My first reaction when I noticed The Sorcerer's Apprentice on the TV listings was one of cautious pleasure - it's a rare day when I'm not happy to settle down in front of a PG-rated fantasy effects fest. My second reaction, however, was resignation, because it's an equally rare day for me when movies like this don't disappoint or even disgust, and Disney have never really had the greatest track record when it comes to keeping me entertained - except for by my own frothing outrage, obviously. Still, I figured I'd either have a passably good time watching or by writing a full-on hatchet job afterwards - a win/win situation, really.
Despite the name, this one does fortunately amount to a little more than the Fantasia sequence with Mickey Mouse and the hyperactive brooms. Instead, we have Nicolas Cage as Balthazar, one of Merlin's semi-immortal apprentices, mentoring Jay Baruchel's nerdy Dave in order to help him defeat Morgan Le Fay (Alice Krige). Dave, however, is more interested in wooing childhood crush Becky Barnes, who fails to exit the film by falling dramatically out of view, thus disappointingly destroying the tantalising possibility of The Sorcerer's Apprentice 2: The Winter Love Interest. Not funny? Damn. It amused me.
Anyway, our antagonist here is Horvath, another Merlin apprentice who went across to the dark side when Veronica (Monica Bellucci), the third of the triumverate, fell for Balthazar. Horvath is seeking to release Le Fay from the doll in which Balthazar imprisoned her, thus enabling her to perform the rite of the Rising, returning her former acolytes from the dead and ushering in a new age of darkness across the world.
Put like that, it sounds like the setup for a low-budget horror movie. Instead, however, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is proof positive that you can buy quality, of a sort, if you throw enough money at a project. Hire a great cast and pull in some great special effects people, and all you need from your writing team (and make no mistake, it will be a team) is for them not to actually stink. By the time the film was over, I'd written about four lines in my notebook, and bitterly resented the lack of ad breaks when I needed to run to the bathroom. I was excited, occasionally amused and frequently enchanted by scenes with musical Tesla coils, and a Chrysler eagle coming to life.
Don't get me wrong, the film isn't a masterpiece - a lot of people have complained about the simplistic, predictable narrative arc and reliance on special effects. That said, I'd be happy to refute the second of these claims by asking the people who make them whether they feel Twelve Angry Men is overly reliant on dialogue. The visual flash is an end in and of itself here, and it really has been done awfully well.
Add this one to your list of things to watch instead of Ghostbusters.
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