My Thoughts On : The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Remember this?
A week before its release date in the UK tonight I watched a screening of The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Taking the original idea from Walt Disney's Fantasia, Disney re-tell the story in a modern setting with wild magic and a stable story. When I first saw the trailer for the film I thought it was just going to be another shot at trying to be the next harry potter much like Percy Jackson and the lighting thief. While I never saw Percy Jackson I know of the story and how the demi god is whiskey away to Mount Olympus (Hogwarts) where he learns to use his powers (magic). However this film is different. Rather than taking the lead character away from his home to learn how to master his spells the magic comes to him. Set in New York the main character alongside his master (Nickolas Cage) run around the city trying to outdo the villain and save the world from destruction. It was nice to see how the location didn't change the character but the events. It also cut down on storytelling time. While in the first Harry Potter films it takes time to get to Hogwarts and to build in to the magic and the action this film is different as in the first five minutes we are already in a magical battle. Quickly drawing the audience’s attention we know this film is going to involve magical goings on. It just so happens that the hero had a large space where he carries out his science experiments which went on to be the area for his magic practice but as an audience we let this coincidence slide as we're just happy to see the magic happen.
The story is interesting, not overly complex but strong enough that you can believe in it and what to be a part of the world. Enough information and history was given that it made sense and you weren't feeling as if you were missing out on anything. Seeing as this is typically a kids film it’s normally best to keep it this way, any unnecessary information would have just dragged it down. While a Disney kids/teen film it contains enough humour and action to keep an older audience happy. An all round good family film. I personally liked the links with Merlin and Morgana and like mentioned before felt the information we were given about them wasn't to over bearing.
One downside to the film I felt was that there was a big build up to a few powerful sorcerers’ (especially the ones that were keeping the big evil villain Morgana trapped away) but of these villains wasn't in the film for very long. She was a young girl who was said to put Salem on the map. She looked terrifying but sadly wasn't in the film very long and we didn't get to see much of her. It might have been better just not to have involved her at all.
Overall a good film. Nothing overwhelmingly fantastic, but certainly original in its own rights and a refreshing take on the 'magic teenager' genre of film. Not a must see but I'd definitely recommend it (after Toy Story 3 and Inception). A fun family friendly film with enough to interest the whole family. 8/10
Disclaimer: The above are my own thoughts and feeling and do not represent anyone else.
Haha I love that you put the Fantasia video in here! That was me in the movie theatre, nudging my sister saying, That's from fantasia. Right there. I think Nicholas Cage's acting overshadowed many of the other actors which was a bit of a pity for them, I suppose. But I was enjoying watching his brilliance on screen. The different take on magic was cool too, departing from Harry Potter and going back to mythology and legends.
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