The Sorcerer's Apprentice Thoughts

[emeraldstag]

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The last month has been the busiest I can remember so it's no surprise that I was unable to go see any movies during that time. As a treat to myself for such the great job I did, I went ahead and saw The Sorcerer's Apprentice this morning. Unfortunately it had to come out alongside Inception and I think it's suffering because of it. It was already shunted to just one theater at the cineplex I go to, to one of the smaller theaters as well. I'm hoping some word of mouth can develop and carry the box office much like Jay Baruchel's previous movie, How to Train Your Dragon did in theatres after an average debut. The theatre was fairly full and was laughing throughout.

I loved the casting of the film. Nicholas Cage as Balthazar, for all of the mixed opinions on him I can't think of a movie where I couldn't stand him but plenty of movies where I've liked him in (Gone in 60 Seconds, The Rock, Matchstick Men, The Family Man). The one thing I can agree with people is that sometimes his hair can look ridiculous depending on how he styles his hair around his receding hairline. Thankfully nothing crazy was tried in this aspect or dyed and he fit his role perfectly. Jay Baruchel has come out of nowhere to be the new Michael Cera, basically young actor who can pull off the geek look and fill the role of inexperienced hero (even in animated form). Alfred Molina, sadly I haven't seen that many roles of his but the ones I've seen (Spider-man 2, Raiders of the Lost Ark) are memorable to say the least. And if there's one thing I've derived from those movies, he can pull off the villain well.

The story balances the sweetness with fun and action. The background for the movie was built nicely around the idea of Merlin's apprentices being splintered over love and having to save the world and find Merlin's successor. It was great to see at the start how young Dave came upon Balthazar (the absurd note chase scene) and the resulting situations that cause him to move are so out there but fantastically fun to watch. There are some great special effects shots, specifically when a paper dragon for a parade gets turned into a real one. It looked so good.

It's not a real emotional heavyweight by any means and I'd almost want to say it's a family friendly film for sure there's only really one moment that went a bit far for a PG rating (cant' believe it's not PG-13) but maybe the best part of the movie was how humor was sprinkled in throughout that really gave you that contented feeling while watching it. And there weren't even those poor taste jokes that you might expect to pop up in a kid-friendly film. I can't remember the last movie I saw in a theatre where the audience (and I) laughed out loud so often.

I'll definitely be wanting to see this movie again when it comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray and I hope that it does well enough to encourage Disney to make a sequel (if the story is good). Also if you decide to go, don't forget to sit through the credits because there is a scene afterward! I always love when my patience is rewarded at the end of movies like that, I wish more of them did that.