Continuing my habit of watching movies a year after they're released, the other night we watched The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This was a fun movie to watch, but not one that I plan on watching over and over. Since it's a modern Disney movie, it's OK for Girlie Bear or Boo to watch with us without the adults being bored/irritated out of their skulls. It has the normal story arc of "boy meets girl, girl thinks boy's a cute dork, boy impresses girl, girl thinks he might be more than a cute dork, girl gets kidnapped by ancient evil, boy saves girl, boy and girl go on to face an even more ancient and more evil entity together, cut to black". How many times have we seen that one?
Basically, Nicolas Cage plays himself, which in this case happens to be a centuries old wizard who has made a hobby out of locking evil wizards into new layers of a matrioshka doll. Jay Baruchel plays the same character he played so successfully in "How to Train Your Dragon", but this time he's a college nerd who also happens to be an unknown wizard who has all of the powers of Merlin.
Taking a cue from George Lucas and his fabled midiclorians explanation for why the Jedi Knights are so badass, Cage's character explains that wizards are just normal people who can use 100% of their brains, unlike the rest of us who only use 10%. This ability gives wizards the power to see matter and energy for what they really are and take advantage of that knowledge to manipulate it for good and evil. Look for an annoying CGI character to show up in the inevitable sequel.
Speaking of CGI, the effects in this were pretty good, actually. The Disney crew was able to put in the effects pretty seamlessly without them becoming the story.
So, overall, this movie was worth the bandwidth to stream it and the two bags of popcorn we made to enjoy it with. I'd give it 3 stars out of five. It's an enjoyable romp, but it's not going to change your life by watching it.
2 comments:
I Redboxed it not long after it came out, and I had the same opinion - a little cheesy, not bad, good FX, and okay acting.
And I've started to realize over the last couple of years how few of the Hollywood "greats" ever actually play anyone other than themselves. It's one of the reasons I really like Val Kilmer and Johnny Depp - they actually play the character, rather than making the character play them. (Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holliday is awesome - you can't tell it's Kilmer unless you already know. The first time I watched that movie, someone had to tell me who the actor was.)
With Nicholas Cage, I can't really see much difference between him as the guy from Face Off, the guy from National Treasure, and Johnny Blaze (Ghost Rider).
You get to use 10%?!! Dammit.
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