The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010 film)
| The Sorcerer's Apprentice | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster with original release date | |
| Directed by | Jon Turteltaub |
| Produced by | Jerry Bruckheimer |
| Written by | Doug Miro Carlo Bernard Matt Lopez Screen story: Matt Lopez Lawrence Konner Mark Rosenthal Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (poem) |
| Starring | Nicolas Cage Jay Baruchel Alfred Molina Monica Bellucci Teresa Palmer |
| Music by | Trevor Rabin |
| Cinematography | Bojan Bazelli |
| Editing by | William Goldenberg |
| Studio | Jerry Bruckheimer Films Saturn Films |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 14, 2010 |
| Running time | 111 mins. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $150 million[1] |
| Gross revenue | $92,681,000 [2][3] |
The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a 2010 fantasy adventure film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Jon Turteltaub, and distributed byWalt Disney Pictures, the team behind the National Treasure franchise. The story is loosely based on the Sorcerer's Apprentice segment in Disney's Fantasia, which in turn is based on the late 1890s symphonic poem by Paul Dukas and the 1797 Johann Wolfgang von Goetheballad.
Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) is a sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan fighting against the forces of evil, in particular his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina), while searching for the person who will inherit Merlin's powers. This turns out to be Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel), a physics student at New York University, whom Balthazar takes as a reluctant protégé. The sorcerer gives his unwilling apprentice a crash course in the art and science of magic and sorcery, in order to stop Horvath and Morgana le Fay (Alice Krige) from destroying the world.
The film was originally set to be released on July 16, 2010, but was instead released two days earlier on July 14, 2010.
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[edit]Plot
In 740 AD, one of Merlin's (James A. Stephens) apprentices, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina), joins forces with the evil sorceress Morgana le Fay (Alice Krige), betraying Merlin. Morgana mortally wounds Merlin before his other apprentices, Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) and Veronica (Monica Bellucci), can stop her. While Balthazar battles Horvath, Morgana prepares to kill Balthazar, but is stopped by Veronica, who absorbs Morgana’s soul into her own body. As Morgana tries to kill Veronica from within, Balthazar stops her by imprisoning Morgana and Veronica in the Grimhold, a prison similar to a nesting doll.
Before dying, Merlin gives his remaining apprentice a dragon ring that will choose the Prime Merlinian, who will become Merlin's successor. Only the Prime Merlinian will be able to defeat Morgana. Throughout history Balthazar imprisons Morganians, sorcerers who try to release Morgana, including Horvath, into successive layers on the Grimhold while he searches for Merlin's successor.
In the year 2000, in Manhattan, 10-year-old Dave Stutler (Jake Cherry) goes on a field trip with his class and crush Becky Barnes (Peyton R. List). As he is about to read a note from Becky, it flies away to an antique store and encounters Balthazar, who is as youthful as when Merlin gave him the ring. Hoping he is the successor, Balthazar gives him the dragon ring, which comes alive and locks onto Dave's finger. Dave accidently opens the Grimhold, releasing Horvath. While battling for possession of the Grimhold, a vase breaks onto Dave's lap and wets his pants. Balthazar and Horvath are imprisoned in a vase with a 10-year lock. When Dave is found by his teacher and classmates, there is no trace of the battle. Everyone believes Dave made it all up and he is humiliated when they think that he "peed his pants". Even Becky looks embarrassed.
Ten years later, 2010, to the day, after being bullied and going through therapy, Dave (Jay Baruchel) is a physics student at New York University. He meets Becky (Teresa Palmer) again. She is a music student and a DJ at the college radio station. The mystical urn opens, with Horvath escaping first, and he throws the urn out the window of an apartment building, but Balthazar escapes the urn just before it hits the ground and shatters. Horvath finds Dave, who is the last person he remembers possessing the Grimhold. Dave threw the Grimhold away after the battle, so he has no idea where it is. When Dave cannot tell him, Horvath unleashes a pack of wolves from the photographs in a wolf calendar. Balthazar rescues Dave, and they escape atop a steel eagle Balthazar animates from the Chrysler Building.
Dave initially refuses to help Balthazar, wanting only a normal life, but agrees to help as long as Balthazar will leave him alone once the Grimhold is found. They track the Grimhold to Chinatown, where Horvath has released the next Morganian, a wizard named Sun Lok (Gregory Woo). Dave defeats Sun Lok, and Balthazar retrieves the Grimhold. Dave finds that he wants to learn to use magic after all, and agrees to become Balthazar's apprentice. But he continues to pursue Becky against Balthazar's wishes.
Horvath enlists Drake Stone (Toby Kebbell), a young Morganian and celebrity magician to help him retrieve the Grimhold and defeat Balthazar and Dave, whom Horvath realizes is the Prime Merlinian. They attempt to kill Dave, but Balthazar saves him. Cued by Horvath, Dave demands to know the truth about Balthazar’s quest. Balthazar reveals that Morgana is trapped in the Grimhold, as well as Veronica, and if Morgana escapes, she will attempt "The Rising", a forbidden spell that will raise long-dead Morganian sorcerers from the dead, and use them to enslave mankind. Dave, as the Prime Merlinian, and heir (albeit distant) to Merlin and his powers, is the only one who can defeat Morgana.
While trying to clean up his lab for a date with Becky, Dave uses a spell with disastrous results (a la Fantasia). The lab floods until Balthazar returns and puts everything banishes it. Dave decides to give up magic because he is not good at it, and runs off.
Drake comes in, disguised as Dave, and traps Balthazar. He and Horvath steal the Grimhold. The real Dave returns and helps Balthazar chase Drake and Horvath through the streets of Manhattan.
Back at Drake's apartment, Horvath kills Drake to steal his energy and takes his ring. He releases the witch, Abigail Williams (Nicole Ehinger), from the last layer around the Grimhold and uses her to kidnap Becky. Once Abigail completes that, Horvath kills her as well to steal her energy and her pendant. Balthazar is stuck in a quicksand spell and cannot help them, Horvath threatens to kill Becky, forcing Dave to surrender the Grimhold and his ring.
Knowing that without the ring Dave is powerless, Balthazar goes after Horvath and Morgana on his own.
In Bowling Green Park Horvath releases Morgana, who still possesses Veronica's body, from the Grimhold. Morgana begins the spell using broadcast dishes on the tops of surrounding buildings. Horvath animates the Charging Bull sculpture at the north end of the park to attack Balthazar but Balthazar is saved by his eagle.
Dave realizes that Balthazar intends to die in this battle and decides to help him with science. Becky decides to help Dave save the world, and Dave sends her to climb the radio station tower and move the dish to disrupt Morgana's spell.
Dave reaches the park in time to defeat Horvath with his giant Tesla coil. Morgana's spell is disrupted by Becky moving the dish. Balthazar takes Morgana's soul from Veronica's body into his own. Morgana’s soul escapes Balthazar's body, and begins to shoot energy bolts at Veronica. Balthazar throws himself in front of Veronica to save her and is killed. Morgana is about to incinerate them when Dave stops her using magic without the ring, proving that he is the Prime Merlinian. He battles Morgana using both magic and his knowledge of physics, and defeats her. Dave then saves Balthazar using magic to defibrillate his heart. Balthazar reunites with Veronica, giving her a necklace he bought for her before she sacrificed herself, and kiss. Dave and Becky become a couple as well, and fly to France on Balthazar's eagle.
After the end credits, Mickey Mouse's Fantasia wizard hat is seen in a glass jar in the antique shop, with Horvath's hat on a nearby table. A man takes it and wears it, implying that Horvath survived.
[edit]Cast
- Nicolas Cage as Balthazar Blake: A thousand year old sorcerer based on the magician Yen Sid portrayed in Fantasia.[4]
- Jay Baruchel as David "Dave" Stutler: An average college student who becomes Blake's apprentice. He is based on the character played by Mickey Mouse in Fantasia.[4] He is the main protagonist of the film.
- Jake Cherry as Young David "Dave" Stutler
- Alfred Molina as Maxim Horvath: An evil sorcerer and Balthazar's rival. He appears as a secondary antagonist.
- Teresa Palmer as Rebecca "Becky" Barnes: The love interest of Dave.[4]
- Peyton R. List as Young Becky
- Toby Kebbell as Drake Stone: A celebrity illusionist, who joins forces with Horvath.[5]
- Omar Benson Miller as Bennet: Dave's roommate.
- Monica Bellucci as Veronica Gorloisen: A sorceress, and the long-lost love of Balthazar Blake.[6]
- Alice Krige as Morgana le Fay: Merlin and Balthazar's greatest enemy, and the main antagonist of the film.
- James A. Stephens as Merlin: The legendary wizard killed in 740 AD by Horvath and Morgana.
- Gregory Woo as Sun Lok: A Chinese wizard.
- Robert Capron as Oliver Twistmeyer: Dave Stutler's best friend as a child.
- Nicole Ehinger as Abigail Williams: A witch in the last layer around the Grimhold.
- Ethan Peck as Andre
[edit]Production
The basic idea for the movie was mostly Nicolas Cage's, who wanted to make a feature length movie based upon the Fantasia segment of the same name.[7] On February 12, 2007, this film was announced by Disney.[8] In the early morning hours of May 4, 2009, a Ferrari F430 being driven during filming of a chase sequence, lost control and careened into the window of a Sbarro restaurant in Times Square, injuring two pedestrians, one of whom was struck by a falling lamppost. Filming resumed the following night, when yet another accident occurred. The two accidents were blamed on rain making the roads slick.[9]
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[edit]Reception
The film has received generally mixed reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 41% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 116 reviews, with an average score of 5.2/10. The critical consensus is: It has a likable cast and loads of CGI spectacle, but for all but the least demanding viewers, The Sorcerer's Apprentice will be less than spellbinding.[10] Another review aggregate, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating from 0-100 of top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 46.[11] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter has said that "The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a tired relic of summer-movie cliches, clearly beaten to death by far too many credited writers."[12]Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half stars out of four and wrote "This is a much better film than Airbender, which is faint praise, but it's becoming clear that every weekend brings another heavily marketed action "comedy" that pounds tens of millions out of consumers before evaporating".[13]
[edit]Box office
The Sorcerer's Apprentice made an opening gross of $3,873,997. It debuted at #3 at the box office behind Inception and Despicable Me with $17,619,622.[14] As of August 01, 2010, The Sorcerer's Apprentice has made $51,881,000 in the United States and $40,800,000 in other countries which totals up to $92,681,000 worldwide.[citation needed]
[edit]Soundtrack
The score for this film was conducted and recorded by Trevor Rabin. The soundtrack was released on July 6, 2010.
| The Sorcerer's Apprentice | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack by Trevor Rabin | ||||
| Released | July 6, 2010 | |||
| Genre | Film score | |||
| Length | 43,4 minutes | |||
| Label | Walt Disney Records | |||
| Trevor Rabin film soundtrack chronology | ||||
| ||||
| No. | Title | Artist | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sorcerer’s Apprentice" | 3:14 | |
| 2. | "Story of the Prime Merlinian" | 4:02 | |
| 3. | "Note Chase" | 0:39 | |
| 4. | "Dave Revives Balthazar" | 2:41 | |
| 5. | "Classroom" | 1:25 | |
| 6. | "The Urn" | 1:39 | |
| 7. | "The Grimhold" | 1:39 | |
| 8. | "Morgana Fight" | 2:59 | |
| 9. | "The Ring" | 1:43 | |
| 10. | "Walk in the rain" | 0:43 | |
| 11. | "Merlin Circle" | 2:01 | |
| 12. | "Dave Has Doubts" | 0:53 | |
| 13. | "Becky and Dave on Rooftop" | 1:24 | |
| 14. | "Car Chase" | 3:54 | |
| 15. | "Seeing Veronica" | 0:55 | |
| 16. | "Story of Veronica" | 1:44 | |
| 17. | "Horvath Made Off With the Grimhold" | 1:13 | |
| 18. | "Kiss from Becky" | 0:33 | |
| 19. | "Bull fight" | 2:10 | |
| 20. | "Balthazar Saves Veronica" | 1:13 | |
| 21. | "Sorcerer’s Apprentice Suite" | 2:28 | |
| 22. | "Fantasia Original Demo" | 4:22 |
[edit]References
- ^ Fritz, Ben (July 15, 2010). "Movie projector: 'Inception' headed for No. 1, 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' to open in third". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company). Retrieved July 15, 2010.
- ^ "The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Box Office Data, Movie News, Cast Information". The Numbers.com. Nash Information Services, LLC.
- ^ "The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
- ^ a b c Kit, Borys (March 3, 2009). "Alfred Molina puts spell on 'Apprentice'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
- ^ Graser, Marc (April 19, 2009). "Kebbell joins Disney's 'Apprentice'". Variety. Archived from the original on December 10, 2009. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
- ^ Graser, Marc (May 14, 2009). "Monica Bellucci joins 'Sorcerer'". Variety. Archived from the original on December 10, 2009. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
- ^ "How Nicolas Cage's Geeky Obessions Brought 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' to Life". Yahoo!. July,2, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
- ^ Kit, Borys (February 12, 2007). "Dis has Cage conjured up for 'Sorcerer'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
- ^ "Cage stunt car in New York crash". BBC News. May 5, 2009. Archived from the original on December 10, 2009. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
- ^ "The Sorcerer's Apprentice Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
- ^ "Sorcerer's Apprentice, The reviews at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
- ^ "The Sorcerer's Apprentice -- Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. July 09, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (July 13, 2010). "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". Chicago Sun-Times. Sun-Times Media Group. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
- ^ "'Inception' dreams up big start with $62.8M debut". The Associated Press. Google News. 2010-07-19. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
[edit]External links
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010 film) |
- Official website
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice at the Internet Movie Database
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice at Rotten Tomatoes
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