Plot
In 740 AD, one of Merlin's (James A. Stephens) apprentices, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina), joins forces with the evil sorceress Morgana le Fay (Alice Krige), betraying Merlin. Morgana mortally wounds Merlin before his other apprentices, Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) and Veronica (Monica Bellucci), can stop her. While Balthazar battles Horvath, Morgana prepares to kill Balthazar, but is stopped by Veronica, who absorbs Morgana’s soul into her own body. As Morgana tries to kill Veronica from within, Balthazar stops her by imprisoning Morgana and Veronica in the Grimhold, a prison similar to a nesting doll.
Before dying, Merlin gives his remaining apprentice a dragon ring that will choose the Prime Merlinian, who will become Merlin's successor. Only the Prime Merlinian will be able to defeat Morgana. Throughout history Balthazar imprisons Morganians, sorcerers who try to release Morgana, including Horvath, into successive layers on the Grimhold while he searches for the successor.
In 2000 AD in Manhattan, 10-year-old Dave Stutler (Jake Cherry) encounters Balthazar in an antique store, who is as youthful as when Merlin gave him the ring. Hoping he is the successor, Balthazar gives him the dragon ring, which comes alive and locks onto Dave's finger. Dave accidently opens the Grimhold, releasing Horvath. While battling for possession of the Grimhold, Balthazar and Horvath are imprisoned in a vase with a ten-year lock. Dave is humiliated when he is discovered by his teacher and classmates with his pants wet due to a vase that broke in his lap. There is no trace of the battle, so everyone believes Dave made it up.
Ten years later to the day, Dave (Jay Baruchel) is a physics student at New York University and has made the acquaintance of a childhood friend, Becky (Teresa Palmer). The mystical urn opens, and Horvath escapes first; he throws the urn out the window of an apartment building, but Balthazar escapes the urn just before it hits the ground and shatters. Horvath finds Dave, who is the last person he remembers possessing the Grimhold. Dave threw the Grimhold away after the battle, so he has no idea where it is. When Dave cannot tell him, Horvath unleashes a pack of wolves. Balthazar rescues Dave, and they escape atop a steel eagle.
Dave initially refuses to help Balthazar, wanting only a normal life, but agrees to help as long as Balthazar will leave Dave alone once the Grimhold is found. They track the Grimhold to Chinatown, where Horvath has released the next Morganian, a wizard named Sun Lok (Gregory Woo). Dave defeats Sun Lok, and Balthazar retrieves the Grimhold. Dave finds that he wants to learn to use magic after all, and agrees to become Balthazar's apprentice. He becomes romantically involved with Becky against Balthazar's wishes.
Horvath enlists celebrity magician Drake Stone (Toby Kebbell) to help him retrieve the Grimhold and defeat Balthazar and Dave, whom Horvath realizes is the Prime Merlinian. 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, as well as Veronica; if Morgana escapes she will attempt "The Rising", a spell that will raise sorcerers from the dead, and use them to destroy the world. Dave, as the Prime Merlinian, and heir (albeit distant) to Merlin and his powers, is the only one who can defeat Morgana.
Horvath and Drake steal the Grimhold; once that is done, Horvath uses a spell to steal Drake's energy, killing him, and takes his ring. He releases the witch, Abigail Williams (Nicole Ehinger), from the last layer around the Grimhold and uses her to kidnap Becky. Once Abigail completes that, Horvath steals Abigail's energy and her pendant as well. Horvath threatens to kill Becky, forcing Dave to surrender the
Grimhold and his ring. Balthazar goes to defeat Horvath and Morgana, knowing that without the ring Dave will be killed.
Horvath releases Morgana, who still possesses Veronica's body, from the Grimhold. Morgana begins the spell. Horvath animates the Charging Bull sculpture at the north end of Bowling Green park, which attacks Balthazar.
With Becky's help, Dave reaches them in time to defeat Horvath and stop Morgana from completing the Rising. Balthazar takes Morgana's soul from Veronica's body into his own. Morgana’s spirit escapes Balthazar's body, and begins to shoot energy bolts at Veronica, which causes Balthazar to take the damage, killing him. Her ethereal projection is about to incinerate them until Dave stops her, using magic without the ring, proving he is the Prime Merlinian. He battles Morgana, and using the same experiment that he had shown to Becky earlier, he defeats her. Dave then saves Balthazar by jump-starting his heart. Balthazar reunites with Veronica, gifting her with a necklace he bought for her before she sacrificed herself. Dave and Becky fly to France on Balthazar's eagle.
After the end credits, Mickey Mouse's Fantasia wizard hat is seen in a glass jar, with Horvath's hat on a nearby table. A hand reaches out and takes it.
Cast
Nicolas Cage as Balthazar Blake: A thousand year old sorcerer based on the magician Yen Sid portrayed in Fantasia.[4]
Jay Baruchel as David "Dave" Stutler: An average college student who becomes Blake's apprentice. He is based on the character played by Mickey Mouse in Fantasia.[4] He is the main protagonist of the film.
Jake Cherry as Young David "Dave" Stutler
Alfred Molina as Maxim Horvath: An evil sorcerer and Balthazar's rival. He appears as a secondary antagonist.
Teresa Palmer as Rebecca "Becky" Barnes: The love interest of Dave.[4]
Peyton R. List as Young Becky
Toby Kebbell as Drake Stone: A celebrity illusionist, who joins forces with Horvath.[5]
Omar Benson Miller as Bennet: Dave's roommate.
Monica Bellucci as Veronica: A sorceress, and the long-lost love of Balthazar Blake.[6]
Alice Krige as Morgana le Fay: Merlin's and Balthazar's greatest enemy, and the main antagonist of the film.
James A. Stephens as Merlin: The legendary wizard killed in 740 AD by Horvath and Morgana.
Gregory Woo as Sun Lok: A Chinese wizard.
Robert Capron as Oliver: Dave Stutler's best friend as a child.
Nicole Ehinger as Abigail Williams: A witch in the last layer around the Grimhold.
Ethan Peck as Andre
Release
The film was released worldwide on Wednesday, July 14, 2010.
Marketing
The first trailer of the film premiered with The Princess and the Frog. The second trailer was released on the Internet at the end of March 2010 and was played with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The third trailer, which showed the film's new tagline "It's The Coolest Job Ever", premiered at showings of Toy Story 3. One of these trailers was also shown in the previews in The Last Airbender. Tips and tricks cards inside the Magic 2011 Core Set feature ads for the movie. A book based on the film has been published written by James Ponti(9781423126904). A video game based on the film was released on July 13, 2010 for Nintendo DS.
Reception
The film has received mainly mixed reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 41% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 115 reviews, with an average score of 5.3/10.[10] Another review aggregate, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating from 0-100 of top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 46. [11] 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."[12] 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 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".[13]
Directed by Jon Turteltaub
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer
Written by Doug Miro
Carlo Bernard
Matt Lopez
Screen story:
Matt Lopez
Lawrence Konner
Mark Rosenthal
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (poem)
Starring Nicolas Cage
Jay Baruchel
Alfred Molina
Monica Bellucci
Teresa Palmer
Music by Trevor Rabin
Cinematography Bojan Bazelli
Editing by William Goldenberg
Studio Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Saturn Films
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s) July 14, 2010
Running time 110 mins.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $150 million[1]
Gross revenue $50,943,000 [2] [3]
