The Broom is Still Dusty

“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is based on an old film produced by the Walt Disney studios called “Fantasia.” The film features eight animated segments set to classical music selections with no dialogue or sound effects. The only dialogue in the film is featured in live-action introductions to each piece by host Deems Taylor, an American composer and music critic. The heralded audience favorite was the segment called “The Sorcerers’ Apprentice.” In it, Mickey Mouse plays a wizard’s assistant, who attempts to work some of the magical feats of his master before he knows how to properly control them. Mickey picks up the wizard’s hat after he falls asleep and after reading a few pages of his spell book, he directs the broom to clean and do his chores. He goes to sleep dreaming that he’s a master wizard; however, when he awakes, he finds out that the basin is overflowing with water and the broom is still filling it up. Mickey tries to stop the broom by chopping it up but when he realizes that his efforts were futile, the wizard comes to Mickey’s aid because he is overwhelmed by hundreds of brooms.

In 2010 ,Nicholas Cage and Walt Disney studios decided to dust off the magic wand and release a remake of that classic segment into a fast-paced action CGI masterpiece, similar to the latest Harry Potter film. It’s supposed to feel like the Spider-man feature film trilogy. It is designed to attract the same type of audience. But it is not the same feeling like watching Peter Parker discovering his powers for the first time. The company (which company?) that brought us Nicholas Cage’s latest blockbuster, “The National Treasure,” tries to recreate Cage’s always wacky performances into another graphically orgasmic cinema pieces like “The Pirates of The Caribbean,” so that Robert A. Iger can be smiled and laughed at while he counts his billions of dollars in his actual Disney palace (not the one in the Magical Kingdom). Cage plays Balthazar Blake, a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath, played by Alfred Molina.

The story begins with a prologue showing the past relations of Balthazar, Maxim, and Veronica, who is played by Monica Bellucci. There is also Morgana Le Fay (Alice Krige), an evil sorceress bent on enslaving humanity. But before she is able to do that, Balthazar manages to trap her in a grimhold or nesting egg similar to a prison. After all the action has died down, Balthazar embarks on a quest to find the heir of Merlin’s powers. This brings us to Cage’s co-star Dave, played by Jay Baruchel. Baruchel’s performance was extremely over done. His voice was whiny and annoying and should have been re-casted with someone with a bit more personality. His love interest, Becky (Teresa Palmer), is the typical “have no idea that the nerd is in love with me” girl. Becky and Dave, who share a physics class in NYU begin to start a sometimes awkward on-screen chemistry midway through the film, which seems mechanical, and at times too bland.

As the plot forwards and Dave begins to learn magic from Balthazar, the movie picks up steam action-wise. The CGI gets played up in the fight sequences between Balthazar, Dave, and, Maxim, throwing pretty little balls of light out of their hands, rings and wands. Balthazar rides a metal eagle throughout most of the movie, which looks pretty decent on the big screen. The best part is when the movie pays homage to the classic Disney segment it takes its title from. Dave, who has ambitions of being a master sorcerer, finds himself in the same situation Mickey was in. The scene was perfectly done and featured the exact score from the cartoon. It manifested a serious nostalgic moment at the theaters, as dozens of people laughed and reminisced about watching the same scene years ago. Unfortunately, this was the only highlight of the movie.

This movie can be undoubtedly called a piece of “summer box office filler.” It is only there to minimally entertain you for the time being, not to be remembered a classic Disney movie. Cage’s performance was less than stellar and that’s sad considering that his name is probably what drove people to watch this movie in the first place. In other words, if you’re looking for a great summer film, watch something else, unless you have 12 dollars and two hours to waste.