The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Magic is science!

***Yen Sid says, click here!***

Read our youngest writer, Taylor’s review – here!

Swift Shot:  Based incredibly loosely on Goethe’s 1797 ballad, Der Zauberlehrling, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” will keep you entertained throughout its run time.  Though the story-line differs incredibly, and some peons will argue, in their puerile voices, “But it wasn’t REALLY the SORCERER’S APPRENTICE.”  True, it was better!!  Granted, it was all fluff and fantastic cinematography, with an incredibly unbelievable plot, but if you want to enjoy a film this summer, you can’t go wrong.  Or, listen to the other stuffy critics who still shill their mindless crap via something called a “newspaper”.  I am a movie lover, and I loved this movie!!

The saga of three powerful sorcerers unfolds in Britain, 740 AD, as a power vacuum looms when the legendary Merlin finally meets his demise at the hands of the vile Morgana.  As the narrator points out, Merlin entrusted his vast knowledge of sorcery to three pupils – he should have trusted two.  Merlin is ultimately betrayed by Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina), and a fight for control of the entire planet ensues.  Balthazar and his dedicated lover, Veronica (Monica Bellucci) manage to subdue Morgana in a cascading doll known as the Grimhold.  But, to trap her, Veronica has to join her.

Before Merlin is betrayed, he tells his pupils of a student that will be born, the Prime Merlinian, who can finally defeat the wretched Morgana and her dark followers.  To this end, he grants his pupils immortality, of course, the old buzzard never tells them it will take a century for the Prime Merlinian to appear.

Balthazar finally finds him, tucked away in the obscurity of our modern world, in Manhattan.  Enter, the apprentice, the incredibly reluctant apprentice – I might add – Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel), whose name alone conjures images of a nebbish dork destined for not much.  Still, the Prime Merlinian, he is, and Balthazar recruits him through relentless pragmatism to help defeat Horvath – of course, Dave had no small part in releasing Horvath – who was also trapped in the Grimhold . . . along with some other nefarious Morganians.  (One of these Morganians is ripped from a modern classic – I won’t say who here.  But, I will say, it brought a twisted grin to my mind).

The reluctant apprentice (come to think of it, that would have been a better title) is a physics student at NYU trying to win the affection of the beautiful “one who floated away” Becky Barnes (Teresa Palmer). The alliteration with her name made me think Stan Lee was somehow involved in creating her character.  Becky was pivotal to the plot, and I really enjoyed watching her on screen, plus, it was a nice nod to all the geeks out there who let their harts get away.

This film was exactly as labeled, an epic, comedy, action film.  Ok, maybe the epic part was a bit much, because it was a great film, but epic, it fell just shy of epic.  The acting was solid, the comedy was perfect, little nods here and there to geeks of the universe were handled in a way that allows the nerd to develop into a somewhat believable hero.

The special effects, well, what can I say, they were solid, but kudos to the whole crew for making that dragon scene in Chinatown so much fun to watch.  Now that scene . . . was EPIC.  Still, a scene does not a film make.

Nicolas Cage brings it as Balthazar, the thousand year old master pupil of Merlin, seeking out Merlin’s heir.  Cage has been accused, yes, by me, of phoning in performances to collect a paycheck, but he really must have loved the original Fantasia, because he did the old man, Walt “Yen Sid” proud!  His character is fun to watch on screen.

Magic is used a lot in the film, and while we are led to believe most people are too dimwitted to catch on that objects are catching on fire or moving about this way and that, it doesn’t really detract from the overall film, in fact, mere mortal gumption comes in handy a few times.  So, I was happy to see that with all the fantastic magic being used, human ingenuity shared a part with the super-natural, in fact, science and magic are not only able to co-exist, you wonder how many weak-minded fools out there still think magic isn’t “real”.  After this film, you might not be converted, but you won’t be disappointed.

I liked how quickly the bad guy adapted to his new world, using modern items in a very lethal sense – you won’t look at that Far Side desk calendar the same way after this film.

What didn’t I like?  I can’t really tell you here without giving away too much.  The ending left a stale taste in my mouth, and you can see most things in the film coming from a mile away.  The villains were inept, because they spent too much time being ostentatious .  You wait this long to attain something, obtain it, don’t cater to the invisible audience so much.  Still, they were lethal and interesting . . . at times.  To get more than four stars though, I want my villains to be more villainous and less showy.

Overall, this is one of those that you gotta see at the box office, waiting for DVD will cheapen the efforts put into this fun film.  I mean, it’s Disney at its best.