The Sorcerer’s Apprentice may have greatly disappointed at the box office but I found it to be a mindless but fun movie that has a good mixture of action and comedy that one would expect from a Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer joint venture. The Blu-ray itself presents some OK special features but the video and audio transfers make up for it all.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010)
Genre(s): Fantasty/Action/Adventure
Disney | PG – 109 min. – $39.99 | November 30, 2010
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Jon Turteltaub
Writer(s): Lawrence Konner & Mark Rosenthal and Matt Lopez (story), Matt Lopez and Doug Miro & Carlo Bernard (screenplay)
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina, Teresa Palmer, Monica Bellucci
Theatrical Release Date: July 14, 2010
DISC INFO:
Features: Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Outtakes, DVD Copy
Number of Discs: 2
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.40
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Regions: A, B, C
THE MOVIE – 3.5/5
This review contains some spoilers so reader beware…
Based on the trailers, one would assume that The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was just another generic Disney adventure-fantasy only this time Nicolas Cage has straggly-long “I’m Borderline Insane” hairdo. And in all fairness, the trailers weren’t all that far off… although I must admit that it’s still a fun, albeit mindless, flick.
The story surrounds a sorcerer named Balthazar (NICOLAS CAGE) who, after his master, Merlin, is killed by fellow sorcerer and friend Horvath (ALFRED MOLINA), must now find his replacement via Merlin’s dragon ring. Balthazar searches high and low though centuries of time to find this individual when, in 2000, he finally finds a boy who is the heir apparent to Merlin. It’s a little complicated to explain but in 700 AB Balthazar had trapped Horvath and evil sorceress Morgana inside a Grimhold and during while goofing around this his new magical ring, the boy accidentally frees Horvath from his imprisonment. Well, after a small sorcerer-vs.-sorcerer fight, Balthazar conjures a spell to trap him and Horvath inside another vessel and cannot be freed for 10 years.
Fast forward to present day New York City and this boy, named Dave (JAY BARUCHEL) is now grown up and is in college. He’s also a science genius but isn’t exactly socially experienced. Once freed from the vessel, Balthazar finds Dave and explains the situation to him: that Dave is the Prime Merlian and is the only person who can defeat Morgana, the evil sorceress whom Horvath is working hard to free from the Grimhold. Dave doesn’t exactly take to the challenge but agrees to become Balthazar’s apprentice. Of course, there’s one factor that complicates things: Dave runs into middle school crush Becky (TERESA PALMER) which only splits his attention between becoming the man who may have to save the world from Morgana – she has plans to raise the dead and rule the world… or something along those lines – and the girl of his dreams.
First I will say there isn’t anything really special about The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Yes, there’s a fun reference to Fantasia that fans will appreciate but otherwise it’s just another movie where Nic Cage is allowed to look weird, play an “out there” character, present some cool visual effects and be another high budget movie to add to Jerry Bruckheimer’s repertoire. That said, for whatever reason I still liked it. Thing is, it doesn’t set out to be anything grand or spectacular like Pirates of the Caribbean or bigger in scope like National Treasure and I think that’s why it works as well as it does for me. There are many days when I just don’t feel like watching a complex or over-complicating story and instead want to have a little fun and this is the type of film fulfills those requirements.
In terms of performances, as I already said, Cage is Cage. There are little difference between him in, say, National Treasure, Con Air or even The Rock. This isn’t to say he can’t have a wide range in style as I think one of his better works was in Face/Off not to mention Leaving Las Vegas. Of course, he is an acquired taste and if you haven’t liked him in the past, I doubt this movie will do anything to dissuade your opinion.
Similarly, Jay Baruchel doesn’t show much difference from past roles. He basically plays the hapless romantic who somehow attracts the beautiful girl despite his social awkwardness and in the end turns into a semi-stud (see: She’s Out of My League). As for Alfred Molina mails in a moderately fun turn as the mustache twirling villain who spews off puns, manages to get the upper hand more than a few times but ultimately is no match for our heroes.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was helmed by National Treasure director Jon Turteltaub while the script was written by several writers (story and screenplay) from Matt Lopez (Bedtime Stories, Race to Witch Mountain), Lawrence Konner (Mercury Rising, Planet of the Apes remake, Mona Lisa Smile) to Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard (The Uninvited, Prince of Persia).
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2/5
BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVES – 2.75/5
This 2-disc edition (there is a 3-disc one out there with a digital copy) comes with a shiny slip cover where the discs are housed in a standard Blu-ray case.
There are several featurettes (outlined below) and some are ** Blu-ray Exclusives ** although the DVD version just has “The Making of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” which incorporates some of these under one heading (which I wish they had done for the Blu-ray disc). Disney did something similar with Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.
Magic in the City (12:53; HD) takes a look at the making of Sorcerer’s Apprentice with comments/sound-bites from the cast (Cage, Baruchel, Palmer, etc.) and crew (Turteltaub, Bruckheimer) and their excitement of filming on-location in New York City with some focus on Chinatown.
The Science of Sorcery (10:15; HD) – This featurette focuses on how the film mixes science with magic and the effects used to display that for the movie. Not all that interesting though there’s some more behind-the-scenes footage.
Making Magic Real (11:46; HD) examines the mixture of practical effects on the set with visual effects in post-production. This is a little more informative as you get to see how the special effects goes with the visual effects and hear the thoughts from the cast and crew.
Fantasia: Reinventing a Classic (10:13; HD) – The cast and crew discuss their memories of the classic Fantasia, as well as the excitement and responsibility in tackling the homage scene.
The Fashionable Drake Stone (2:09; HD) as you might guess focuses on the wardrobe and character of a modern magician played by Toby Kebbell.
The Grimhold: An Evil Work of Art (3:46; HD) featurette takes a closer look at the Russian Dolls that formed the Grimhold and the visual effects used when they open.
The Encantus (2:23; HD) is about the book of spells shown in the movie and the making of this handcrafted book plus the amount of detail in it.
Wolves & Puppies (3:07; HD) is where we can meet the “not-so-ferocious” wolves and puppies that appear in the movie during the Wolf Chase scene.
The World’s Coolest Car (1:32; HD) is the shortest of the featurettes and looks at creating Balthazar’s retro Rolls-Royce car which was in fact, Nic Cage’s car (well they made a mock-up of it).
Deleted Scenes (7:47; HD) – Here we get five deleted scenes which, most likely, were taken out to pick up the film’s pace. There’s really nothing special in here, just some more character moments that wouldn’t have helped (or hindered for that matter) the film as a whole. All but one (“Balthazar Recruits Dave”) are ** Blu-ray Exclusives **.
Finally there is a set of outtakes (3:14; HD) in which the cast makes more than a few goofs. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
Disc 2 contains the standard-def DVD Copy.
VIDEO – 4.5/5
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is presented in its original 2.40 aspect ratio and in 1080p high-definition. The picture all around looks very good from the daylight scenes where people and objects are well detailed to even the nighttime shots when often you get issues with pixilation or an over abundant amount of noise or film grain. Colors are well distributed and not overly saturated making this a very nice looking HD transfer.
AUDIO – 4.5/5
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio meanwhile also doesn’t disappoint with a rich aural experience of Trevor Rabin’s action-packed/mystical score, the overuse of the One Republic song, “Secret” (it came up 3 or 4 times) and clear-sounding dialogue throughout.
OVERALL – 3.25/5
Overall, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice may have greatly disappointed at the box office but I found it to be a mindless but fun movie that has a good mixture of action and comedy that one would expect from a Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer joint venture. The Blu-ray itself presents some OK special features but the video and audio transfers make up for it all. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I would suggest first giving it a rental.
Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 12/02/2010