Sorcerer’s Apprentice:
2 Broomsticks
I think Nicolas Cage is pretty hot. He can act and wears a leather cape real well…and is an inmensely watchable actor. So is Alfred Molina (although a bit less good looking), even if he does not do camp as well…and last but not least, the young Jay Baruchel is quickly becoming the heir to the Tom Hanks go-to-good-guy dynasty…
So Walt Disney Pictures and Director Jon Turteltaub get together one day and decide to use all this talent to make some magic juju potion to reconstitute the cartoon version of Disney’s Fantasia sequence where Mickey plays a sorcerer’s apprentice who gets into a cauldron of trouble when he can’t stop a broomstick from acting up…or something like that… And there you have it! A real s-t-r-e-t-c-h, but actors need to stay busy, so all these talented actors signed on for the broomstick ride…in this campy Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
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In this non-Mickey Mouse version (or the ultimate Mickey mouse version…its really up to you…) of a Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Cage plays Balthazar Blake, a centuries-old experienced, big deal sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan who has not combed his hair for exactly 4 centuries. Believe it or not, all these centuries later he is still trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath (Molina), who in true Despicable Me fashion, wants to destroy the world…
But strangely, this super experienced and powerful sorcerer can’t do the work alone…so an intern is needed…or at least a really special one,…ideally one who is a direct descendant of Merlin. And Presto! Enter a New York kid! Kids do need to have special powers to survive in the city anyway. Good, so you follow me. Then, enter, stage left, New Yorker Dave Stutler (Baruchel), a pretty average-looking guy who seems to be pretty darn good at physics and fancy scientific experiments…so good indeed that the kid has his own secret lab…aka the ultimate man cave…
And before you can say Abracadabra, this young apprentice has taken a not-too-effective crash course in the art and science of magic. Regardless of the silly plot, the non-surprising special effects and the curious stare that Cage and Molina wear (they must be under the spell!), any movie with the elusive presence of Monica Belluci is by definition great art. Wow! If only I could look like her… The woman is this generation’s Sofia Loren…so lovely to look at you are afraid to see her makeup or hair get ruined. Is this woman for real???
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So Belluci is the tease…as she plays Balthazar’s love…who is trapped in a curious looking babushka doll for the entire movie…and it’s not until the end when we can see her again…it’s a real killer! Please please rescue her!!!! Will she or won’t she survive evil forces to see her true love, Balthazar, again, ..can Balthazar finally give her that lovely necklace be bought in medieval Europe… will our magical team conquer the evil forces and liberate the damsel in distress…will this apprentice kiss or not kiss the beautiful Becky (Tersa Palmer)…These are th
