Review of The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) by Gary B — 23 Jun 2011

The best compliment of a film featuring Nicolas Cage as of late: not half bad. It's a Disney film, child friendly but includes asides, inside jokes, and references for the adults. Plus, the magic and action sequences were pretty cool.

The cast was solid, but certain roles were odd. Cage is stuck in another sucky role from which he can't act out of, Molina is again a villain, this one as ridiculous as Dr. Octopus from Spiderman 2, and the fact that the amazing Monica Bellucci has anything to do with this film is mind boggling.

Baruchel on the other hand is perfectly cast, being both pleasantly goofy and yet just awkward enough without nudging into an unlikable character. Though he is a benign hero when dealing with a back-story of Arthurian legend, it's still good as a family flick or just something to watch to relax.

Plus, there's a sequence directly inspired by the animated Disney classic Fantasia, an homage that sent me into giggle fits of nerdy proportions.