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By Brian Lafferty
July 14, 2010 (San Diego’s East County)--The Sorcerer's Apprentice takes a ten-minute animated segment and stretches it out to a nearly two hour live-action film but it works. It is visually dark yet lit up by the energetic performance of Dave by Jay Baruchel and Nicolas Cage’s dry, deadpan, and humorous portrayal of Balthazar. Some of the humor is predictable but I still laughed throughout. The film teems with special effects but they have a decent story to put them to use.
Dave is a nerdy, socially inept university physics student who, as a child, encountered Balthazar and his arch-nemesis Horvath. (Alfred Molina) For literally centuries, Balthazar has searched for the one whom destiny would call on to be his apprentice and it happens to be Dave. After a scrap between Balthazar and Horvath, who throw fireballs and duel with flying swords, the former imprisons both of them in an urn.
Ten years pass. Dave encounters his fourth grade crush, Becky, (Teresa Palmer) and he is once again smitten with her. Horvath and Balthazar escape from their ten-year prison in the urn. While Horvath plots to unleash a bevy of evil upon New York and the world, Balthazar finds Dave and gives him an intense induction and heavy training in the mastery of the dark arts.
The movie’s color palette boasts dark hues and the lighting and visual tone is consistently tenebrous. Despite this Cimmerian look, the tone of this picture is the exact opposite. The movie’s jaunty, whimsical semblance never crosses into gloom and somber.
Cage finds the right note for his character and sticks with it. He underplays his role but he never comes across as dull thanks to the deadpan humor he lends to Balthazar. Baruchel wisely shows restraint in his performance, eschewing overacting and keeping the obvious social gaffes associated with the typical nerd, such as dropping term papers on the floor, to a minimum. Cage and Baruchel play off each other superbly and their mirthful chemistry and performances fill each scene they’re in together with gaiety.
The romance angle is the film’s weakest point. Unlike the case with Dave and Balthazar, Dave and Becky never click when they’re together. It is obvious that Dave likes Becky and she eventually returns the affection. The problem is it never feels real. Nowhere in this movie is there any chemistry between them. Dave is socially awkward but Becky, and the movie to some extent, ignores his faults. The relationship is bereft of conflict as a result.
The special effects not only compass a magical texture but the filmmakers wisely chose not to take them for granted. They are realistic and believable, two characteristics sorely lacking in most special effects movies these days. The main weapon of choice for a sorcerer in battle is a ball of energy that can knock foes clear across the room. That’s only for starters. In one sequence, Horvath releases a Chinese sorcerer, Sun Lok, (Gregory Woo) to kill Dave, who flees to a Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown. The stakes are raised when Sun Lok transforms a dragon dance costume into the real thing. Another one of the highlights, of course, is the mop and bucket scene lifted from the 1940 Fantasia segment which inspired this movie. It is a blithe tribute and Jay Baruchel’s antics only make the scene that much more jocular.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice functions well as a pleasant diversion and is a film for the whole family. The kids will eat up the special effects and action while the adults will be laughing. Some scenes may be too intense for the lower elementary school crowd, including the Chinatown showdown and the climactic final battle. For everyone else, it is wholesome without being watered down, funny without being desperate, and magical even sans special effects. Above all, it’s fun, and for those who seek such a cinematic experience, that is the film’s best accomplishment.
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