Review of The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) by Ana B — 11 Sep 2014

Mix of thriller and fantasy this is a story of wizards; Balthazar, an apprentice of Merlin is given the mission to protect the grimhold, the doll that contains Merlin's arch-nemesis witch, Morgana, but also her beloved Veronica. The one to release and eliminate Morgana would be a descendant of Merlin. Fast forward a thousand years and we get to meet in modern times a young physics student; geeky Dave ends up discovering to his surprise that he is the one to save the world from the evil plot Morgana is threading.

Another messianic story with loads of wizardry and magic, it reminds me a lot of the adventures of Harry Potter though the main character is older and North American. The whole plot is over the top and quite honestly I have never seen so much non sense in such a short time. I do have to admit that is really entertaining if you don't mind all the gaps in the story and the use and abuse of computer generated tricks. As usual Nicholas Cage is really engaging. It is just a shame that half of the times he doesn't choose his movies well.

In my opinion the film needs retouching, less lightning and thunder and a more solid story, less cheesiness and more coherent dialogues. At points it seems like the plot is secondary, a mere instrument to display the vast array of special effects.