Movie Review: The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)

A fun family film big on effects and character, light on logic and story

I expected very little from The Sorcerer's Apprentice and perhaps that's exactly why I had so much fun with it. This merely suggests a frame of mind best suited for optimal viewing, and doesn't discount the film's problems. Problems such as the cursory execution of the film's introduction resulting in nothing more than an inflated story of good versus evil. Yet, the actors bring enough to their performances that their characters find enough moments to outshine the lackluster and routine story and deliver a film that benefits from character moments while remaining light on logic. It's not as grand as it wishes it were, but in terms of a big CG-driven family feature The Sorcerer's Apprentice serves its purpose.

Perhaps the most unintentionally impressive aspect of the story is that it manages to be confusing and simple at the same time. So much back-story is introduced so quickly parents will be annoyed as their children quizzically look up at them and ask, "What is going on?" To answer that, a bunch of evil sorcerers have killed Merlin in an attempt to gain enough power to destroy the world when Merlin's protege, Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage), captures and cages these wizards in layer upon layer of a magic nesting doll. He must then search over the course of several hundred years for the next heir of Merlin to be born. This heir is the only one that can stop the evil inside the doll and at the same time return Balthazar's long lost love back to him. Simple enough for you? That's just the first five minutes.

The heir in question is Dave Stutler played by Jay Baruchel (She's Out of My League, Tropic Thunder) in much the same way he plays all of his characters – a bit aloof and nasally. It works, especially opposite Nicolas Cage who reins in his performance a bit more than normal except for a stand out moment early on where he guesses Dave's name upon first meeting him as a young child and when asked how he did it Balthazar turns and bellows, "Because I can read minds!" It doesn't sound funny in digital ink, but in the movie it's pitch perfect.

There are a few moments like this in the film, helping maintain a less-than-serious nature including a call back to Star Wars that had most of the males in the audience laughing while the females looked on entirely confused. Self-awareness is a virtue with films of this sort, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice never takes itself too seriously.

Monica Bellucci and Teresa Palmer play our heroes' love interests, though Bellucci spends much of her time locked away inside the nesting doll serving as the film's beautiful bookends while Palmer gets more and more wrapped up in the story as the film moves along. Palmer, in fact, seems to be something of an up-and-comer, but I can't say she does anything here to differentiate herself from the endless number of twenty-something actresses in Hollywood now. Like Rachael Taylor (Transformers) she's a native Australian and her accent seeps through on occasion, but she plays the role well enough not to bring the film down.

There are a few plot sidesteps the story takes, but with no fewer than five people credited as working on the screenplay and/or story this doesn't come as much of a surprise. The film blusters along, magic ensues, Baruchel takes a plasma ball to the crotch, dragons are unleashed, Alfred Molina plays an all-business bad guy and Toby Kebbell aptly plays his assistant, a caricature of an all-frills magician named Drake Stone.

Each character is given a moment and a selection of bad guys unleashed from the nesting doll help serve as the action set pieces until the finale when the big guns come out and director Jon Turteltaub rushes to get to the all-out CG action. My biggest complaint has to do with Turteltaub's rush to get from scene to scene. He only seems interested in getting back to the magic, but more time spent on relationship building would've helped this film immensely. While he did a pretty good job developing the characters, their relationships with one another are quite thin.

Like the first installment in Turteltaub's National Treasure franchise, this film is mindless fun. Admittedly it took me a couple years to come around to National Treasure, and I have never warmed to its sequel, but Sorcerer's Apprentice appealed to me right off. Remember, this comes with a head full of lowered expectations, but I imagine if you've seen the trailers you can't be expecting too much either.

NOTE: There is a short 10-15 second sequence at the end of the credits implying there will be a sequel and giving a nod to the famous Mickey Mouse feature that served as inspiration for this film.