The National Treasure movies may have been ridiculous but they did function well enough as family entertainment. No one could have predicted that the team responsible – director Jon Turteltaub, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Walt Disney pictures – would end up presiding over this muddle.
A lengthy prologue introduces Merlin’s apprentices and an ancient rivalry; in the evil corner we find Alfred Molina and Alice Krige, while magicians Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) and Veronica Gorloisen (Monica Bellucci) are the good guys. Shoot forward to contemporary Manhattan and Balthazar is a recluse who, after further unnecessary prologue, stumbles upon the Prime Merlinian (Jay Baruchel), the supposed heir to Merlin’s conjuring throne. Various battles ensue. Packs of wolves are unleashed. Dragons take over Chinatown. Sadly, the chaos can’t disguise that The Sorcerer’s Apprentice just isn’t up to much.
Cage, though less endearingly crazy than he has been this summer – we salute you Bad Lieutenant – looks suitably frazzled throughout. Mr. Baruchel, meanwhile, is amiable company but can do little to counter random plotting, messy action sequences, a dreary romantic subplot and shoddy dialogue. Poor fellow. He was equally charming in She’s Out Of My League – a much, much worse picture than this - earlier in the season.
This entirely disappointing Harry Potter knock-off seems to exist only as a means to replay Mickey Mouse’s broom sequence in Fantasia. And even that sequence is poorly handled. This does not bode well for the return of Pirates Of The Caribbean next summer.