When I first heard that Disney was making a feature film, loosely based on "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of FANTASIA, I didn't have high hopes for it. The cartoon, where Mickey battles a group of runaway brooms, is a classic. How can that short segment be made into a film?
Well, the film THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE does a pretty good job, expanding on it, and paying homage to the segment.
Jay Baruchel (UNDECLARED) stars as Dave, a college student. He ends up being recruited by sorcerer Balthazar (Nicolas Cage) who believes that Dave is his chosen apprentice. The two team to fight off the evil sorcerer Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina).
A Jerry Bruckheimer production, directed by Jon Turteltaub (NATIONAL TREASURE), this is a slickly made film. There are some great FX and nice location work in New York City.
For FANTASIA fans, there is indeed a take on the famous sequence that is entertaining.
Rated PG, this is fairly safe for families. There are some action sequences that might be too intense for the youngest audiences. But for the most part, this should be fine for most kids.
The Blu-Ray contains several extras.
There is a collection of featurettes: MAGIC IN THE CITY (12:53) on the locations, THE SCIENCE OF SORCERY (10:15) & MAKING THE MAGIC REAL (11:46) on the FX, FANTASIA: REINVENTING A CLASSIC (10:13) on remaking the cartoon sequence, THE FASHIONABLE DRAKE STONE (2:09) on the character's fashion, THE GRIMHOLD: AN EVIL WORK OF ART (3:46) about the nesting dolls in the film, THE ENCANTUS (2:23) on the book of spells, WOLVES AND PUPPIES (3:07) features the animal actors, THE WORLD'S COOLEST CAR (1:32) is about the Rolls Royce in the film.
There are five deleted scenes (running 7:47) as well as a collection of outtakes (3:14).
The DVD contains one deleted scene as well as a making of feature (made up of footage from some of the featurettes).
THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE should be entertaining for family audiences.
THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE is available on Walt Disney Home Video.
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