The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)

Waste of time

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is intended for All Viewing Audiences and I would easily call it a film for "family and friends." We find Merlin, His Apprentices, Sorcery and Magic, Betrayal ... and Love. The film is well cast, the story well written, and the performances well acted. Nicholas Cage portrays a loyal Apprentice, Alfred Molina once Cage's friend and rival, and Jay Baruchel a modern day Apprentice. Jay plays "Dave," who at age 10 is thrust by fate or destiny into the path of Cage's "Balthazar Blake." Young Dave is utterly unprepared for even a brief brush with the world of Magic and shyness trends toward the nerdy, geeky, path that also leads toward Science. Jay Baruchel was new to me. I found his portrayal of Dave, now 20, to be excellent acting, as both Magic and Love re-enter Dave's life unexpectedly.The Sorcery, special effects, and cast take the viewer on a fast paced adventure into serious matters "spell-bound" together with fantasy and science. Different worlds, or two sides of the same coin? I highly recommend "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and hope this review is useful in your viewing decision.

This movie is awesome, and any of the idiots giving it less than a ten stars are nothing more than a bunch of LOSERS with no humor, no seriousness, and absolutely no character. Cage plays his role amazingly well and of course anybody that knows of him the caliber of his acting is top notch no matter what role you stick him in. He always delivers a nearly flawless performance. Where's apprentice 2? They leave it open and I've been waiting 4 years for this new movie series to finish taking off. SOMEONE needs to get off of their tail and write or finish writing the script. I Couldn't imagine anybody that actually paid attention to the movie and the scripting rating this any less than I have. Mr. Cage and company, I ask again, where's our Sequels we were essentially promised?

I watched this with my family and we all thought it was great. There a lot of laugh out loud moments and the special effects are fantastic. The story is enjoyable though of course there has to be a love interest. Nic Cage is good as is the actor who plays Dave.(BTW I can't believe the nasty remarks on this site about this actor; his looks, voice, etc.what is wrong with these people!). Dave is a nerdy physicist who had met the sorcerers as a boy and mentions a kind of breakdown when he meets them again as a young man, which sort of explains his awkwardness maybe? The actor plays the part well and Dave's training in magic is long and arduous. There's a great scene with the mops and water, just like the cartoon film with Mickey Mouse. Alfred Molina is great as always, and the character of the showy English, punk magician is brilliant (Dave asks him if he is out of Depeche Mode). Give it a try I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

I saw the trailer to this film a while ago, it really didn't appeal to me I thought it would be pretty rubbish, but I am happy to report that I really enjoyed this film (aside from the beginning part that seemed a bit paedophilic) Nicolas cage is in fact one of my favourite actors purely because he's insane. He's played some rather diverse characters in his films and in all of them i've found a huge amount of entertainment whether it be trapping people in a pot or punching women in the face. There are a great many things I can talk about this movie relating to its attributes and ideas but I am only going to list a select few that are rather dominant. My very favourite one about the film is it's concept of magic. I loved how they mixed in magic and science together. The idea of using 100% of your brain to be able to produce acts of science like vibrating molecules faster to create fire. It makes magic in a way seem less fiction and more 'real'. The magic itself and how it looks is also pretty well done, I think dragon ball evolution could definitely learn a thing or two from balthazar's plasma bolt.The fantasia reference in this film was great, I absolutely loved that sequence. Nostalgia rushed through my blood and a large joker like smile appeared on my face so I would like to thank the film makers for that moment. I felt like a child again.I think the casting was very well chosen. Alfred Molina and Jay Baruchel along with the Cage was a fantastic mix. I do wish though, that Jay Baruchel would stop playing his usual useless, weak and socially awkward character- as much as it plays to his advantage in the film as he is meant to be an 'unlikely' candidate to be from merlin's bloodline- it would be nice for him to try and play a stronger and more diverse role. Molina very much succeeds in being the main antagonist of this film bringing a certain amount of empathy with the character making him more of a character that you shouldn't like but somehow do.There are a few questionable performances like in the beginning when there is a battle between Merlin and Morgana, and I do believe the narrator was not compelling enough nor very interesting to listen to. The magic powers were epic but I believe the explanation of how to use them was very brief, I do think there should have been a more in depth discussion about them in order to really make them believable.In summary I was not expecting this to be good but what the expectation allowed me to do was to unexpectedly enjoy the film. The tone, the CGI, the performance, they were all extremely well done obviously no film is perfect there were a few things wrong but apart from this it was a very good film to watch. I would definitely recommend it to someone if they couldn't think of something to watch. Cheers for this delight Disney! Please do more films like this and if possible don't ruin this film with a sequel!!