The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Critic Reviews

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is too long, and it's ersatz magic, but at least it casts an ersatz spell.

While Mr. Molina and Mr. Cage supply a measure of well-compensated eccentricity, their labors ultimately serve to emphasize the grinding mediocrity of the enterprise.

It's an enjoyable action-fantasy adventure with a sparky script; there's even a playful pastiche of the broomsticks-coming-alive scene from the original legend, using the famous Paul Dukas music.

The disjointed plot is a melange of cliches with logic that feels conjured up on the spot. Magical legends are cobbled together as if by someone in Screenwriting 101. Or, as is the case here, by a half dozen writers, seemingly at cross purposes.

As Balthazar, Cage doesn't disappoint. He's just manic enough to keep the character from becoming too predictable. More's the pity, then, that a pro like him has to cede so much screen time to his character's young protege.

A movie in which spells are cast is not the same as a movie that casts a spell.

Cage will likely not earn a second Oscar here, but he and director Jon Turteltaub make leftovers into fine PG malarkey with their hokey naivete and prankish hocus-pocus.

That there are more misses than hits will matter only if you're above the legal age to drive.

There is much that's appealing, from the performances to the scene where Turteltaub re-creates a live-action version of the classic scene from Disney's Fantasia.

The movie proceeds exactly as you'd expect, only longer and with much less insanity than you'd expect from Cage.

In place of a plot, there's a premise; in place of carefully crafted action, there are stupefying exercises in computer-generated imagery, and in place of an ending, there's a hook for the sequel and, if all goes well, a new franchise.

The many-hands script -- last one in was Matt Lopez of Bedtime Stories -- exists largely to show Cage and Baruchel and Molina shooting fire-jets and balls of compressed energy at one another's heads.

Once the filmmakers have dispensed with a grueling expository preface set in Arthurian England, this shameless Harry Potter knockoff is a pretty tasty bucket of popcorn.

More Cheez Whiz than wizardly.

A big gob of mythical makeover and special effects-freewheeling fun.

Funny, that despite non-stop special effects, sorcery and such, The Sorcerer's Apprentice can't quite overcome the key ingredient it lacks: magic.

A noisy, f/x-spewing cauldron of a movie.

The title character in The Sorcerer's Apprentice is played by Jay Baruchel, and here things begin to go seriously astray. They don't ever stop.

A generally joyless pastiche of sorcery history, imitation Potter "chosen one" Messianics and mirthless silliness, it's another in a string of recent black marks against Cage's Oscar-owning reputation.

The story takes a little too long to tell, the special effects take precedence over the plot and the climax is as predictable as the hefty box office the film is likely to amass.

With a predictable plot, by-the-numbers action-movie jolts and no real sense of wonder, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is really just a pumpkin.

The movie isn't so much bad as it is formulaic and uninspired. In some ways, that might almost be a worse sin.

A tired relic of summer-movie cliches, clearly beaten to death by far too many credited writers.

It's a fairly fun time for families, and Hollywood can -- and continually does -- build franchises out of far worse concoctions than this.