In my ongoing (and sometimes slavish) trawl through Nicolas Cage films, whether they be good, bad or The Wicker Man, I arrive at Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Of course Cage and Disney (as well as Jerry Bruckheimer Productions) have joined forces before with the two National Treasure films (which director Jon Turteltaub also helmed), but things are more of a fantasy nature in this one.
The film is based on the famous scene in (much) earlier Disney scene Fantasia, the one where Mickey Mouse starts to learn his sorcery powers and makes some mops dance. Well, Disney decided to base an entire film around it (and yes, that scene is in the film, minus the mouse of course.)
Cage is Balthazar Blake, one of three apprentices of Merlin, the others being Veronica Gorloisen (Monica Belluci) and Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina), the latter of whom turns against Merlin and joins forces with the powerful Morgana (Alice Krige) who whilst battling Merlin, is thwarted and is absorbed into the body of Veronica. Following that Balthazar imprisons both Horvath and Veronica/Morgana in a nesting doll and sets on finding his own apprentice (with the help of a magical dragon ring), a 'Prime Merlinian' who one day will battle Morgana, and is the only one capable of defeating her.
Then we cut to ten years later where 10 year old Dave Stutler ends up in a shop owned by Balthazar, and after the dragon ring comes alive in his hands is chosen to be the sorcerer's apprentice. Unfortunately Dave accidentally releases Horvath from the nesting dolls and after a battle between Horvath and Balthazar, both are trapped in a Chinese urn with a ten year lock on it.
Ten years later Dave (now played by Jay Baruchel) is a Physics student, reconnecting with his old school crush Becky (Teresa Palmer), then everything gets a bit crazy when the urn is unlocked and Horvath and Balthazar are freed...
It's a lot of stuff to happen just to set the film up (why not just cut the whole bit with the kids out?), but luckily it's not as much of a slog to watch as it is to get across on here.
The film is OK. It's hard to really slate Disney films. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is predictable and a bit silly in places, but it's a Disney film, it's for kids mainly. The fact that any kids are still watching after the 'lots to digest' opening is a good thing, so maybe I should let that slide.
Cage, compared to other recent roles, is actually quite restrained (but, yet again looking very similar to Chad Kroeger) and kept me entertained throughout. This time, Jay Baruchel is the over the top one. Walking a very fine line between harmlessly geeky and just plain irritating, Baruchel just manages to keep to the former.
Molina is OK as Horvath. Again, Disney villain. And Monica Belluci is hardly in it, to be honest. If you plan to see the film based on her involvement you will be disappointed. And the inclusion of a Russell Brand sounding cockney teen bad guy (Tobey Kebbell) will leaving you wanting to smack your head against the wall just to take your mind off how irritating the character is (and exceptionally pointless also)
It's an alright way to spend 100 minutes, but it's not the sort of film you want to return to. Kids, on the other hand may love it (or join everyone else in finding Nicolas Cage a bit weird), but for this reviewer, it just lacked the spark of other Disney/Bruckheimer collaborations.
**1/2
Fun while it is on, but it's predictable fluff mainly with the occasional good bit of fun, but also the occasional annoying characters. Rent it for the kids.
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