Yes, I know that there are people who on principle skip anything Jerry Bruckheimer produces. And yes, I know that there are those people who try to miss anything Nicolas Cage appears in because they simply don't like him. And there are probably a third group who believe that Fantasia is sacrosanct and must not ever be touched again by human hands. But I'm evidently not one of those.
I'll admit that I was skeptical that it could be done. Who could possibly write a script for a two-hour film that's based on the short animated feature that's part of 1940's Fantasia from Walt Disney? How could you take Mickey Mouse and the dancing mops, brooms, and buckets and modernize it for today's audiences?
Well, I think they actually managed to pull it off. We went as a family and all of us really enjoyed The Sorcerer's Apprentice with Cage, Jay Baruchel, and Alfred Molina playing the lead roles. Hopefully it will make more money than it has so far so that we can continue to see the adventures of "Dave the Sorcerer."
What is it about? It starts in medieval times with the saga of Merlin (James A. Stephens) and his three apprentices - Veronica (Monica Bellucci), Balthazar (Cage), and Horvath (Molina). When Horvath turns on his friends and master to join the evil wizardess Morgana (Alice Krige) in an attempt to take over the world and kill Merlin, Veronica sacrifices herself and binds Morgana's soul within herself, and Balthazar captures them both in a Russian doll magic item. That starts a war between the Merlinians, with Balthazar at the lead, and the Morganians seeking to free Morgana to take over the world.
Balthazar spends the next thousand years trying to find what Merlin called "the Prime Merlinian" - an individual with the potential to take Merlin's place in the world. Along the way, he captures other evil wizards in the doll as they continue to try to release their queen.
When young Dave stumbles into Balthazar's magic shop while on a field trip, it's revealed that he is the Prime Merlinian Balthazar's been looking for all this time. Through a series of mishaps, Dave unwittingly releases Horvath and a battle ensues that eventually finds the two ancient enemies locked away for 10 years. That gives Dave time to get some therapy for what nobody believes he saw.
And that brings us to the present day, with Dave having become a physics geek working with electricity and plasma. I won't spoil the rest, but suffice it to say that it's a wild ride where Balthazar and Dave must work together to try and save the world from Horvath and Morgana.
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