The Sorcerer’s Apprentice follows the story of sorcerer Balthazar Blake (Nicholas Cage) who is one of 3 apprentices to the great wizard Merlin. When Merlin is betrayed & killed by one of his apprentice’s Maxim Hovath (Alfred Molina), Balthazar captures and imprisons Maxim with Merlin’s greatest enemy Morgana for centuries while he goes on a quest to find Merlin’s replacement.
Now in modern day New York City, Balthazar finds who he has searched hundreds of years for and that person arrives in the form of Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel). Dave is a reluctant protégé who goes into training to become a sorcerer so he can help Balthazar recapture a freed Maxim. Now there are other elements to Apprentice like a love interest for Dave and an imprisoned love for Balthazar, but I really do not feel I need to go into those details.
“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” was directed by John Turteltaub who is probably best known for directing the two “National Treasure” films (soon to be third) for Disney, which also starred Nicholas Cage. I would think it’s safe to say that these guys really like to work with each other. Now if you are a fan of the Treasure films, you might find yourself enjoying “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”. Not because they are the same movie, but because Turteltaub seems to be able to do what other directors have been having trouble doing over the past 10 years, that is getting a fun performance out of Cage. He really seems to enjoy himself in this film and when Cage is having fun with a role, the audience is almost always having fun watching him. Now, I am not saying this is up to par with Cage’s best roles, because it’s far from it, but it is a fun one.
I usually like Jay Baruchel. He was really funny in “Tropic Thunder” & “Knocked Up”, but after this year’s “She’s Out Of My League” & now this movie. I am starting to feel like he is a one trick pony. I am hoping he can play something other than a hyperactive geek. If you like Baruchel’s other performances, then you won’t mind him here, it’s really just more of the same.
As for Alfred Molina, how can you not love this guy, he was the only bright spot in this past spring’s horrible video game-movie adaptation “Prince Of Persia” and he brings the same fun and energy to his villain Maxim for this film. Molina is another actor who just seems to enjoy these big fantasy films, where he can just go all out.
I am not sure if I have set the bar so low for my standards this summer on what a good popcorn movie should be or if “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is actually good, but I can tell you this. I wasn’t bored. I can’t say the same thing about 95% of the fantasy films that have come out in the last 4 months. Up to this point of the 2010 summer season, I can count the amount of films I actually enjoyed on one hand and still have a couple fingers left over. If you are looking for a movie to take the family to and you have already seen “Toy Story 3” Then you can do much worse than “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and be greatfull that Disney did not decide to convert this film into 3-D.
By Marc Ferman
