The Sorcerer's Apprentice

A live action re-telling of the classic Disney tale. The Sorcerer's Apprentice follows the story of a mostly never ending battle between opposing forces through the history of time. The film starts off in the year 700-ish AD, where we meet Merlin - yes, that Merlin- and the 3 people he felt had the heart and head to know all his secrets of sorcery. His 3 apprentices are Balthazar (Cage), Horvath (Molina), and Veronica (Bellucci). This movie has about 4 to 5 different stories all intertwined, which I felt hurt it at times. It starts out with Merlin being betrayed by Horvath and Morgana. Morgana is evil and will end the world if given the chance. Merlin and his other two apprentices can't let this happen. When defeat becomes imminent to Merlin, he gives Balthazar his ring, that can only be passed on to the special person who possesses the mind set to achieve what Merlin has. He will be the world's savior if Balthazar ever finds him. Balthazar searches for 1000 years and finally the day comes when he finds Dave (Baruchel). The rest of the film finds Balthazar training young Dave, while Dave tries to come to grips with this. Not to mention he is dealing with his own personal issues that really don't mix with his new found fate. Girl issues. It all comes down to a battle and some smart thinking on Dave's part. I will say that with all the bad buzz around this film, I didn't have much hope. Then I watched the first 45 minutes and thought otherwise, then I watched the last 45 minutes and began to realize why it was ripped apart. It is in every sense of the phrase, "Half a movie", better to say, "Half of a great movie." It's funny, if a film had a weak beginning, but brought everything full circle and finished great, it would be considered "Great." When a movie starts off great and ends poorly, it is considered a failure. The CG and special effects are second to none, and the humor is decent at times. Nic Cage wore a believable hair piece, and Monica Bellucci is always nice to look at, but overall, This could have been done much better. Also, it was hard for me to hear them talk to or about the character Horvath, because all I heard each and every time was Whore Bath. NBM rates the first half - Awesome, and the second half - Good, so in the land of averages....

NBM rates The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Great