The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is one of those movies where you’re left feeling like it could have been better. Our hero, a college student named David, is a physics geek who is experimenting with Tesla coils. He finds out from a powerful sorcerer, one of Merlin’s apprentices Balthazar, that he’s the “Prime Merlinian” (cheesy!) and is destined to gain Merlin’s power.
On the list of good things, the Tesla coil experiment he does is really cool. The movie also has a really good explanation of magic because it’s logical and, at the same time, intriguing and awesome. Some of the spells used in the movie are cool, like setting things on fire, controlling energy and electricity, and making a metal statue of an eagle come to life. In some ways, it’s also a nice love letter to New York, as well.
Yet, the good things don’t extinguish the bad. For one, while Nicolas Cage isn’t really bad in his role as the sorcerer Balthazar, it just feels wrong. He really doesn’t fit the part. Our villainess Morgan Le Fay seems to just drop in and die, and other characters, while they might be well-portrayed or interesting, aren’t developed enough or are under-utilized. And I could easily do without the weird Fantasia clean-up scene, because it takes you out of the movie and is too random.
So, while it has some good ideas, nothing is given time to develop or breathe and the movie feels rushed. There’s also layers of bad, pointless, cheesy, and/or stupid stuff mixed in with it. So, while it’s kind of fun, it’s not really that good of a movie. I still will say ‘Pick It’ because it’s good enough for an easy movie-goer, and I wasn’t tortured by it.
by Miranda R., KPF Chief Film Critic, Age 12
by Miranda R., Age 15
But for Iron Man 3, Ty's first action movie, he goes it alone. Ty plays Harley Keener, an intelligent kid who has a run-in with Iron Man and actually helps him save the day.
