The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (***)
Directed by: Jon Turteltaub
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina, Alice Krige,
Monica Bellucci, Teresa Palmer, Toby Kebbell
Seen: August 27th 2010
*** Out of ****
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is loosely based on a segment of the same
name from Disney’s Fantasia, which in turn is based on an 1890’s symphonic poem
by Paul Dukas and a 1797 ballad Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Disney and
Bruckheimer here produce a visually sumptuous experience which brings a rich
imagination to life with inventive ideas and great special effects.
Balthazar Blake (Cage), Veronica (Bellucci), and Maxim Horvath
(Molina) were the legendary Merlin’s three apprentices, but Horvath switched to
the dark side to join forces with evil sorceress Morgana le Fay (Krige). Over the
centuries Balthazar has been at work to capture and imprison all Morganian sorcerers,
while also searching for the Prime Merlinian, Merlin’s true offspring who will
also be able to wield the power (as a side note, I’m finding it difficult to
keep a straight face while writing the term “Prime Merlinian”, who thinks this
stuff up?). The sign Balthazar is to look for in the Prime Merlinian is a
reaction to a small metal dragon he hands each possible suitor, and when, after
1260 years he finds the boy for whom the artefact comes alive, the boy to, by
accident, releases Horvath. Balthazar and Horvath are trapped for a further 10
years as a result of this fight, and the boy grows up and becomes science geek
Dave Stutler (Baruchel). While Balthazar takes Dave on as his apprentice,
Horvath is searching for ways to release his evil companions, and through this
to eventually free Morgana from her prison, which she shares with Veronica,
where Balthazar had no choice but to emprison her in his battle with Morgana in
the year 740, and things come to a head after some crazy battles via inventive
sorcery.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a pretty entertaining movie, from the
small bit of origin story where Balthazar and Veronica battles Morgana and
Horvath; to Dave’s origin story as a 10-year old boy who stumbles into Balthazar’s
magic store and is humiliated in front of his school class; to their present
day battle with Horvath and celebrity magician Drake Stone (Kebbell) and the
few other sorcerers/witches Horvath enlists to his service. The special effects
are nothing short of excellent, with the eagles on the Chrysler building coming
to life, cars transforming into different cars, mirror images acting up in
strange ways, carpets effectively becoming quicksand and many other impressive and
inventive visual feats. While the final 30 minutes of the movie does lose a bit
of the spark and creativity and favours the old-school chanting and
spell-tracing of witchcraft and wizardry the pace picks up sufficiently to not
let that become too much of a distraction or hindrance. The moral of the story
is more subtle than in the usual Disney animated features, but if you want it,
it’s right there in front of you – excellence is in all of us, we just have to
make that move and grab it. So there you have it, for a great opportunity to switch
off for a bit and simply enjoy the ride, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice delivers the
goods, a good story with good interpersonal relationships offering real buy-in
value coupled with great visuals in support of the story.
Comments