New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice had a hefty production budget of $150 million. Opening in the US on Wednesday July 14, 2010, it reached #3 on its opening weekend with a take of $17.6 million, behind #1 film Inception and #2 film Despicable Me. It did earn $24.7 million on its opening five days. Spending just three weeks in the US top ten it ended up earning $63.1 million during its run at the US box office. International takings managed to help bail the film out, earning $152.1 million overseas, making for a worldwide gross of $215.2 million. Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney were probably expecting another franchise in the making, and although it wasn’t quite a flop, it didn’t exactly reach the likes of National Treasure or Pirates of the Caribbean, either.

During its release, it seemed that the target audience wasn’t turning up. According to a Reuters report, after its performance over the opening weekend, “about 55% of viewers were aged 25 or older.” Maybe it was an odd occurrence of single children going with both parents? However, it’s worth noting that under 25’s did already have the choice of The Last Airbender, Toy Story 3, and Despicable Me. Twilight: Eclipse was also a possibility.

Part of this could also be attributed to the film’s lead character. Aged 27 when production started, Jay Baruchel is trying to pass for a 19-year-old. There’s certainly nothing wrong with using a guy in his 20s, but the film starts with David as a child before advancing ten years later. I can’t really fathom the purpose for the whole "ten years later" shtick. They might have been better off ditching that and going with child actor Jake Cherry as the young David instead, giving youngsters someone they can closely identify with.

The opening back story is told in such a rush, it obviously can’t wait to get started on the modern day magic malarkey. This is evident when it completely skips on how Balthazar manages to trap Horvath; we’re just told that he does. The story is quite simply a means to hang impressive visual effects on. The majority of the production budget was spent on creating a mixture of computer and practical effects (Alfred Molina’s fingers really are on fire). They do admittedly look gorgeous, with the Hungarian Mirror Trap being a clever highlight, particularly its use during a car chase.

A film where magic is in abundance is limited to the imagination of how it is used and how it is shown. As one can gather (and something a number of the mixed reviews attested to), this is more focused on looking fantabulous rather than telling a meaningful story. I mean, how else does Horvath (who has been locked up inside a doll and an urn most of the time) happen to know the existence of Chinatown? Can any of the writers explain that one?

The main issue is that the film just doesn’t do anything we haven’t already seen before. The down-on-his-luck hero is mentored into mastering his powers. He gets the girl. He saves the day. With nothing new, it’s as cliché as a Disney… oh… right… I see. While there is an audience for this, why would they want to watch something that’s so decidedly average when there’s clearly something better out there? Despite getting edgy with the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Disney played it safe with The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, a simple family film, and given the parentage, one shouldn’t really expect anything more. Disney brand or not, I guess it’s asking too much to have a film where the homosexual wizard sacrifices his lover in order to save the world.

Continued:       1       2