Cast: Nicholas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina, Teresa Palmer, Toby Kebbell; Director: John Turtletaub; Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer; Screenwriters: Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal; Music: Trevor Rabin; Editor: William Goldenberg; Genre: Fiction/Fantasy, Comedy, Action/Adventure, Drama, Kids/Family; Cinematography: Bojan Bazelli; Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; Location: New York, USA; Running Time: 111 min.;
Technical Assessment: 3
Moral Assessment: 3
CINEMA Rating: For viewers age 13 and below with parental guidance
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice opens with a flashback to the Middle Ages, when wizard Balthazar Blake (Nicholas Cage), a pupil of Merlin, the legendary medieval wizard, has been tasked to watch for the emergence of the prophesied successor of Merlin Year 2000, grade schooler Dave Stutler (Jake Cherry) accidentally discovers a store called Arcana Cabana, which is actually more of a museum housing the sorcerer Balthazar’s treasures. The treasures Balthazar guards in Arcana Cabana include a matrioshka (Russian nesting doll) imprisoning another medieval sorcerer, Maxim Horveth (Alfred Molina), Balthazar’s contemporary as pupil of Merlin who had flipped over to black sorcery. Subjecting the 9-year old Dave to a test, Balthazar discovers the boy is the person he has been looking for through the centuries. However, the boy is scared and incredulous, especially when his story about his encounter with Balthazar is seen as hallucination by people who hear of it. Year 2010, 19-year-old Dave (Jay Baruchel) is now a socially-awkward physics geek at New York University and his humdrum existence is about to be punctuated by his encounter with the evil Maxim who has been newly freed from his doll-prison and is doggedly after the magical ring in Dave’s possession.
Like movies of this genre, director Jon Turtletaub’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is meant to be a fantasy-adventure. It will be compared—perhaps unfairly and unfavorably—to a Harry Potter movie, but this doesn’t mean it can’t stand on its own. Due to the proliferation of such magic-driven flicks, the viewer can’t help but recognize in this movie elements from other kindred-creations, particularly in the display of sorcerous powers. Because it has its own fantastic story to tell (authored by Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal and Matt Lopez), advanced by CGI and special effects, it has enough energy and splash to entertain the audience, mostly the young ones. Happily, the script (by screenwriters Matt Lopez, Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard) is devoid of vulgar language albeit slightly tinged with toilet humor. Molina’s villain is the kind audiences love to hate, while Cage is a surprise, a departure from his usually morose characters, he is quite lighthearted here and smiles a lot in spite of his bad hairpiece.
Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, with all its bloodless stylized violence, is inoffensive enough for pre-teens, but parents and educators guiding young viewers should arm themselves with convincing explanations in case the latter ask about the probability of people being imprisoned in dolls and coming back to life after centuries. The movie’s hero is a young person, so expect young people to resonate with it, and maybe affirm its values without question, so do be forewarned. Older teen and other viewers will benefit from discussions on the topics of power, destiny, and sexual attraction as portrayed in the movie. (Note that school kids here are shown attracted to the opposite sex at age 9). Perhaps one exercise would be to ask “What would you do if you had Dave’s powers and you are asked to save the world?” While CINEMA may give this movie PG 13 rating, parents are advised to bring only older children as some of the scenes might prove too scary for very young children.--TRT
