Big Screen Blurb: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Just another Disney flick with fiery dragons, car chases and dancing brooms. No--it's not Sleeping Beauty meets Fantasia. It's The Sorcerer's Apprentice, starring Nicholas Cage, Alfred Molina and Jay Baruchel. It's fast-paced and fun with an interesting story that dates back to Merlin (yeah--no big surprise there). Action, magic and a little romance help fill 121 minutes, while creating a nice little escape.


The story centers around Dave (Baruchel). Unbeknownst to our hero, he's a...well...hero. Actually, Dave is a sorcerer, directly from the blood lines of Merlin. Enter Morgana, who fully expects to destroy the world as we know it (but...then again, doesn't everyone). The fabled Dave, however, is the only one that can stop her. Of course none of this has escaped the attention of fellow sorcerer Balthazar (Cage), whose charge is to find Dave and yadayadayada, good battles evil on a roller coaster ride of fun times.

I liked it. We'll call it 4.0 shiny stars. Probably more twinklers than expected since Cage hasn't ranked highly on my scorecard for awhile. Yes, he was his somewhat annoying self in Kick-Ass, but took a step forward. Add a couple of more steps after The Sorcerer's Apprentice. He plays the skilled mentor to Baruchel's hapless physics geek very nicely. Baruchel more than holds his own. Actually, this guy is pretty solid. It's the third major role I've seen him in the last three months after a few minor roles (Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist and Tropic Thunder) and a cameo (Night at the Museum 2) to name a few highlights. I loved him in How to Train Your Dragon, She's Out of My League and he's good here. You expect to see his character grow, moving from bungling dud to sorcerer stud. There were just times when you want to give Dave a little kick in the tail and say, "Dude--look what you can do here...a little confidence is allowed." That moment is one you wait about 113 minutes for, however. Finally, Alfred Molina plays the dastardly Horvath. Yeah--this guy pretty much nails evil, doesn't he? Hell, this guy pretty much nails anything.

All in all...see it and go ahead and see it big screen. After all, summer is just really heating up, right? My yard mowing is cut back to every other week and then some!

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