"The Sorcerer's Apprentice"

I was surprised that I got to see a screening of this film so early, because it won't hit theaters until July 14th. The trailer looked like it was going to be a great movie, and although it wasn't as "epic" as I thought it would be, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" was entertaining and had a lot of interesting visual effects.

Balthazar Blake (Nicholas Cage, "Kick-Ass") was one of Merlin's apprentices, and was told by Merlin himself that he would find a successor. He has been looking for the past thousand years, and he finally finds a successor when young Dave stumbles in to his shop in New York City. Dave accidentally knocks over a special vase, however, releasing Horvath (Alfred Molina, "Prince of Persia"), another Merlin apprentice who turned evil, and Horvath and Blake both end up being imprisoned in the vase for the next ten years. Enter older Dave (Jay Baruchel, "She's Out of My League"), who is now twenty and a physics student at NYU. Balthazar needs to find another lost vase that contains both another evil sorceress and also the woman he loved back when he was an apprentice; unfortunately, Horvath is looking for the same vase, and wants to use it for evil rather than good.

The movie felt like a cross between "National Treasure" and "Harry Potter", in my opinion. There are some very cool scenes with special effects and lightning, and the ending was mesmerizing. Dave Baruchel seems to be typecast here as the "geek" (as he was in "She's Out of My League") but he does very well in his part, as do Cage and Molina as sorcerers. Teresa Palmer ("Bedtime Stories") plays Baruchel's love interest, Becky, and Ethan Peck (TV's "10 Things I Hate About You") has a small part as a fellow NYU student. There was also one scene that was sort of an homage to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" from "Fantasia," with the brooms and mops, and I thought that was a nice touch.

I would say Yes, see this movie. I was debating giving this film a "Maybe" review, but there were a few scenes that were undeniably great, and the ending is awesome. In addition, this is a Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer film, which practically guarantees it to be good (think the "Pirates" series). If you go in to this movie expecting it to be serious and thoughtful, you will probably be disappointed, but for a summer movie, it's a lot of fun.

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" arrives in theaters on July 14th.

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