The Sorcerer's Apprentice

by Courtney Hilden

The Sorcerer's Apprentice starts out when Merlin is defeated by Morgana le Fey. Before Morgana has a chance to destroy the known world, she is thwarted by two of Merlin's apprentices, Balthazar and Veronica. Meanwhile, the other apprentice, Horvath, betrayed Merlin, making him another enemy of Balthazar, the last apprentice last standing, who much search for the Prime Merlinian, the greatest sorcerer. At this point, the person watching the movie turned to me and said "Okay, this movie is already ridiculous, and we're less than five minutes in." Indeed.
Another popcorn movie made by Jerry Bruckheimer would probably make most people feel fatigued. And indeed, this movie feels slightly sluggish, like everyone involved was out on a bender the night before, but still wanting to make something fun.
And parts of the movie are fun. The movie expertly blends modern New York City with fantastical elements, making a perfect Urban Fantasy of a movie. Dave Stutler, the main character, brings an incredible amount of warmth and nerdiness. His nasally delivery of lines comes in and out, but when he does it right, it sounds exactly like many physics geeks sound.
The film even manages to give strength and abilities to its non-magical characters, notably Becky. Like Dave, she is flawed, but she too can contribute to bringing down Hovath and Morgana le Fey. But the film still manages to be touchy. On one hand, it gives significant power to female characters, Morgana and one of the witches of Salem. But those women are also evil. The only woman sorcerer who isn't evil is Veronica, and she answers to a patriarchal system in the form of Merlin.
The film is also a race fail, since there's only one person of color in the story, Benet, the token African American and best friend of Dave. For a story set predominately in New York, it lacks people of color. And it is pretty telling that none of the magicians in the story are anything other than white. Balthazar travels the world looking at various magically gifted children, but only a young white man living in one of the most expensive apparently is good enough to become the Prime Merlinian.