many people are aware of this and they are working hard to fix it..hahaha. We have purchased several other BD movies from others and gotten the same actions so it is not totally related to Amazon and Samsung...

Jim Collins 2012-05-17 23:32:50

Fun For Children And Adults.

The The Sorcerer's Apprentice has a good story line taking "WaltDisnys" classic short story and adding a modern twist to it. The filmsstory premisis is fun for all ages many people will find many plotholes like my self but do children really look for these things? Thescreen writing was a little below average but the story and effectswere fantastic for the screen. Both actors Nicolas Cage and JayBaruchel were a match for this film. As for the director Jon Turteltaubhe did a great job shaping this classic story and making a modern twiston the short film. In my opinnion he was i think trying to create afilm that pleased children adults and the film critics and in a way heaccomplished that the way he did with the National Treasure films aswell. As for the producer Jerry Bruckheimer I think he invested well inhis money in this production in the past he has pleased the people andhe continues his streak. My over all opinion of this film is that thestory, effects and acting were good the diolige aka screen witing wasnot great but over all this film was I think one of the best films outthis year with some of the flops of the summer this one was a sure comeout on top and under dog some call it. This is why i have come to theconclusion that the over all rating for The Sorcerer's Apprentice fromone to ten is a solid eight. The cast and crew did a fantastic job withthis film and im hoping to see a new franchise born with this film.

JoeJames76 2012-05-17 02:24:20

So Formulaic and Ridiculous!! Poor Cage and Molina :(

Cage and Molina make magic happen, until it all goes POOF!! in the 2ndhalf, Bruckheimer formula blows again; C-Seriously? This is what two Oscar worthy actors can offer? Cage andMolina would have been an awesome hero and villain combo, but the darnkid and his ridiculous girlfriend plot keep getting in the way. Not tomention that Monica the magnificent is barely in the film at all.Mid way through it is obvious that we are following the Bruckheimerformula of connect the dots summer movie "magic". Change location,stage mini action sequence, change location, have pathetic romantic subplot, change location, insert silly animal antics, change location,insert car chase (really? they are frickin' sorcerers!! why the h3##are they DRIVING around??!?!!).If you want to waste your money, go ahead. They DID spend some on theF/X, but nothing new to see here. In fact, spend your money on seeingsomething else you liked a second time. You'll be thankful.

2012-05-16 10:19:07

sci-fi thriller, magical

Tottally awesome! Nick Cage is great as usual, special effects and story-line are also great! Not a Harry Potter spin off; it's a stand alone movie!

sandimcg 2012-05-15 15:46:51

Totally fun and completely entertaining!

You really must see this movie if you enjoy action, special effects andan entertaining movie. There is a really fun part that is a tribute tothe Sorcerer's Apprentice from the movie "Fantasia". This is a robust,rousing, action-packed movie by Disney. There are good special effects.It's interesting to see what clever things the writers think up for twosorcerers fighting each other to do. The goofy physics guy might bejust a little TOO goofy at times. Regardless, he is lovable. NicholasCage is good at playing the wild sorcerer teacher. Our 8-year-old lovedthe movie and didn't find all the action too scary. She did have a fewquestions, trying to figure out some of the plot. It was my favorite -mindless entertainment that you can get lost in for a few hours. Also -if you have the time, you can stay through ALL the credits and see asnippet of the movie at the end that leads you to believe there COULDbe a sequel.

Thorn Caldorian 2012-05-15 05:07:49

One of the worst films in recent memory

This film was so terrible it boggles the mind 0__0!. I honestly can'tremember watching such a load of tripe since I saw Michael Bay'sversion of Transformers. Where do I begin?1) The film is SHALLOW - unbelievably, breathtakingly shallow. It's soshallow you can't drown an ant in it because there wouldn't be enoughdepth to immerse it's head. It's so shallow that it gives a whole newmeaning to the word shallow. There's no character development worthmentioning. The characters are not just two dimensional, they're allrepellent - especially the main character. 2)The scriptwriter seems to have been desperate to write a comedy.Every line is a sappy joke or double entendre. Every scene is designedto elicit cheap guffaws from a brainless audience. It doesn't work norshould it. This film was never designed to be meaningful and in that atleast it achieves success.3)The main characters defeat *all* the bad guys about 40 minutes intothe film in a bathroom.. and then just leave the scene to allow them torecuperate. It could have been over - please god - right then andthere. Why oh why did it have to continue?4) The premise is idiotic. I suppose the same sort of people who wereecstatic about Avatar are going to get worked up about this. Real filmshave depth, are original and have emotional impact - this film hasnothing. It's like they took the worst scriptwriters in all ofHollywood, stuck them in a room and said: "we'll give you money - justtype ANYTHING, we have a tight schedule!"5) Why yet again a sappy American romance? Does every single film haveto have a distasteful chauvinist male character seducing an attractivegirl? Can't a main character succeed without proving the worth of hislibido? And what's the deal, in this day and age, with shallow window-dressing female characters who smile daintily and do nothing else?6) Even Nic Cage looks depressed acting in this film - as though tosay: "yes, I realize what a shallow tasteless piece of trash this is".His bland acting is the one ray of light in this soporific saga.7) Are we supposed to believe that the main character has built a giantmulti-million dollar tesla coil in an underground sewer?? That playsmusic??? Shoddy.8) Why, in every single film, are the main characters saving all ofhumanity?? Audiences don't want to watch people save the world - it'sridiculous. They want to watch people save themselves. Pulp Fictionwasn't about people saving the earth. Inception wasn't about peoplesaving the earth. Gone with the Wind wasn't about people saving theearth. The Maltese Falcon wasn't about someone trying to win WWII. DrWho, when it was good, wasn't about him saving the earth. Films andseries are more powerful when the characters are simply trying to livenormal lives and deal with relatively modest problems.. they don't haveto be Ubermenche. I give this movie the worst mark imaginable - a D minus MINUS!! (andyes, that's a shallow takeoff on the Simpsons but what can you do?)This film could have been decent. It had a reasonable premise - asorcerer and his apprentice. The sorcerer could have been just arun-of- the-mill magician living in a crappy shop who some adultrandomly runs into and starts training with. There didn't have to be acenturies-old struggle for humanity .. it could just have been themtrying to escape the cops or the landlady or something. It could havebeen a human drama where magic was simply an aside - *that* would havebeen powerful and would have won an Oscar because that's what audiencesreally want to see. Why make yet another film about a trashy Americanteenager magically transported out of his mundane existence - Spidermanwas like that .. even Kick-Ass was like that. It didn't have to be doneAGAIN.

David Ferguson 2012-05-06 01:52:46

Merlin's Circle is no Fantasia

Greetings again from the darkness. Well, it's the best kind of Nic Cagerole ... very little dialogue and plenty of scenes with him notincluded. Lots of special effects. Has some similarities to movies likeNational Treasure (another Jon Turtletaub directorial effort) and TheShadow. Can you tell I am struggling to find the positives?The basic story involves Merlin's three assistants (Balthazar, Horvathand Veronica) and their struggles after Merlin is killed by the evilestof all evil, Morganna (Alice Krige). Of course, that murder happenedhundreds of years ago and poor Balthazar has been on a global searchfor the only sorcerer's apprentice who can save the world in caseMorganna is released.Since Veronica (Monica Bellucci) sacrificed herself to captureMorganna, it is really important to Balthazar (Cage) that he find thisapprentice who can also help revive Veronica, who is his one true love.The bad guy is Horvath (played well by Alfred Molina). He is on amission to release Morganna so she can destroy the world and choose himas her assistant. Yeah, I know, lots of details that don't reallymatter.The reluctant apprentice is played by Jay Baruchel. Or someone playingJay Baruchel. Can't really tell since every role he takes is EXACTLYthe same character. At least here he plays a physics prodigy. Yeah,right.Next to Molina, the most fun is had when Toby Kebbell (RocknRolla) ison screen. He is a real hoot and these two play well off each other.The other attempt at humor is a weak homage to the Disney classicFantasia, replete with moving mops, etc. No surprise, the sequencecomes up well short of the original and Baruchel just doesn't have thephysical skills to pull it off.I assume this movie is aimed at 10 year olds and I am just not surethey will understand the story, though I feel confident the big specialeffects and cool car chase will be enough for a few oohs and ahhs.Those over 10 ... enter at your own risk.

mlh2290 2012-05-05 11:06:24

True Magic for all

I saw this movie at the world premiere and I had the pleasure ofcongratulating Jay and Nicolas on this great Disney achievement. I havealways been a big movie goer since a young age and enjoy a broad rangeof films. As of late Disney has not brought forth any movies I haveloved till now, and between Jerry Bruckheimer, Nicolas Cage, JayBaruchel, and Alfred Molina the movie had great chemistry. The musicand the fight scenes have Jerry Bruckheimer splashed all over them (canbe compared to Pirates of the Caribbean). As for Nicolas Cage, manypeople I spoke with before and after the movie didn't believe he couldpull off the roll of a "Sorcerer," yet his perception of BalthazarBlake as a wise, cunning, determined, witty, heart broken wizard gavethe movie such positive energy and strength. Jay was perfect as Davebringing his classic, nerdy, innocent character, to the table as seenin many of his other films. His character represents Disney's personaof good, and paired with Cage's interpretation of Balthazar there is aplethora of hilarity,and anticipation. Alfred Molina playing theapposing force, Maxim Horvath, provided the movie with just the rightamount of darkness to cater to the younger and older generations.Through out the movie Molina's character, Horvath, has a twisted mix ofrespect and hatred for Cage's character, Balthazar, and the two of themfeed off the energy very well to create a great amount of conflict andexcitement. These conflicts help detract from the typical corny airthat many Disney movies have, because they usually cater to a youngeraudience. The Sorcerer's Apprentice does cater to a younger audience,but also provides enough action, suspense, and humor to cater to thoseof the older generation, making it a great family movie. So to anyonewho is questioning whether or not to see the film I highly recommendit!!! It is a great modern spin of the Disney Fantasia classic with,comedy, action, suspense, and romance, that makes it appreciable toall. Between the awesome cast, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Jon Turteltaub,the movie represents the real meaning behind the magic of Disney.

ulqcannera 2012-05-03 03:03:11

ughh...horrible...

i was really expecting this movie to be something special.. Disney andall that.. but no.without nicolas cage this movie wouldn't deserve 5 min of watching..and still he was holding back the entire movie,like someone forbid himto act and just wanted him to say those lines of text in front of thecamera and be gone.there's no passion,no heart,just empty lines of text. and our primemerlinian? (do i really have to say how stupid that sounds? that"title" alone ruins the whole story from the start.)jay baruchel plays a total idiot. maybe he wasn't acting either? whydidn't they place the whole story in the past? around that 700 and someAD? such a good idea for a story ruined with this modern day stupidity.nothing is explained properly in the movie,intro was the mostinteresting part and lasted only for a few minutes,there was no sceneto display the love between veronica and balthazar and later on theysuddenly can't be apart?i could go on.. becky..that drake guy..horvath.. they weren't funny.any of them. just boring.all of these new movies aspire to be realistic.. and it's boring.HELLO! we already live in reality! why the hell would you want to seeit in a movie all over again?? make a fantasy movie that's a fantasyand don't mix it with this everyday crap routine. make a new betterworld and stop trying to keep this one. this is why old movies rule andnew movies suck. watch fantasia with mickey mouse instead. nuff said

Ben Brockman 2012-05-02 08:57:00

Lighthearted Fun

While The Sorcerer's Apprentice is totally content with presenting thestandard "hero's journey" to a tee, the film does manage to be asomewhat worthwhile experience due to a good sense of humor throughout.I found the special effects to be rather interesting and fit in nicelywith the surroundings, and while this was basically a family friendlyversion of the kind movies Jerry Bruckheimer has built his career on,there was a level of charm that brought it up a few notches. I read afew reviews after it was over and nearly all of the negative onesattacked it as a Harry Potter rip-off. I, however, didn't feel thisway. Not every movie about magic needs to be compared to Harry Potter,and I didn't feel like that was the goal of this film. It also shouldbe stated that I've always liked Nic Cage and thought he did a good jobhere. Overall, The Sorcerer's Apprentice warrants a recommendation forsomeone looking for an entertaining adventure flick, just don't expectmuch more. 7/10

akivaj 2012-04-30 21:11:33

Bland acting, fun effects. Summer movie course par.

Interesting beginning, but the intrigue that's found there doesn'tlast. Nicholas Cage is pretty bland, delivering his lines in aseemingly rushed way. Same for the main Jay Baruchel. It was alsosomewhat formulaic to have Merlinians and Morganians. Alfred Molina,however, is always good.The explanation of magic - that it exists and is primarily scientificmental influence over matter - is interesting. There are a lot ofinteresting effects, too. The nesting dolls that imprisons the mostpowerful of Morganians, the Tesla coils, the dragon in Chinatown - allpretty neat.As far as Nicholas Cage's hair - it was fine.

2012-04-30 10:41:13

Fun from the word Go!

This is one of those movies where lukewarm reviews by, evidently, people who should not be allowed to review movies had kept me from paying much attention to making it a point to watch. Boy, am I glad I finally got around to it! This movie really has it all: * the special effects are innovative and surprising in their application, and pleasing to the eye * romance, not one but two, and both fairly convincing * a fun story of the young apprentice conquering the ancient evil ... not new or original, no ... but entertainingly realized * comedy. There are many laugh out loud moments, and the training sequences are truly amusing * tension. The magical battles have you holding your breath. It is sort of a cliche to say "this is the role that so-and-so was born to play". But there are concrete examples: Charlton Heston as Ben-Hur, Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, George C Scott as Patton, John Wayne as John Wayne, and yes ... John Goodman as Fred Flintstone. It is no stretch to say that Nicholas Cage was meant for the role of Balthazar in this film. He was perfect for and in the role ... or the role was written perfectly for him. ;-) You don't have to figure out a lot as this film progresses. There are really no mysteries. Its just a fast paced adventure story with a lot of fun. If you haven't seen it yet, don't waste any more time. Why no voting buttons? We don't let customers vote on their own reviews, so the voting buttons appear only when you look at reviews submitted by others. Permalink

Floated2 2012-04-29 16:05:33

A fun entertaining sorcerer's film

I didn't really have high expectations going into this film, but I wasjust looking for a fun and exciting film, and that's basically what Igot. Its mainly about magic and sorcery which makes the film prettygood to watch. The characters are quite good and likable. Jay Baruchelplays his role great as he nails the role. He's done this characterbefore so its not stretch for him. Nic Cage was decent, he could havedone better though. In my opinion what makes the film work is that it'sdone with a sense of fun. Likewise you wonder why the movie has a titleof the famous classical music piece that gave Mickey Mouse his greatestrole in "Fantasia," until Dave tries the same trick cleaning up hislaboratory. The CGI was nice, and their are good action sequences. Thefilm has its entertaining moments but at some times it can seem alittle boring. The ending was very good as it hinted somewhat for asequel. That would be pretty interesting to see done if done right!

del91 2012-04-29 12:15:35

It's a fun family film. Expect nothing more than that.

Well there's really nothing much I can say. It is a fantasy family filmafter all, and one can correctly guess that the themes included will beself and destiny and whatnot. The rest of the plot can be described ascheesy, corny, hammy, you do the math. Hoo boy. Although I have toadmit I smiled at the nice homage in the middle to that classic cartoonsegment from "Fantasia".That being said, the other elements are just right. Nicolas Cagedelivers a certain charisma that was similar to his performance in "ConAir", which makes him an easy-to-like character. Same goes for JayBaruchel who delivers his "loveable geek" performance in exactly thesame ways he delivers his previous performances - clumsily like-ableand honest. I'm quite satisfied with Alfred Molina's performance as thevillain as he gives out a sense of menace but not without his sly witwhich makes him quite funny.The special effects were great and well-rendered; as per the actionsequences, some of which were performed for real. Both these scenes areshot without a Parkinson's afflicted cameraman, which allows anyone toview the action in all their glory, finally making them comprehensivefor once. The production design gives the film an epic yet kinda gloomylook to it a times, as per the accompanying music score by TrevorRabin. All brought together by light-hearted direction by "NationalTreasure" helmer Jon Turteltaub. Boy, he, Cage and Bruckheimer make oneheck of a blockbuster team!So if you want to have some quality time with the kids, look no furtherthan this movie. However I find the box-office results baffling.Obviously "Inception" was the far-superior movie and deserved its boxoffice win, but this film being a big-budgeted family-oriented filmmade paltry returns in its opening weekend. It's really not that bad,people.Entertainment value: 8/10Overall: 6.5/10

2012-04-28 21:32:34

A fun Disney movie

This review is from: The Sorcerer's Apprentice (DVD) I like Nicholas Cage, and have growen up with Disney. I was excited when I heard about this movie being released. I wanted to see this movie and everytime I saw a preview I just wanted to see it evern more. Well I was not disapointed it was a fun movie to watch. I am not going to say it's the classic that say Treasure Island is, or some other Disney movies, but it was worth watching, and everyonce in a while I put it back in to re-watch, so I guess overall it was a good purchase.

DonFishies 2012-04-28 01:14:23

Fairly enjoyable, but not nearly as fun as it could have been

After a rather lengthy dual prologue sequence, we jump into the presentlife of physics nerd Dave (Jay Baruchel), who was chosen years later tobe the wizard to save humankind. He seems to have trying blocking outhis encounter with good sorcerer Balthazar (Nicolas Cage) and theincreasingly evil sorcerer Horvath (Alfred Molina). But when both showback up in his life, and the fate of the world lies in the balance,Dave starts to come around to the idea of training with Balthazar to bethe wizard he is prophesized to become.I only saw it for the first time a few months ago, but I greatlyenjoyed the first National Treasure film. It was a great mix ofadventure, comedy and fun (despite being a lightly veiled rip-off ofThe Da Vinci Code). So seeing Cage headlining a film directed by JonTurteltaub automatically intrigued me (the title reference to myfavourite scene in Fantasia also helped). But anyone coming to thisfilm searching for National Treasure 3 are better off waiting for thatfilm to come out in the next few years.It is not that The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a bad film, but it is notparticularly great either. The opening prologue, first taking place inthe 700s before zipping to 2000, takes up a good twenty minutes of thefilm, and just may be one of the most convoluted explanations I haveever seen. There is an inherent simplicity to it, but the voice-overdialogue and the actions of the main players make it a whole lot morecomplicated than it needs to be. And this notion hangs over the rest ofthe movie, because if you did not quite understand it then, the filmnever really stops to go over it again (unless you count "Person wantsto destroy the world, and you are the only hope" as explanationenough). This explanation and overly complicated set-up is completelymissing from any trailer for the film, suggesting that even themarketing team felt it was silly and unneeded.But once the film does get going, it actually is not all that bad. Suresome of the dialogue is terrible (one wasted punchline involving a StarWars reference feels all too easy and lame), but there are quite a fewgreat quips coming from Cage and Baruchel. The storyline suffers fromthe overly complicated set-up, but it becomes a lot more natural andmildly enjoyable halfway through. The majority of the film feels likeit belongs in the same "fun" genre as National Treasure and Pirates ofthe Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (both films ruined bysubpar sequels), but does not have the same heart or genuine laughs.But this small amount of good is betrayed by an awfully abrupt ending,and sometimes horrendous editing. In more than one scene, the dialoguedid not match the actor's lips, and an entirely epic car chase sequenceis almost ruined by a rather awful and incredibly obvious continuityerror. It just feels sloppy, and were easy mistakes that could havebeen fixed in post production. This is a very expensive tailor-madeblockbuster, even if the box office receipts do not suggest it. Thereis no reason why corners like these should be cut, and even less of areason for these errors to exist in the first place. The use of popmusic in some cases, as opposed to Trevor Rabin's score is equallydisappointing, but more of an aside than anything.Acting wise, Cage steals the show. He is not as over-the-top as he wasin Kick-Ass, or as dementedly off-the-rails as he was in BadLiuetenant: Port of Call New Orleans, but he still manages to deliver agreat performance here. He does not seem to know when he wants to beserious or wants to ham it up, but it works for his unorthodoxsorcerer. At any given moment, it looks like Cage is just having ablast working on the film. He gets saddled with a third act additionalmotivational trait that again, could have been chopped right out, buthe makes it work and he makes the character all the more stronger forit. Even with the fantastical elements at play in the film, andspecifically with his character, Cage is the single most believablething in the film.Baruchel, while not quite at a point in his career where he canlegitimately carry a movie (voice acting notwithstanding), is fairlyenjoyable as Dave. You can visibly see he is having trouble working offof material from Cage, and you can tell both actors lack the chemistryneeded for these roles. But where he lacks in his near leading manstatus and in his romantic subplot (involving a fairly well doneperformance by Teresa Palmer), he succeeds greatly in comic timing andlaughs. He is making the best of what he can with the role, and he doesa fairly good job at giving the audience a character they can identifywith. He just needs to continue to thrive and diversify as an actor tomake a role like this work better in the future.The absolutely stunning Monica Belluci goes criminally underused as afellow sorcereress, as does Toby Kebbell as Horvath's assistant andOmar Benson Miller as Dave's friend. Molina does a fairly adequate jobas the main villain, but he lacks the intensity and drive that made histurn as Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2 so memorable. Here he just seemstoo static, and does not appear to be having fun at all.The Sorcerer's Apprentice is not a terrible film, but it is not as badas the critics say it is. Sure, it is not quite as fun or good as itcould have been, but it still makes for a fairly enjoyable throwaway.6/10.(An edited version of this review also appeared onhttp://www.geekspeakmagazine.com).

2012-04-26 21:09:25

Sorcerer's Apprentice Review

An incredible movie done by Dinsey. The plot was amazing, magic jumping out all the time, and all around a magical movie. I recommend it to fans of the Harry Potter serries.

2012-04-26 14:02:51

Senior Dork, meet Junior Dork and watch out for the Sorting Hat

THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE (2010) put way too many questions in my mind for a film of this quality. It seemed it was supposed to be a bit of typical Disney live-action fun, cinematic cotton candy as it were. Yet I was scratching my head much of the time.Jay Baruchel is the Principal (or whatever the heck they call it) "Merlinite", evidently the 'last scion' (or descendant) of the pupils of Merlin. Nicholas Cage, who is apparently trapped in Disney Purgatory (big contracts, lousy films, at least you keep your head above water) is Blake, the 1,200-year-old sorcerer who has been searching for this Last Merlinite - the only living sorcerer who can destroy Morgana La Fey.What fun .... That is, if you ignore Alfred Molina as the other Merlin student who is evil. Lord Voldemort he ain't - but hey, who cares about that silly lark HARRY POTTER, right? Not like THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE is trying to steal ... wait a minute ... evil wizards, millennium-old relics, spell books ... ah well. I tried, and so did Disney.The bigger queries are these:1. Jay Baruchel is clearly being set up as the 'next Nicholas Cage", albeit sorely lacking in the cool factor, testosterone and any sort of charm at all. (However, Baruchel can act.) Throw in some babelicious blonde and PRESTO! - so, is this barely masculine "nerd" the next Cage-like sex symbol? I like the type, but he doesn't really work in most films.2. What's with the stunted comic-book-artist's-eye view in these films? Who do they think watches these things, birds and squirrels?3. Can't we get away from the tired old Merlin-wizard-evil-prisoner-let-loose plotline for a few years? I'd rather sit through another King Arthur film than something this bad.4. Will the goofy little in-jokes ever stop? They get more than tiresome before the first one has even unfolded. In this movie I counted around 13 or 14. Someone itemize a list for me if I'm wrong.5. What age range was this movie meant to target?