Film directed by Jon Turteltaub
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
is a 2010 American
action adventure
fantasy film
produced by
Jerry Bruckheimer
, directed by
Jon Turteltaub
, and released by
Walt Disney Pictures
, the team behind the
National Treasure franchise
. The film stars
Nicolas Cage
and
Jay Baruchel
with
Alfred Molina
,
Teresa Palmer
, and
Monica Bellucci
in supporting roles.
The film is named after a segment in Disney's non-consecutive film pair the 1940 film
Fantasia
and the 1999 film
Fantasia 2000
called
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
starring
Mickey Mouse
(with one scene being an extensive reference to it), which in turn is based on the late-1890s
symphonic poem
by
Paul Dukas
and the 1797
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
ballad
. Balthazar Blake (
Nicolas Cage
), a "Merlinean", is a sorcerer in modern-day
Manhattan
, fighting against the forces of evil, in particular his nemesis, Maxim Horvath (
Alfred Molina
), while searching for the person who will eventually inherit
Merlin
's powers ("The Prime Merlinean"). This turns out to be Dave Stutler (
Jay Baruchel
), a physics student, whom Balthazar takes as a reluctant protege. The sorcerer gives his unwilling apprentice a crash course in the art and science of sorcery, in order to stop Horvath and
Morgana le Fay
(
Alice Krige
) from raising the souls of the evil dead sorcerers ("Morganians") and destroying the world.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
made its premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival on July 8, 2010, and was theatrically released by Disney in the
United States
on July 14. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a
box office failure
, grossing only $215 million against a $150 million budget.
[3]
Plot
[
edit
]
In
Britain
740 AD,
Merlin
has three apprentices: Balthazar Blake, Veronica Gorloisen, and Maxim Horvath. Horvath betrays Merlin by allying with
Morgana le Fay
, an evil sorceress who mortally wounds Merlin before Veronica rips Morgana's soul from her body and absorbs it into her own. As Morgana attempts to kill Veronica from within, Balthazar stops her by imprisoning Morgana and Veronica in the "Grimhold", a magical prison in the shape of a
nesting doll
. Before dying, Merlin gives Balthazar his dragon figurine that will identify the Prime Merlinean, Merlin's descendant and the only one able to defeat Morgana. Throughout history, Balthazar searches for his descendant and imprisons Morganians, sorcerers who try to release Morgana, including Horvath, into the Grimhold.
In 2000, in
New York City
, a 10-year-old Dave Stutler encounters Balthazar in his
Manhattan
antique store. When Balthazar gives Dave Merlin's dragon figurine, the statue comes to life to form a ring, revealing his status as the Prime Merlinean. As Balthazar retrieves a book meant to teach magic, Dave accidentally opens the Grimhold, releasing Horvath. Balthazar and Horvath battle for possession of the Grimhold and are imprisoned in an ancient Chinese
urn
with a ten-year lock curse while Dave flees with the ring.
Ten years later, Dave is a
physics
student at
NYU
. The ten-year imprisonment curse of the urn ends, releasing both Horvath and Balthazar. Horvath pursues Dave and the Grimhold. Balthazar rescues Dave, riding an animated steel eagle adapted from a
Chrysler Building
gargoyle. Dave refuses to help Balthazar, having been under
psychiatric
care since their first meeting, until Balthazar agrees to leave after finding the Grimhold. They track the Grimhold to
Chinatown
, where Horvath has released the next Morganian, Sun Lok. Dave defeats Sun Lok, and Balthazar retrieves the Grimhold. Dave changes his mind and agrees to become Balthazar's apprentice. He also becomes romantically involved with his childhood crush, Becky, against Balthazar's wishes and advice.
To get back the Grimhold, Horvath enlists the help of Drake Stone, a celebrity magician who is also a Morganian. 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 with Veronica. Morgana, if freed, would cast a spell called "The Rising", which would revive sorcerers from the dead and enslave mankind. As the Prime Merlinian, Dave is the only one who can stop her.
Despite Balthazar's disdain for his relationship with Becky, Dave convinces him to allow him to meet her for a date. Dave tries to use magic to clean his lab but loses control of his animated cleaning mops, which forces him to cancel his date with Becky. He is saved because of Balthazar's intervention and gives up on magic until Becky unknowingly changes his mind. He returns to his lab just as Drake and Horvath steal the Grimhold. Horvath betrays Drake by stealing his magic.
Horvath releases the witch
Abigail Williams
, using her to kidnap Becky at the radio station, and then steals her magic. He threatens to kill Becky, forcing Dave to surrender his ring. Without the ring, Dave has no conduit to use his magic, so Balthazar goes after Horvath in
Battery Park
. Horvath releases Morgana, who begins the Rising Spell, while Horvath animates the
Charging Bull
sculpture and commands it to attack Balthazar. Dave arrives and stuns Horvath with a Tesla coil tied to Balthazar's car while Balthazar's eagle flies away with the bull. Becky disrupts the Rising Spell, stunning Morgana.
Balthazar takes Morgana, body and soul, from Veronica into himself, but Morgana escapes and tries to incinerate them. Dave succeeds in stopping her without his ring. Morgana overwhelms Balthazar and Veronica's shield spells, killing Balthazar when he intercepts a bolt meant for Veronica. Dave makes another, larger Tesla coil out of the square's lamp posts and power lines to stun her and then fires a plasma barrage, finally destroying her. He revives Balthazar by restarting his heart with plasma shocks, and Balthazar reunites with Veronica. Dave and Becky fly to
France
for breakfast on Balthazar's eagle.
Cast
[
edit
]
- Nicolas Cage
as Balthazar Blake, a millennia-old sorcerer of the 777th degree/rank; based on
Yen Sid
in
Fantasia
[4]
- Jay Baruchel
as David "Dave" Stutler, a nerdy but highly intelligent college student who becomes Blake's reluctant apprentice
[4]
- Alfred Molina
as Maxim Horvath, an evil sorcerer and Balthazar's nemesis. Once friends with his fellow apprentices, he became embittered when Veronica chose Balthazar over himself, eventually turning against them and Merlin.
- Teresa Palmer
as Rebecca "Becky" Barnes, Dave's love interest
[4]
- Toby Kebbell
as Drake Stone, a Morganian who supports himself as a celebrity illusionist and joins forces with Horvath when called
[5]
- Omar Benson Miller
as Bennet Zurrow, Dave's roommate
- Monica Bellucci
as Veronica Gorloisen, a sorceress and Balthazar's love interest
[6]
- Alice Krige
as
Morgana le Fay
- Robert Capron
as Oliver, Dave's childhood friend
- Ian McShane
as the Narrator (uncredited)
[7]
- James A. Stephens
as
Merlin
- Gregory Woo as Sun Lok
- Nicole Ehinger as
Abigail Williams
- Ethan Peck
as Andre
- Adriane Lenox
as Ms. Jessalyn Algar
- Henry Yuk
as Chinese Dragon Carrier
Production
[
edit
]
The basic idea for the film was mostly Nicolas Cage's, who wanted to explore a mystic world and play a character with magical powers, and following a suggestion by his producer friend Todd Garner, decided to make a feature-length movie based upon the
Fantasia
segment of the same name.
[8]
[9]
On February 12, 2007, this film was announced by
Disney
.
[10]
References to the original animation include the scene where Dave animates mops to clean his laboratory, and having
Mickey Mouse
's
hat
in the
post-credits scene
.
[9]
Filming
[
edit
]
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
is set in
New York City
, and most scenes were shot on location, in places such as
Washington Square Park
and Chinatown's Eldrige Street. Dave's laboratory was filmed in either an abandoned subway station located under the
New York City Hall
or a studio recreation of it.
[9]
The Bedford Armory in Crown Heights held several of the movie's sets, including Dave's laboratory, complete with inactive Tesla coil generators, Drake Stone's penthouse apartment and even part of Chinatown.
[11]
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.
[12]
To make the magic more believable, it was decided to have an emphasis on practical, on-set effects, such as making real fire, with fluids or flash powder being used for colored flames. To provide a lighting reference for the plasma bolts, the actors wore gloves with
LED
displays to make them glow before adding the computer-generated shot. For floating objects, they were either thrown with wires or held by stuntmen wearing green
chroma key
suits.
[9]
Reception
[
edit
]
Critical response
[
edit
]
On
Rotten Tomatoes
, the film has an approval rating of 40% based on 174 reviews with an average rating of 5.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "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."
[13]
On
Metacritic
, the film has a score of 46 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
[14]
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
gave the film an average grade of B+ on an A+ to F scale.
[15]
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."
[16]
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
The Last 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".
[17]
Box office
[
edit
]
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
made an opening gross of $3,873,997 on its first day (Wednesday, July 14, 2010). It finished at #3 on its first weekend with $17,619,622 behind
Inception
and
Despicable Me
in the U.S. and Canada and gained another $8,928,219 on its first weekend internationally (in 13 countries) for a worldwide opening of $26,547,841. On October 28, 2010,
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
closed at the box-office in the United States and Canada with $63,150,991. As of December 12, 2010, it has earned $152,132,612 in other countries totaling $215,283,603 worldwide. Besides the U.S. and Canada, other countries where it grossed more than $10 million were Russia and the CIS ($13,630,194), France and the
Maghreb
region ($12,930,320) and Japan ($10,632,660).
[2]
Its largest international weekend was August 13?15, during which it grossed $14,091,169 in 42 countries. It occupies the fourth place on the all-time chart of
Sword and Sorcery
films in the U.S. and Canada, and the third place on the same chart worldwide.
[18]
In July 2010,
Parade
magazine listed the film #1 on its list of "Worst Box Office Disasters of 2010 (So Far)".
[19]
Home media
[
edit
]
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
was released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 30, 2010. It has sold 1,288,735 DVD units (equivalent to $21,609,680) since its release in DVD.
[
citation needed
]
Adding in its box-office revenue, the film's earnings sum up to $236,893,283.
Accolades
[
edit
]
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
was nominated for Choice Summer Movie at the
2010 Teen Choice Awards
.
[20]
[21]
It placed one of the Top Box Office Films at the 2011
ASCAP Awards
.
[22]
Music
[
edit
]
The film's score was composed by
Trevor Rabin
. It was released on July 6, 2010.
[23]
[24]
All tracks are written by
Trevor Rabin
Title
|
---|
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"
| 4:50
|
---|
Total length:
| 43:24
|
---|
The songs "
Secrets
" by
OneRepublic
and "
The Middle
" by
Jimmy Eat World
are used in the film but do not appear on the album.
Dukas'
symphonic poem
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
which was used in scene where Dave brings a broomstick to life was used.
[25]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Fritz, Ben (July 14, 2010).
"Movie projector: 'Inception' headed for No. 1, 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' to open in third"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
July 14,
2010
.
- ^
a
b
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
.
Box Office Mojo
. Retrieved
October 27,
2010
.
- ^
"14 Worst Performing Disney Movies Ever Made"
.
Screen Rant
. April 28, 2016
. Retrieved
July 21,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
Kit, Borys (March 3, 2009).
"Alfred Molina puts spell on 'Apprentice'
"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
December 1,
2020
.
- ^
Graser, Marc (April 19, 2009).
"Kebbell joins Disney's 'Apprentice'
"
.
Variety
.
Archived
from the original on April 10, 2010
. Retrieved
July 9,
2020
.
- ^
Graser, Marc (May 14, 2009).
"Monica Bellucci joins 'Sorcerer'
"
.
Variety
.
Archived
from the original on June 3, 2010
. Retrieved
December 10,
2009
.
- ^
Maher, Kevin.
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
.
- ^
"How Nicolas Cage's Geeky Obessions Brought 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' to Life"
. Yahoo!. July 2, 2010. Archived from
the original
on July 9, 2010
. Retrieved
July 5,
2010
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
The Making of The Sorcerer's Apprentice
. The Making of The Sorcerer's Apprentice DVD: Walt Disney Home Entertainment.
- ^
Kit, Borys (February 12, 2007).
"Dis has Cage conjured up for 'Sorcerer'
"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Archived from
the original
on October 1, 2007
. Retrieved
December 10,
2009
.
- ^
"Visiting the Sets of Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice - ComingSoon.net"
.
ComingSoon.net
. December 14, 2009
. Retrieved
April 13,
2018
.
- ^
"Cage stunt car in New York crash"
.
BBC News
. May 5, 2009. Archived from
the original
on July 2, 2009
. Retrieved
December 10,
2009
.
- ^
"
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
(2010)"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
.
Fandango
. Retrieved
February 26,
2021
.
- ^
"
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Reviews"
.
Metacritic
.
CBS Interactive
. Retrieved
July 19,
2010
.
- ^
"Sorcerer's Apprentice, The (2010) B+"
.
CinemaScore
. Archived from
the original
on December 20, 2018.
- ^
Honeycutt, Kirk (July 9, 2010).
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice -- Film Review"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
July 15,
2010
.
- ^
Ebert, Roger
(July 13, 2010).
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
.
Chicago Sun-Times
.
Sun-Times Media Group
. Retrieved
July 15,
2020
.
- ^
"Sword and Sorcery (1980-Present)"
.
Box Office Mojo
. Archived from
the original
on August 11, 2010
. Retrieved
October 27,
2010
.
- ^
"10 Biggest Box Office Flops of 2010 (So Far)"
.
Parade
. July 19, 2010.
- ^
"Teen Choice Awards 2010: Winners and Nominees"
.
The Morning Call
. July 11, 2010. Archived from
the original
on July 13, 2021
. Retrieved
December 20,
2022
.
- ^
Stransky, Tanner (August 9, 2010).
"2010 Teen Choice Awards winners announced"
.
Entertainment Weekly
.
Archived
from the original on October 8, 2015
. Retrieved
December 20,
2022
.
- ^
"Angelo Badalamenti, Alf Clausen Honored at ASCAP Film & TV Music Awards"
.
Billboard
. June 24, 2011.
Archived
from the original on November 26, 2022
. Retrieved
December 20,
2022
.
- ^
"iTunes - Music - The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture) by Trevor Rabin"
.
iTunes
. July 14, 2010
. Retrieved
July 19,
2014
.
- ^
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice Soundtrack (2010)"
.
Soundtrack.Net
. Retrieved
July 19,
2014
.
- ^
"OneRepublic - Secrets - Review of the Single Secrets by OneRepublic"
. Archived from
the original
on July 13, 2014
. Retrieved
August 30,
2014
.
Quote: it plays prominently in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
External links
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