The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Live-Action)

[blackcauldron85]

If I have some extra money, I'd love to see it in the theaters, but if not, I'll definitely rent it. It looks like a really good movie!


Disney's loyal 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' comes to life
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/new ... 9_CV_N.htm
(via disneyreport.com)

[WaltDisneyPictures]

Thanks for the warm welcome Albert! I'm happy to be on here and looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the movie.

TheSequelOfDisney - Well not that touring New York and seeing Phantom of the Opera is a bad alternative But I hope you do get to see the movie soon and let me know what you think.

Speaking of New York, the livestream of the movie's premiere is up on MySpace, if any of you want to check it out. There's a cast Q&A session on there that some of might find interesting.

[dvdjunkie]

Was invited to a special "Press Preview" screening of this movie yesterday.

Now I am going to have to retract some of my thoughts on this film. The movie is not the 'piece of junk' that I thought the people at Disney were going to foist on us. Instead it was really a very interesting film. Nicholas Cage was very restrained as The Sorcerer Balthazar Blake, and his apprentice played by Jay Baruchel were very good in their roles. And the casting of Alfred Molina as the evil Maxim Horvath was brilliant.

There are some surprises that I won't get into here, but there is truly a great moment in the film when they give us a 'live-action' sequence of the animated brooms and buckets of water' that we all know from "Fantasia". The film is very true to the original in its tribute, but the story is much more than just that, and I will plan on seeing this at least once more in the big theater before adding it to my "must-have" Blu-ray list of movies.

My sincere apologies to all who took offense to my rantings about how terrible this whole movie sounded. I take back all that I said, and I even liked Nicolas Cage in this film better than in the two "National Treasures" movies.

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Sweet! Thanks for the info dvdjunkie! I'm so glad that Fantasia's Socerer's Apprentice is truly great. I'm even more excited now because I was kind of iffy on seeing it, but now I really want to. Hopefully this'll be a good "companion piece" to Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. I'm excited now!

[kbehm29]

Was invited to a special "Press Preview" screening of this movie yesterday.

Now I am going to have to retract some of my thoughts on this film. The movie is not the 'piece of junk' that I thought the people at Disney were going to foist on us.

There are some surprises that I won't get into here, but there is truly a great moment in the film when they give us a 'live-action' sequence of the animated brooms and buckets of water' that we all know from "Fantasia".

My sincere apologies to all who took offense to my rantings about how terrible this whole movie sounded. I take back all that I said, and I even liked Nicolas Cage in this film better than in the two "National Secrets" movies.

I'm very glad that you gave the movie a fair chance, and even more glad that it is going to be as good as you say it is.... thanks for the update!

[Prince Edward]

4 Movie Clips and 38 Images from THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE Starring Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel
http://www.collider.com/2010/07/10/the- ... -baruchel/

[TheSequelOfDisney]

4 Movie Clips and 38 Images from THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE Starring Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel
http://www.collider.com/2010/07/10/the- ... -baruchel/

For some reason, my favorite part from all of those clips was the line: "They vibrate." I don't know, it seemed really hilarious to me. I can't wait to see this movie!

[blackcauldron85]

'Sorcerer's Apprentice' Star Nicolas Cage Was A 'Mischievous Kid' During Filming
'I have to make it amusing for me,' actor says of acting opposite CGI.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/164338 ... tory.jhtml

[blackcauldron85]

'The Sorcerer's Apprentice': Wizard War
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/164358 ... tory.jhtml


Interview: Peyton List – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
http://tommy2.net/content/?p=17963


Disney’s “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” conjures up some solid summer fun
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/ ... r-fun.aspx

[blackcauldron85]

Buy One Get One Free tickets (might be for today only):
http://thedisneyblog.com/2010/07/14/sor ... earlybird/


Sorcerer's Apprentice New York World Premiere Pictures
http://www.laughingplace.com/Latest-ID-74790.asp


Disney Interactive Studios’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice Video Game Magically Appears on Shelves
http://www.laughingplace.com/Latest-ID-74783.asp

[kbehm29]

Did anyone else go see this yesterday? I'm really interested in more opinions on this movie...

I'm also wondering how well it did on it's first night. Box Office Mojo hasn't updated their site yet today...

[disneyboy20022]

I saw it...and also at the end of the credits there is a scene...possible sequel im thinking

Spoiler about the ending and the Scene after the credits

Did anyone Else notice Horvath dissappeared......well in the scene at the end of the credits someone picks up Horvath's hat in a hat store with a cameo of Mickey's Hat and then a dark figure walks by...implying that Horvath is out for revenge in a possible sequel??? [/quote]

[blackcauldron85]

Lukewarm review:

http://www.mouseplanet.com/9321/The_Sor ... Apprentice


No Magic For 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' Debut
http://www.laughingplace.com/Latest-ID-74807.asp


I'd still like to see it, even if the reviews aren't great. I wish Bobby had wanted to see it with the Buy One Get One ticket offer yesterday...

[Luke]

I'm also wondering how well it did on it's first night. Box Office Mojo hasn't updated their site yet today...

Maybe its midweek opening wasn't well known enough, but that opening day number ($3,873,997) does not bode well for its box office prospects. The thinking seems to be that this is too dark for children, and not cool enough for teens, who are sure to see <i>Inception</i> instead this weekend. Another big budget Bruckheimer bomb has got to make Disney rethink its opposition to mid-sized movies. The success of <i>Alice</i> and <i>TS3</i> kind of just get washed out by the JB flops, whose flopping defies the whole franchise mentality driving them.

[Rudy Matt]

This was a failure of marketing and screenwriting. Marketing because in order to appeal to tweens, you have to pitch your movioe to adults. Screenwriting because in order to have a great ad campaign, it helps to have a great product. Bad script = bad movie = marketing department struggling mightily to rescue a bad idea.

Sorcerer's apprentice flopping is no surprise to anyone who saw the first teaser trailer and thought, "That looks awful."

By the way...the same thing applies to Tangled. This may be the year of the Disney Bomb in reverse. Everything that should have bombed (Alice in Wonderland has never been a potent box office force) has done well, everything Disney hoped would do well is going down in flames. Tangled looks absolutely awful. As bad as Sorcerer's Apprentice. Worse than Prince of Persia.

I think it is going to be a hard year for Disney on the theatrical front, and the fop of Rapunzel a brutal blow to the feature animation unit.

[PatrickvD]

I'm also wondering how well it did on it's first night. Box Office Mojo hasn't updated their site yet today...

Maybe its midweek opening wasn't well known enough, but that opening day number ($3,873,997) does not bode well for its box office prospects. The thinking seems to be that this is too dark for children, and not cool enough for teens, who are sure to see <i>Inception</i> instead this weekend. Another big budget Bruckheimer bomb has got to make Disney rethink its opposition to mid-sized movies. The success of <i>Alice</i> and <i>TS3</i> kind of just get washed out by the JB flops, whose flopping defies the whole franchise mentality driving them.

the problem here is that these Jerry Bruckheimer flicks cost between $150 million and $200 million. Which is ridiculous.These movies should have a budget around $90 million.

But Bruckheimer has been given this freedom because of Pirates. Still, the fact that Pirates 4 has seen budget cuts gives me the idea Disney is on top of this and I doubt we'll be seeing any more costly Disney/Bruckheimer films outside the Pirates and National Treasure franchises. I mean, even G-Force cost $150 million. Prince of Persia and Sorcerer are simply puting the nail in that coffin.

maybe Disney should just buy Bruckheimer.

Alice and TS3 are still extraordinary successes. They'll bring Disney $2 billion when all is said and done. Very impressive.

[PatrickvD]

Tangled looks absolutely awful. As bad as Sorcerer's Apprentice. Worse than Prince of Persia.

you can't compare these. Tangled is a film that is being marketed as something it's not. Most of the stuff in the trailer isn't even from the film.

Prince of Persia and Sorcerer's Apprentice didn't have the luxury of being marketed as something they weren't.

And any animated feature under production of Lasseter has been praised by critics. Why would Tangled be any different? We're talking about a 15 year track record with 13 critically acclaimed films. Not a single misfire. The one getting the least praise of the bunch happened to rake in $5 billion in merchandise sales. Even if Tangled bombs, it's bound to be a hit with critics.

[Escapay]

I saw The Sorcerer's Apprentice today with my cousin (it would've been a group outing with additional cousins and siblings, but oh well) and while there are obvious flaws, I enjoyed my hour and 40-odd minutes in the theatre.

Spoilers abound. Text in white.

The narrated prologue in the beginning felt like an epic movie that should've been made. Seriously, I think I would've been more interested in a period fantasy film than in a modern-day one. Because it's narrated, it feels like they originally shot a much longer prologue, then pared it down to the bare essentials and slapped it to the beginning of the film.

The scenes with Young Dave and the antique store also felt like another movie entirely. And that becomes a recurring problem throughout the entire thing. There are pieces of scenes that feel out of place because it feels like another movie. I wasn't sure if this was an action-comedy or a fantasy-action or a fantasy-comedy or whatever. There was no common ground that the movie focused on, it kept shifting.

The film is more or less an archetypal good vs. evil story, with the reluctant hero being guided by a wise mentor and realizing his true potential, whilst also getting the girl. It's a lot of flash-in-the-pan effects, some longer than they needed to be (though admittedly, the dragon was quite good). The broomsticks scene that was supposed to be reminiscent of the original "Sorcerer's Apprentice" tale was comedic, but also a nice convenient way of saying "This is serious. Magic is not for games." It's a fitting homage to the Fantasia version, but doesn't do much else. The car chase scene was overtly long, ultimately served no purpose, and could have been cut out.

The passage of time in the film is confusing. How many days does Dave spend being trained? He went from "OMG, my hallucinations were real!" to "OMG, I'm doing magic without the ring" far too quickly. But I guess that's the price you pay in storytelling when the bad guys are so quick to act, and so the good guys must be quicker.

One thing I did like was the bumbling nature of Dave. Awkward, reluctant, clumsy. He's the likable nerd that you know is going to get the girl at the end. Of course, it's not much of a stretch for Jay Baruchel, who's more or less played the same type of character in "Undeclared", Tropic Thunder, Fanboys, and She's Out Of My League. But it works for him, and he makes the audience root for him.

Becky looked like a less bitchy Kristen Stewart, and more or less was useless, just there to be the girl that Dave is distracted by and falls in love with. Then again, so was Veronica (a role Monica Belluci is gorgeous in, but ultimately a waste to add to her resume). The women in this movie really are poorly-realized. Even Morgana had no purpose other than to be the root of all evil in the film, without ever explaining why.

I didn't like Horvath, not because he was the bad guy, but because it was Alfred Molina phoning it in. Then again, given the script he had to work with, that's understandable. How a guy can go from the brilliant Dr. Octavian in Spider-Man 2 to a demonic man with a cane...it's sad. He could have been brilliant in this role, but he comes off as disinterested the whole time. The backstory and motivation was obvious from the start, and so there was no need to sympathize for his plight. His obvious "return" in the post-credits scene is screaming for a sequel, which I doubt I'll want to see get made (and more than likely won't get made) unless it improves greatly upon the first film. And given how lackluster it was, they've got their work cut out for them.

Nic Cage was playing Nic Cage, and I can't really say much else. He shows some restraint and we get a sense of the Nic Cage we used to know (you know, the guy who did Moonstruck, Wild at Heart, and Leaving Las Vegas). But ultimately he's just collecting another paycheck from Disney and Bruckheimer, and having a good time doing so.

Minor characters were justifiably minor and forgetful, no need to waste time talking about them.

I do like how, because of its modern-day setting and mindset towards magic, that Dave uses both Magic and Science to defeat Morgana. It allowed him to defeat her on his terms, and not just by magic that he is destined to have. It's also a nice compromise to be found when it comes to Magic vs. Science. The two can co-exist (at least in this movie) without having to have people choose to believe one over the other. Hell, even magic is given a sort of scientific explanation that still leaves enough to the imagination.

Overall, it was an entertaining film, but one that could have been so much better. The story was strung along based on how cool the scenes would play out, rather than based on being a worthy story to be told. The characters are bland and clearly marked good or evil. The music was loud and bombastic and forgettable. There really was so much potential for this movie (Disney + Magic + Action Scenes + Jay Baruchel + Alfred Molina + Monica Belluci) but it just fell apart.

albert

[singerguy04]

I think the biggest thing this film has going against it is Nicolas Cage... I just find him to be unbearable as an actor recently. It's almost as if he's completely forgotten how. Just seeing that he still gets work like this makes me angry.

I plan on seeing the film sometime this weekend though. I like the whole concept of the film, but I don't think i've (nor do i think anyone should have) ever expected it to be fantastic.

[blackcauldron85]

Minor movie spoilers in some of the answers:

D23 Questions: Jay Baruchel
http://d23.disney.go.com/articles/07151 ... uchel.html
(via laughingplace.com)

Are you a Disney fan?
JB: Who isn't? What is weird is that I had Mickey and The Sorcerer's Apprentice hat on my bed sheets and blankets. And now here I am at 28 playing the role.

What's your first Disney memory?
JB: I had Winnie the Pooh bed sheets as a baby. After that, it would have to be watching Sword in the Stone.

<3<3<3<3<3 He is so <3<3<3!

If you could play another character from any Disney film, who would it be?
JB: I would love to be in a remake of The Black Hole. The mad scientist character would be pretty special to play.

Wasn't there talk of making a remake a short while ago...?