Review of The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) by Hermiene L — 24 May 2012

Nicholas Cage plays an old wizard called Balthazar, who was Merlin's apprentice before Merlin was betrayed and killed by Morgana. Merlin tells Balthazar to search for the one boy who can stop Morgana from ever coming back and taking over the world. A century later and Balthazar finds Dave, a teenager who is the descendant of Merlin and the only one to destroy Morgana for good. There have been mixed reviews about this, some say that it's all CGI and no story whilst there are others who think that it's a great family movie. What I'm going to say is The Sorcerer's Apprentice is the latter. This is a good film and is a pleasant surprise from the usual trash such as Marmaduke and the unfortunate disappointment of The Last Airbender, however it's not brilliant. The acting is pretty good and the cast did give out a good performance as their characters. Jay Baruchel was great as the twenty-year-old geek Dave but it was Nicholas Cage who stole the show as his character. He portrays his character, Balthazar, very well and adds a bit of coolness to his character. The special effects and the CGI used in The Sorcerer's Apprentice were brilliantly used and realistic and it really added that magical touch.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice has some great acting and some brilliant special effects but this isn't one of Disney's best movies. The direction and the stunts involved were very good and the fights in the movie were quite amazing sometimes but there were a few times when the movie started to drag and you couldn't help but feel that it spoiled the movie a little. The script was funny in places but there were some times when it tried too hard to be funny with some one-liners and, unfortunately, they fell flat. The Sorcerer's Apprentice has a good cast but the problem that I found I had was that Dave (one of the main characters) was twenty-years-old. He looked older than twenty but this didn't spoil anything. Except for those little bits, the movie was just right and it's a real treat for the children and adults alike.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice isn't exactly a perfect Disney movie but it is quite great, with it's magical special effects and it's good acting. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is very enjoyable as everything is entertaining, albeit a couple of dragging scenes. While it's true that it's not your usual Disney movie with clear, squeaky-clean messages, it still has a lot of heart and a lot of imagination too. It's not the best movie of the year but it's definitely one of the most entertaining.