Dave was your typical ten-year-old until one fateful afternoon on a field trip when he passed a note to his crush. The note was swept up in a gust of wind and through a series of odd coincidences ended up inside a shop. It was in this shop that Dave met Balthazar, who informed Dave that he is a sorcerer.Fast forward ten years and Dave is now a socially inept physics geek. Balthazar reenters Dave's life and tells him he needs to begin his training. Dave quickly realizes he's caught up in a centuries-old rivalry that could result in the end of the worldand he is the only one who can prevent it. Balthazar quickly tries to train Dave so they can battle the forces of evil that are trying to destroy the world.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice is an exciting and entertaining film for the whole family! It has a little of everything in itaction, magic, humor and romance! The characters are funny and interesting (everything from geeky Dave to the greatest wizard ever known, Merlin). The content is family friendly so you can enjoy it with the kids, but it's exciting enough to be a great movie for adults as well. I enjoyed the acting, and everyone did a spectacular job! There were quite a few familiar facesNicholas Cage is fantastic (as always) and Jay Baruchel once again shows that he is a pro at portraying the painfully awkward guy! Alfred Molina is also present, and plays a great villain! There are also many new facesToby Kebbell is showing us that he is an extremely diverse actor, one moment he's playing a rugged Persian prince and the next he's an egocentric magician!
One of the things I love about this movie is that Disney gives a nod to some of its past endeavors (Hint: think of a character by the same title and you'll have an idea of what I'm referring to). Subtle homage to various films and characters can be seen throughout the movie, providing what computer geeks would refer to as "Easter eggs" for the viewer to catch. Some are relatively obvious, but if you're like me, you'll have to brush the cobwebs off of your memories of some of the older Disney flicks!
I also love that the trailers didn't ruin every funny scene. There were many other parts of the movie that made me laugh! This movie has plenty of surprises, and it keeps you engaged for the entire length of the film. The soundtrack is also excellent, with fantastic compositions from Trevor Rabin. His music sounds like a cross between Klaus Badelt's Pirates of the Caribbean score and Steve Jablonsky's Transformers score, with a few distinct touches of his own. The primary song repeated throughout the film is OneRepublic's "Secrets", which I feel was an appropriate song choice!
The movie is a bit predictable, but it's not as if you can expect otherwise from a Disney film. Some of the characters weren't incredibly well developed, however I don't feel it detracted from the film. To have gone into the details of every character would have made the movie too long. Regardless, I would highly recommend this movie to anyone! So, if you're in the mood for something a bit more action packed, definitely consider this one! Also, if you tend to be a film score junkie (like me), you should definitely consider grabbing the soundtrack! It's got some great tracks!
It's just good movie making, well paced with just the right balance of great characters, charm, action and fantasy, Disney did a fine job with this one. A satisfying story and one of the better movies of recent years. Kids and adults will be entertained.
If you think a good movie requires F-bombs, vulgar jokes and low-life characters you may be disappointed.
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My only quarrel with The Sorcerer's Apprentice was that it was too short to fully develop some of the characters (avoiding spoilers here). Otherwise, it's a fun summer romp with one of the best car chases I've seen in a long time. The story is about Balthazar Blake's quest for the Prime Merlinian. As one of Merlin's three original apprentices, it's been up to Blake to find the person who possesses the potential to achieve Merlin's magical prowess. He finds nine-year old Dave, but there's a ten year lapse in their acquaintanceship. When they finally meet up again, Dave is a nerdy NYU physics student. As the reluctant Dave's apprenticeship begins, there are obstacles in the form of Maxim Horvath, his tattooed sidekick Drake Stone and Dave's burgeoning love affair with Becky. There's also the evil Morgana Le Fay who plans on world domination if given half a chance.The cast is small but strong. Standouts are Jay Baruchel who keeps Dave's nebbishness from caricature, Alfred Molina whose Horvath has a nice sense of entitlement and Toby Kebbell's Drake Stone. I've had a love/hate relationship with Nicholas Cage for a while, unbeknownst to him. At his worst, he's depressed and weird, at his best, he's warmly eccentric. I'm happy to report that in this movie, he's the latter and makes Balthazar sparkle.
The plot is not especially original, but does contain a couple of twists, focusing more on relationships than on the actual magic though there are some pretty cool special effects. Deep, this movie isn't, but it is fun with some wonderful comic moments, not the least of which is the homage to Paul Dukas' original music as illustrated in Disney's Fantasia. The movie borrows from some other famous franchises, too. Spiderman, Harry Potter and the Mummy all make contributions, but The Sorcerer's Apprentice winks at the audience and manages to make the cliches fresh.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice is an homage to Dr. August Coppola, Nicholas Cage's father, who taught film and died last October. I think Dr. Coppola would have liked this movie. I certainly did.Sometimes inspiration comes from unexpected places. If I remember correctly, not many people thought that a Disney theme park ride could be a huge hit franchise, but Jack Sparrow, pirate captain in the Caribbean, turned out otherwise. So it is only natural that Hollywood studios have made a new fantasy adventure film "suggested" by "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," eight-minute segment of the classic animated film "Fantasia" released in 1940. Well, the beloved Mickey Mouse tale is actually based on Goethe's poem, so why not make another one?
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" starring Nicholas Cage as the sorcerer Balthazar Blake is a pretty well-made, if not very unoriginal, family-oriented adventure film. It is good clean fun like Cage's "National Treasure" franchise and in fact "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is helmed by Jon Turteltaub, director of two "National Treasure" films.
Skip the lengthy introduction about Merlin and three apprentices. Mostly set in 2010 New York City, the film's story is in short about the battle between the good magician and the evil one. Nicholas Cage is a good magician Balthazar, and Alfred Molina evil one Horvath. The evil magician wants to destroy the world as it is. The good one wants to stop it. The bad one enlists the celebrity "magician" Drake Stone (Toby Kebbell). The good one trains a college student Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel) as his apprentice.
Set-pieces of the magical battles are enjoyable, all finished with first-rate CGI techniques, but some interesting characters (Drake Stone, in particular) are sidelined by the action, and Monica Bellucci as Merlin's apprentice Veronica has little to do in the story. Also, there is a brief sequence of enchanted brooms, but the "live-action" version of the tale from "Fantasia," amusing as it is, looks out of place in the storyline. The subplot about the young hero's childhood friend (Teresa Palmer) fares slightly better, though not as impressive as the romance of Peter Parker and Mary Jane.
Cliché-ridden as it is, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is an entertaining family picture. Pretty good, if not great.
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Nicholas Cage is awesome, as usual, but the surprise here is the young actor, Jay Baruchel, who plays the apprentice. His demonstrates some fine acting skills, along with his own special brand of charisma. How nice it was to actually go to a movie that was 'fun' for a change instead of just another ho hum attempt at entertainment. Just the right amount of special effects and several supporting characters that were very interesting, too. I would highly recommend this movie to any one age 7 or older. (I am basing that on what my grandsons like and can handle) Go watch it, you won't be disappointed.Save 23% Off
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