The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a summer blockbuster (in budget) film that pretty much went under the radar this past summer. I believe it was largely in part of the stiff competition this past summer. The story follows Dave when he was first nine years old and Balthazar Blake. Balthazar was one of Merlin’s three original apprentices and has been the sole protector of the doll which houses our villain. Balthazar has always been on the quest of finding what is the deemed prime merlinian. Enter Maxim Horvath. (He two another one of the apprentices) who is freed from his trap and then on the hunt for the doll so he can free evil Morgana and end the world’s existence.
So it’s pretty cut and paste as to see who are the protagonists and antagonists, but how does Dave come into play? Dave stumbles into a shop and accidentally frees Maxim to whom ends up being trapped once more with Balthazar in a vase. Yes, I did say a vase. There they sit for ten years while Dave grows up as a nerdy NYU physics student. Obviously, the two both Balthazar and Maxim are freed and thus the hunt for the doll that contains Morgana continues. On the same hand, Balthazar must save, defend and train Dave as he is the next apprentice due to him possessing the potential of becoming the next Merlin. And it is that person who can defeat Morgana if that time comes to play.
It does seem a little hard having to take all this in, but it’s definitely a lot better than it sounds. It’s one of those movies that you just need to go for it and watch it especially if you have kids. Because it’s a lot better than watching something like Jonas Brothers or Hannah Montana. It isn’t the greatest movie, but it works out ok for family night. Though it’s definitely on the lower end of the ladder for Nicolas Cage especially compared to the National Treasure flicks but it is entertaining none the less.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice comes packed with a great 1080p transfer (MPEG4-AVC). Typical Disney quality that I guess by now I should be used to it right? 🙂 The blacks are deep and show great color quality practically all through out. There are very light intances of film grain, tho they are intended and done with class. The biggest part where this film shines in the video quality department is that of the special effects. We captured that in our screen capture as he throws some plasma like magic ball. I mean just look at it, even at a mere screen capture you can see the true clarity of the quality when fully scaled. I also must give a disclaimer that even these captures are still not a full reprensentation of blu-rays true quality.
Blu-ray Screen Shot Gallery:
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice comes to us with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound track that hits basically everything right on point. The vocal clarity is rich and strong though never deafening. The track utilized the center channel speaker deeply though out. With the cgi special effects, which are amazing by the way, comes awesome audio sound effects as well. That being said, the sub gets plenty of action as it thunders when cued in this track. Overall there isn’t really anything bad I can say about this track. It does its job well for the movie in question.
We reviewed the 2 disc edition though there is a 3 disc version that includes a digital copy. As always a bonus for the additional DVD up until the time everything comes stocked with blu-ray players as default. (cpu’s etc.) We always enjoy the ease of being able to take or play our media anywhere as I’m sure most you do as well.
The supplemental features are listed below:
Magic In The City
The Science Of Sorcery
Making Magic Real
Fantasia: Reinventing A Classic
The Fashionable Drake Stone
The Grimhold: An Evil Work Of Art
The Encantus
The bottom line is a culmination of the scoring in regards to all categories except my own personal judgement on the movie itself. That being said, overall The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has had a great transfer to blu-ray and the audio track is banging. The supplements aren’t the meatiest, but they have the right amount for a movie of this magnitude. As always its disney quality so if your interested in the film, or like the film then a purchase is merited. However, if you’ve never seen the film then a rental might best suit you first before deciding on the purchase.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo) [Blu-ray]
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo+Digital Copy)
