Good family fun in store with The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Posted Jul 29, 2010 By Mark Haskins
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The Sorcerer's Apprentice
STARRING: Nicholas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Teresa Palmer and Alfred Molina
DIRECTOR: Jon Turteltaub
RATING: PG
EMC Lifestyle - It's amazing what creative minds can do with an amusing cartoon short. I shouldn't be surprised considering it's the same team who turned a sedate amusement park ride into three thrilling pirate films.
It begins with Merlin (James A. Stephens) and his three apprentices, Balthazar (Nicholas Cage), Veronica (Monica Bellucci) and Horvath (Alfred Molina) as they battle the evil Morgana (Alice Kringe). In the end Merlin is betrayed by Horvath, and Veronica sacrifices herself to magically imprison Morgana and save Balthazar. As Merlin dies he charges Balthazar with finding his heir. Balthazar must find the one who will inherit Merlin's power, and have the ability to destroy Morgana once and for all.
It will take Balthazar over a thousand years to find the one destined
to wear Merlin's dragon ring. When he finds Dave it's almost by coincidence. However, before Balthazar can begin teaching the young Dave (Jake Cherry) an accident frees Horvath from his magical prison. A battle ensues that leaves both Balthazar and Horvath trapped in an enchanted urn, and Dave thinking he's gone crazy.
Ten years go by and Dave (Jay Baruchel) is a promising, if geeky, physics student who just worked up the courage to ask out the girl of his dreams, Becky (Teresa Palmer). Then Horvath and Balthazar escape the urn and Dave's world implodes. He is forced to accept that magic is real, and the destiny Balthazar thrusts upon him. Dave must become a sorcerer, and stop Horvath from freeing Morgana, or the whole world is doomed.
As fun family films go The Sorcerer's Apprentice has it all. It's an exciting adventure with dazzling special effects. It has just the right mix of humour and melodrama. The heroes are extremely likeable and easy to relate to, while the villains send shivers down your spine.
It's the kind of film that's easy to lose yourself in, and one you wouldn't mind seeing again and again.
Nicholas Cage continues his quest for a good hair day. While he doesn't find it in The Sorcerer's Apprentice he does deliver a very memorable character in Balthazar. It was easy to picture Cage as a thousand year-old sorcerer, who was only a little crazy.
I could see Jay Baruchel as the bumbling nerd, but I wasn't sure of him as the confident hero. He did it successfully in How to Train Your Dragon, but doing it in person isn't the same as voicing an animated character. Nonetheless Baruchel surprised me, and was just as good as the nerd as he was the hero.
Alfred Molina walks into a room as Horvath and immediately takes control. You're drawn to him by his frightening sense of power and his willingness to use it. He is everything an evil sorcerer should be.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice is good family fun that hits all the right notes from beginning to end.
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