THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE (Disney, 2010) D: Jon Turteltaub, w/ Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel. Rating: NNN DVD package: NN Rating: NNN
A fun scene in the middle pays homage to the original Mickey Mouse Fantasia segment, but otherwise this Sorcerer’s Apprentice owes more to Harry Potter and its knockoffs. Only this is faster, funnier and generally more entertaining than stiff old Harry.
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There’s Dave, the ordinary kid destined for wizardly greatness, Balthazar, the ancient sorcerer who trains him for his big battle with would-be world destroyer Morgana le Fay, who’s been imprisoned in a nesting doll with Balthazar’s beloved for 1,300 years, and Horvath, Morgana’s loving acolyte, who’s out to get the doll and release Morgana. Dave has a love interest, too, in the spunky Becky.
All this love adds a touch of emotion to what could easily have been a mere mechanical exercise in polished wirework and CG action. It also gives Nicolas Cage a reason to underplay Balthazar (1,300 years of longing). He gives a fine comic performance while lying back to let Jay Baruchel, as Dave, get the big moments and laughs. Alfred Molina’s Horvath is a clichéd suave villain but thoroughly enjoyable.
The making-of doc has some information about the mix of practical and CG effects, but more detail would have been welcome.
EXTRAS Making-of doc, more. Widescreen. English, French, Spanish audio and subtitles.
