MPAA Rated – PG
It’s 1:49 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right
| The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Movie Stats & Links |
|
| Starring: | Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina |
| MPAA Rated: | PG |
| Released By: | Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment |
| Kiddie Movie: | Not too young, and probably better for the closer-to-teen-group. |
| Date Movie: | My BFF liked it, so go ahead and snuggle. |
| Gratuitous Sex: | Nah. |
| Gratuitous Violence: | Lots of flying lightning bolts. |
| Action: | There is some chasing. |
| Laughs: | Quite a few chuckles. |
| Memorable Scene: | I like anything with Tesla coils. |
| Memorable Quote: | Nothing really. |
| Directed By: | Jon Turteltaub |
The good that I liked about “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice:” I like Nicolas Cage in that kind of role, and the effects were great.
The not-so-great-but-not-really-bad about “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice:” I didn’t think Jay Baruchel was a good fit for the role of Dave, a.k.a. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and neither did my buddy Stu Gotz who saw the movie in the theater, and neither did my BFF, who thought that he seemed like a young Garry Shandling, which normally isn’t a bad thing, just not for this role.
So let’s get to the movie first…
In “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” we get Nicolas Cage as Balthazar. In the old days, namely back in the 700’s, he’s an apprentice of the great wizard, Merlin, along with a few others. He’s also in love with Veronica (Monica Bellucci). But there is badness in wizard world, and Morgana (Alice Krige) goes after Merlin and wants to take over the world, but Balthazar and Veronica won’t have any of it, and in order to save humanity Veronica sacrifices herself and ends up in a jar, trapped for eternity with the soul of Morgana, or something like that. In any case, on his deathbed, or deathfloor I guess it really was, Merlin gives Balthazar a little dragon and tells Balth that the dragon will tell Balth who will be the next wizard person who can finally defeat Morgana, at which time it will be safe to let Morgana out because the chosen one has been found.
Enter almost present day… and here’s Dave as a young boy, having the little boy hots for a young girl, Becky, and a note back from Becky leads Dave on a wild good chase to Balthazar’s shop, and his destiny, only an accident gives him the reputation as a boy who pees his pants.
Enter present day… Dave’s back! Balthazar and some other magician/wizard type dude, Maxim (Alfred Molina), are let out of the vase they stuck themselves in (it makes sense in the context of the movie), Balthazar convinces Dave that Dave is the apprentice and they must find the jar his love is trapped in, in order to save the world, and Maxim also wants the jar so that he can let out Morgana and us mere mortals of human-kind can suffer at the will of Morgana. Whew.
And so, along the way, there is much peril as Maxim tries to get the jar, beat up Balthazar, and kill Dave, there is also some love as Dave still has the hots for Becky and Balthazar has the hots for his love stuck in the jar, and there is a lot of cool training and effects as, well, this is a movie about a Sorcerer’s apprentice which lends itself to things flying and lightning bolts sparking.
In terms of movies, I thought “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” was a good movie, especially for the getting-a-little-older kid crowd. It had excitement, it had a little bit of love, it had great effects, and I love Nicolas Cage in that kind of role. The only problem I did have, and sorry Jay, but Jay Baruchel as Dave didn’t seem like a good fit for the role. I wish I great reason why, but unfortunately the only thing I have to go with was in talking with my BFF while we were watching the movie and saying I didn’t like the kid playing Dave, to which she agreed and said he seemed like a young Garry Shandling. Oh well. It’s still 3 ½ stars out of 5 for “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” A really good rental for the almost teens and teen crowd, and even for the geeky adults!
As far as the Blu-ray special stuff goes, there is a ton of “making of” bonus features, from the clothing to the car, as well as trying to link he science involved with some of the movie. As usual the deleted scenes were fine being deleted, and I’ve got to think there were better bloopers, but the montage feature was pretty lame. But the Blu-ray more for the fact that the movie looks great in Blu-ray, unless you are really a geeky fan, in which case some of the “making of” stuff will cause you to go back and re-watch for true geekiness!
3 ½ stars out of 5 for “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” it look great on Blu-ray, and for the fan there are enough “making of” stuff to make them happy as well.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!