My excitement for this movie is hard to explain. I knew it would be a bad movie. And I think that is mostly why I was so excited. I get that it makes absolutely no sense, but there is something about this awful looking, CGI infected, bad Nic Cage hair having movie that just made me giggle about how bad it could be. It is the absolute worst reason to see a movie, but whatever, it is my life and my money and not yours. Of course, the movie is taken from the Mickey Mouse section of Fantasia and Disney turning movies out of rides and things like that have had success, with Pirates and I think Disney had hoped this movie would on that level. You have the CGI and the big budget director, so why could they not spin gold twice.
Opening in the time of Merlin and quickly jumping to the year 2000 and then again jumping quickly to 2010, we are clearly in need of some exposition. First off, there were 3 apprentice's under Merlin-Balthazar(Cage), Maxim(Alfred Molina), and Veronica(Monica Bellucci). Maxim goes bad and joins Merlin's nemesis helping to kill Merlin. Veronica does a spell that merges herself with the villain and Balthazar captures her in a cute little jar. Balthazar does this to bad sorcerers all through time until he is the last one left, with a dragon bracelet to put on the hand o the true successor of Merlin who can actually kill these evil guys, not just trap them. In 2000, a young boy, David, stumbles into a magic shop where Balthazar works. Balthazar gives the boy the dragon thingy and it works, but quickly, David breaks something and lets out Maxim. Maxim and Balthazar fight, get trapped and we jump to 2010 where David(Jay Baruchel) is a total science nerd. He loves physics and cannot get a girl. Maxim and Balthazar get free and go after David. Turns out David is the heir to Merlin's power and he must defeat everything thrown at him. David buys into the idea pretty quickly, but does not buy into himself. He is self loathing, a dork and a loser. He meets a hot girl, Becky(Teresa Palmer) who helps him find his confidence, but will it ever be enough to defeat the evils of the supernatural world?
There is a lot lacking in The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This probably does not shock anyone, but the stuff that is lacking is the stuff I was hoping to find. The movie is too small. There are action sequences to be sure, but it just feels too small. There is too much time spent on the romance, or even the training and not enough on the fact that these guys shoot plasma balls and fire balls. Yes, there is a giant steel eagle that pops up, but it is not used enough, along with the giant bull they are thrown away in favor of story!! Boring! I mean it would be fine if the story was great, but I just wanted action because who cares about the story?
I liked some of the stuff, like the scenes where David is working on his physics stuff and we get these electric wave lengths that give off sound and David uses them to create music for Becky. It is a charming moment and Jay is a charming young actor. He is from the Michael Cera school of charm, but it works for him, Teresa Palmer is far too hot for him, but she does not play Becky shallow in any way shape or form, so in a weird way the whole thing works between them. With Jay and Mr. Cage, though, that is a whole other story. In my opinion, I wanted Cage to be bigger, crazier and more obnoxious. He is too subtle in this role. He is playing a sorcerer who is thousands of years old, but he is far too serious. Lighten up man!
I really do not have much else to say about the movie. It was harmless, and the CGI was pretty good, but I just was not invested in it at all. It was on the screen for a while, I watched it and when it was over, I felt like I was already starting to forget the experience. There is just nothing memorable here. I liked some of the nods to the original section of movie, from which the movie comes, and Alfred Molina playing a villain is always fun, but even he was too serious. It just felt like they all forgot they were making a big fun summer movie.
Final Grade: D
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