Review by Variety

A Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures release of a Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films presentation of a Saturn Films/Broken Road production. Produced by Bruckheimer. Executive producers, Todd Garner, Nicolas Cage, Norman Golightly, Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Barry Waldman. Directed by Jon Turteltaub. Screenplay, Matt Lopez, Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard; screen story, Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal, Matt Lopez.

A noisy, f/x-spewing cauldron of a movie, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” bears little resemblance to Disney’s classic 1940 “Fantasia” segment, much less Goether’s original poem. The tale of a modern-day 20-year-old studying at the hands of an Arthurian wizard, this visually overblown fantasy finds the Mouse House trying to spin another family-friendly tentpole from the “National Treasure” trio of producer Jerry Bruckheimer, star Nicolas Cage and helmer Jon Turteltaub. Pic could charm the B.O. for a spell but, like Disney/Bruckheimer’s other summer entry, “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” seems destined to work most of its magic overseas.

A blur of opening exposition details the 740 A.D. clash between the great Merlin (James A. Stephens) and the evil Morgana Le Fay (Alice Krige), who is eventually trapped, along with her followers, in a Russian-doll-like container that’s carefully guarded over the next several centuries by Merlin’s protege Balthazar (Cage, also credited as an exec producer).

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Review by The Hollywood Reporter

In Disney’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” a gargoyle comes to life as a flying eagle, electric thunderbolts fly from wizardly hands, mirrors draw characters into reverse worlds and a Chinatown dragon becomes a fire-belching, building-climbing creature. Alas, when it comes to the screenplay, magic deserts the movie entirely.

A tired relic of summer-movie cliches, clearly beaten to death by far too many credited writers — and only a sorcerer would know how many “contributions” came from producers, the star and other hands — “Apprentice” lurches from one been-there-done-that sequence to another.

Nonetheless, this is branded entertainment, a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced, Nicolas Cage-starring event film with a beloved Magic Kingdom property referenced in the title. That combination should work for the film’s theatrical debut, meaning families will flock to cinemas. Figure on a boxoffice that might not replicate “National Treasure” grosses but nothing for a certain Disney dwarf to sneeze at either.

A great deal of time goes into explaining and re-explaining the backstory and the rules of the movie’s magic, but it all comes down to a battle between ancient good and evil, with the fate of the world at stake. Can any event movie these days not center on the fate of the world?

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Review by Reel Rave

Cage gets paid and kisses Monica Bellucci. I burned off 2 hours in Hell. This movie is not for kids, it’s for toddlers.

Yes, I believe in Hell. A forbidden, initiatory secret of The Eleusinian Mysteries states – in prison jargon – that you can either do “hard time or good time” in Hell. Sitting through THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE earned me “good time” credits toward my eternal damnation sentence.

I’m working towards a weekend pass to Purgatory.

Nicholas Cage has given up acting. THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE confirms it. After decades of being an actor, some movie stars – Marlon Brando, anyone – refuse to act or memorize lines. So they play characters that do not require acting, memorizing, or in the case of animation roles – even turning up.

Since when is voiceover work acting? Who are the geniuses behind this PR ploy we have been forced to accept?

In a muddled, fast-paced opening, the silly back-story is presented in high- kabuki melodrama fashion. It’s about centuries-old wizards and the final death of legendary magician Merlin. Merlin’s arch-enemies are defeated and placed in nesting dolls! His student, Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage), never dies and goes through centuries of fashionable get-ups, finally settling in New York City in a Western-wear couture leather coat. Cage loves that messy hair, crazy hat look.

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