Movie Review: THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE

The ultimate failure a movie can succumb to is the inability to entertain. That is why we go to watch movies, right? We want to be taken away to another world, one where we actually believe sorcerers and magic and epic battles really exist. This problem is the downfall for Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. It is not really much fun. And if a movie about sorcerers, wizards, and magic can’t be entertaining, then there is a serious problem. The film has all the ingredients to make a fun and exciting adventure, but the correct mixture, balance, and storytelling are really off kilter here.

Beginning in New York City in the year 2000, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice centers on a young boy named Dave who wanders into a mysterious shop where he is met by Nicolas Cage’s character Balthazar Blake. Before we meet young Dave we are given some back story about sorcerers, wizards, and villains who have been fighting a battle for thousands of years.Blake has been searching for an apprentice to help him battle these villains. He has searched all over the world without any luck, until, you guessed it, Dave walks into his store and what do ya know – he is “the one.” Chaos ensues inside the store when Dave breaks a ceramic vase that contains a villain named Maxim Hovarth (played effectively by Alfred Molina.) Long story short, both Blake and Hovarth end up trapped inside this ceramic vase where they spend the next ten years and Dave escapes the scene with a magical ring that was given to him by Balthazar.

Jump ahead to modern day New York City where Dave (Jay Baruchel) is a geeky physics student who spends most of his time in a underground lair working with electric currents. After being confined for ten years Balthazar and Maxim escape from captivity and both seek out Dave who has held onto the magical ring given to him ten years ago. Maxim goes after Dave to gain possession of the ring so he can be the most powerful sorcerer, and raise other sorcerers and wizards from the dead. Balthazar finds Dave and wants to align with the 20 year old to join forces to stop these villains from rising.

Jay Baruchel (Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder, She’s Out of My League) plays the insecure, but lovable nerd perfectly. He is uncomfortable to watch – but that works for his character, a guy who has been obsessed with the same girl all his life. A guy who doesn’t get much respect from his peers but is clearly a brilliant scientist. Balthazar, in a role pretty much phoned in by Nic Cage, is a street smart sorcerer who sees the potential in Dave. He makes Dave his apprentice and the two go to work on training Dave in the science of sorcery.

Sounds like a fun story, eh? The potential is all there. The cast is appealing, the director Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) is in his element, but something is just lacking. The movie seems to get too caught up in an elaborate story with too many characters, when the highlights of the entire film are the training of Dave to be a sorcerer. Disney should take some notes from the Harry Potter franchise on how to make a movie about magic entertaining for all ages. Sure, there are some exciting scenes including a high speed car chase through Times Square, but the movie falls flat on making us care what is really happening on screen. There are wizards and sorcerers running amok in New York City and everyone just accepts this? What could have been a fun filled adventure like the National Treasure movies, or the Harry Potter series, drops the ball on a potential franchise.

With a run time that is far too long for its own good, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice failed to do the one thing it set out to do: be magical.

Fanboyz Grade: C-