The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: (July 14th, 2010): PG
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Opening Weekend Box-Office: #3 with $17,619,622
Domestic Box-Office Gross to-date: $59,538,764
Gross Revenue: $132,038,764
Budget: $150 million
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
As I said in the “Short and Sweet” review, the potential for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was nearly limitless, and from a marketing standpoint, it was nothing short of a dream. Different combinations of this particular film’s actor, director, producer, and production studio have produced some of the most popular movies in history. I’ve already talked about the collaborations between Bruckheimer and Cage and the team behind the National Treasure franchise, but let’s not forget that Bruckheimer and Disney are also behind the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, a fact that generated significant momentum for the theatrical run of Prince of Persia earlier this summer. Regardless of his well-publicized financial troubles and some weak entries on his acting résumé, Nicolas Cage is still a veteran A-list actor who almost always delivers on big-budget films. On a side note, Nic Cage is also an avid comic-book fan and fantasy junkie (he named his son “Kal-El” for crying out loud…for those readers that don’t speak nerd, “Kal-El” is Superman’s Kryptonian name), and he apparently jumped at the chance to play a sorcerer from one of his favorite films, virtually guaranteeing a dedicated performance. As the second lead, Jay Baruchel has been growing in popularity since his appearance in 2007’s Knocked Up and subsequent work in popular films such as Tropic Thunder, She’s Out of My League, and How to Train Your Dragon, so he was sure to act as another draw for this summer adventure. Given all this potential, the marketing campaign relied primarily on teaser trailers and the tag-line “It’s the coolest job ever”; with the blend of fantasy and action generated from source material in Disney’s legendary Fantasia, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was sure to draw viewers from all age brackets and be considerably successful.
Given the title, it should come as no surprise that The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has to do with, SPOILER ALERT…sorcery! The film starts off in the year 700, where legendary sorcerer Merlin is working with three apprentices, Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage), Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina), and Veronica (Monica Bellucci). During a battle with evil sorceress Morgan le Fay, Horvath betrays his friends by switching his loyalties to le Fay and mortally wounding Merlin. Though Balthazar and Veronica are able to imprison both Morgan le Fay and Horvath, with his dying breath, Merlin instructs Balthazar than le Fay cannot be destroyed until a worthy successor to his (Merlin’s) powers is found. Balthazar spends the next 1000 years searching for a new apprentice that he can train as Merlin successor in order to destroy le Fay, and he finds him in modern-day Manhattan in the form of average-yet-awkward college student Dave (Jay Baruchel). As Dave begins his training, he must contend with the newly released Horvath, who is hell-bent on releasing le Fay so that she can destroy humanity. Together, Dave and Balthazar embark on an adventure that is sure to engage and delight the audience’s imagination.
Considering my own proclivities for comic-books and fantasy, I thoroughly enjoyed the magical aspects of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and they were executed in a nearly flawless way with impressive special effects. Take notes M. Night Shyamalan, that’s how you impress an audience. Some spells cast were violent, some were funny, and all were downright cool. Watching Nic Cage cast lightning bolts or morph his antique car into a Ferrari mid-chase is just awesome, hands down. ..I agree with the film’s tag-line, it would be the “coolest job ever.” From an acting standpoint, Nic Cage is the perfect actor to bring the eccentric character of Balthazar to life, while Baruchel adds considerable humor as a neurotic and nervous magic student. As for supporting cast, I have a huge crush on Monica Bellucci, so even though she’s not actually on screen for all that long, I still gave the film points for having sexy love interest for Balthazar…sue me. Though Morgan la Fey is the over-arching antagonist of the story, Alfred Molina’s character, Horvath, is the primary villain for the film, and Molina was delightfully menacing as he battled Nic Cage on-screen.
Another positive aspect of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has to do with the film’s references to the original segment in the 1940’s classic Fantasia. Though the original scene of Mickey controlling brooms was made over 70 years ago and may not be terribly familiar to younger audience members, it still remains one of the most famous and beloved scenes in cinematic history. When Dave starts bewitching the brooms in the cleaning scene and the old music form Fantasia starts playing, it’s sure to bring a smile to your face. Even Mickey’s blue hat makes an appearance in a post-credits scene, so The Sorcerer’s Apprentice more than pays a respectful homage to its source material.
Though I have plenty of positive things to say about The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, there is still one very large criticism that significantly weakens this potential blockbuster, and that is the film’s narrative. Magic has been covered countless times in film, so I was understandably surprised when Balthazar started to try and explain magic from a scientific perspective…it was believable at first, but when Dave ends up building a machine in the film’s climax to counter Horvath’s spells, any explanation just seemed idiotic. The script is also unforgivably jumpy at times, the primary example involving Dave’s struggling with simple spells for the first hour-and-a-half of the film. As much can be expected for an apprentice, but in the film’s climax, he almost instantaneously becomes a master sorcerer, defeating other practitioners who have had literally hundreds of years to practice, and that is hard to swallow. And as far as endings go, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice concludes so rapidly that I was shocked when the end credits started rolling, leaving way too many questions and key plot elements unresolved. I can forgive some level of uneven storytelling in a fantasy film, but with the potential surrounding The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the errors in the narrative end up being a huge let-down…it could have been so much better.
Given the indisputable draw of this summer film for audiences both young and old, I expected The Sorcerer’s Apprentice to do quite well, so I was understandably disappointed in the sub-par opening weekend. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was initially slated for release on July 16, but it was moved up two days, so I can only speculate that Walt Disney was weary of contending with Inception for the top spot in the opening weekend box-office. Reviews have been fair, so maybe audiences have been marred by Nic Cage's personal financial troubles. At this pace, the film will have considerable trouble recovering it's production budget. Nevertheless, if you can look past the shoddy story-telling and just enjoy the fun and imagination present, this newest release is worth seeing.
Overall Recommendation: Medium
