Review: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Disney's original Sorcerer's Apprentice, part of 1940's Fantasia, is    not something that would seem apt for adaptation. Still, following their huge success with adapting things like theme park rides, namely Pirates of the Caribbean, you can't blame them for trying. Given the classic nature of the original short however, it would take quite a bit of creativity to simply justify the feature film's existence. All things considered though, Jon Turteltaub's fine sense of pacing, alongside an endearing performance by Nic Cage and some pretty impressive special effects, bring together a surprisingly passable film.

The most compelling element of the film for me was the world building. Nic Cage plays Balthazar Blake, one of Merlin's three apprentices. Alongside the legendary wizard, the three battle against an opposing faction of sorcerers, led by, of course, Morgana le Fay (Alice Krige). In the climactic prologue showdown, Merlin is betrayed by Horvath (Alfred Molina), another of  his apprentices, leading to his death; and the imprisonment of both Morganna and Balthazar's love Veronica  (Monica Bellucci) inside a set of Russian nesting dolls. Balthazar recovers Merlin's ring, and sets about trying to find the "Prime Merlinian," a chosen one who can defeat Morgana if she is ever released.

We catch up with Balthazar in the year 2000, where a chance encounter with a ten year old Dave Stutler (Jake Cherry, and later Jay Baruchel as a 20-year-old), sets off the centuries old war. As luck would have it though (or more likely fate), Dave just happens to be the Prime Merlinian Balthazar has been searching for. Ten years later, his destiny catches up to him and Dave must learn to harness his powers, save the world, and most importantly, get the girl.

As you might've guessed, the world and conflict are pretty neat, but the script is about as generic as they come. Dave coming to terms with his destiny, his girl problems, a friend whose sole purpose seems is comedic relief; it's all pretty standard stuff. Unfortunately, the standard bits are probably the story's strongest angles. Where it tries to get creative with the writing are the areas in which things get messy. Interesting villains are given a few scenes (if that), in favor of a dull performance by Alfred Molina. The so-called "romantic" play as well as they do in say, a Michael Bay film, and there's little chemistry to be found between anyone besides Baruchel and Cage.

On the bright side, Nic Cage is pretty awesome. A surprisingly restrained performance lets him be his crazy self without overshadowing the rest of the film; and the master-apprentice relationship between him and Baruchel are some of the best moments in the story. It also helps that he gets to ride around on one of those metal eagles from the Chrysler Building. Yeah, that's pretty awesome.

While the writing generally falters, the visuals are pretty darn spectacular at times. A thrilling Chinese New Years scene involves a freaking dragon, and a times square car chase offers some of the slickest CGI I've seen in a while. If only the climactic battle was anywhere near as cool as previous set-pieces, I'd recommend this movie solely based on the creative imagery. Unfortunately, a wholly uncompelling third act followed by a straight-up boring final battle mar an otherwise entertaining movie.

Overall though, you could do a lot worse with a big budget, small minded film like this. Nic Cage is a lot of fun, the visuals are almost worth the price of admission alone, and the film offers up enough interesting world building, action, and charm to make for thoroughly lackluster story.