Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

52 [Rec] 2
xx 12th & Delaware
xx 180° South
90 45365
55 8: The Mormon Proposition
xx Accidents Happen
62 After the Cup: The Sons of Sakhnin United
36 After.Life
73 Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector, The
55 Agora
82 Ajami
77 Alamar
78 Anton Chekhov's The Duel
63 Around a Small Mountain
57 Audrey the Trainwreck
xx Badmaash Company
xx Barking Water
75 Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
62 Behind the Burly Q
63 Best Worst Movie
31 Black Waters of Echo's Pond, The
35 Boogie Woogie
64 Breath Made Visible: Anna Halprin
xx Brotherhood
24 Burzynski
51 Butcher's Son, The
xx Ca$h
67 Cairo Time
59 Cartel, The
68 Casino Jack and the United States of Money
37 Charlie St. Cloud
xx Cheech & Chong's Hey Watch This
48 Chloe
66 City Island
52 City of Your Final Destination, The
56 Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
58 Concert, The
xx Contenders, The
xx Convention
71 Countdown to Zero
83 Crazy Heart
51 Creation
xx Cremaster Cycle, The
73 Cropsey
73 Cyrus
74 Daddy Longlegs
64 Disappearance of Alice Creed, The
73 Dogtooth
50 Don McKay
66 Double Take
47 Dry Land, The
67 Eclipse, The
85 Exit Through the Gift Shop
56 Extra Man, The
75 Farewell
76 Father of My Children, The
30 Finding Bliss
38 Flipped
52 Formosa Betrayed
60 Fresh
xx Fruit Fly
53 Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema
43 George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead
76 Get Low
68 Ghost Bird
77 Ghost Writer, The
68 Girl on the Train, The
66 Girl Who Played with Fire, The
xx Gone with the Pope
40 Good Heart, The
69 Good, The Bad, The Weird, The
49 Great Directors
45 Greatest, The
76 Greenberg
59 Handsome Harry
24 Happiness Runs
73 Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suess
55 Harry Brown
80 Have You Heard From Johannesburg?: Apartheid and the Club of the West
57 Here and There
xx Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger
51 Holy Rollers
54 Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel
32 Human Centipede (First Sequence), The
79 I Am Love
91 I Was Born, But...
33 In My Sleep
60 Infidel, The
67 It Came From Kuchar
74 Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
79 Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
57 John Rabe
55 Joneses, The
55 Juche Idea, The
65 Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D
86 Kids Are All Right, The
53 Killer Inside Me, The
53 Killing Kasztner
44 Kimjongilia
xx Kings of the Evening
68 Kisses
62 Kites: The Remix
47 La Mission
xx Last Letters from Monte Rosa
xx Law, The
63 Lbs.
xx Le amiche
58 Leaves of Grass
87 Lebanon
72 Let It Rain
70 Life During Wartime
41 Lightkeepers, The
76 Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders
37 Living Wake, The
66 Looking for Eric
72 Lottery, The
37 Love Ranch
86 Mademoiselle Chambon
xx Malice in Wonderland
46 Mercy
78 Messenger, The
47 Metropia
62 Micmacs
75 Mid-August Lunch
60 Middle Men
54 Misfortunates, The
64 Mother and Child
75 Mugabe and the White African
35 Multiple Sarcasms
65 Mundo Alas
xx My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
50 My Name is Khan
41 Nature of Existence, The
71 Neshoba: The Price of Freedom
xx Nightfall
71 No One Knows About Persian Cats
59 Nobody’s Perfect
72 Oath, The
xx Ocean of Pearls
65 Ondine
59 Only When I Dance
58 OSS 117: Lost in Rio
xx Oxford Murders, The
37 Paper Man
63 Parking Lot Movie, The
68 Patrik Age 1.5
40 People I've Slept With, The
42 Perfect Game, The
47 Perrier's Bounty
48 Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies
78 Please Give
31 Pornography: A Thriller
41 Princess Kaiulani
90 Prophet, A
xx Raajneeti
67 Raavan
78 Racing Dreams
xx Ramchand Pakistani
xx Red Birds
63 Reel Injun
85 Restrepo
xx Road, Movie
45 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
xx Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
43 Salt of This Sea
81 Secret in Their Eyes, The
81 Secret of Kells, The
73 See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary
57 Severe Clear
57 Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
52 Shine of Rainbows, A
48 Sicilian Girl, The
77 Single Man, A
68 Smash His Camera
69 Solitary Man
45 South of the Border
56 Spoken Word
47 Spring Fever
75 Square, The
22 Standing Ovation
75 Stonewall Uprising
53 Tales from the Script
74 Terribly Happy
78 Teza
75 That Evening Sun
xx They Came to Play
49 Thorn in the Heart, The
xx Thru the Moebius Strip
60 TiMER
64 Tirador
15 To Age or Not to Age
52 Touching Home
33 Trash Humpers
59 Trotsky, The
xx Trust Us, This Is All Made Up
24 Twelve
56 Two in the Wave
62 Valhalla Rising
85 Vincere
xx Visionaries
54 Wah Do Dem
70 Warlords, The
56 What's the Matter with Kansas?
55 When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors
68 Whiz Kids
52 Who Do You Love
35 Who Killed Nancy
64 Wild Grass
xx Wild Hunt, The
56 Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest, The
69 Winnebago Man
90 Winter's Bone
68 Women Without Men
xx World on a Wire

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Sorcerer's Apprentice, The

EMAILPRINTWalt Disney Pictures

Sorcerer's Apprentice, The reviews
46
6.4 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 28 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Action  |  Adventure  |  Comedy  |  Drama  |  Fantasy

Written by: Carlo Bernard
Doug Miro
Matt Lopez

Directed by: Jon Turteltaub

Release Date:
Theatrical: July 16, 2010

Running Time: 110 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG for fantasy action violence, some mild rude humor and brief language

Starring Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina, Teresa Palmer, Monica Bellucci, and Toby Kebbell

Balthazar Blake is a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath. Balthazar can't do it alone, so he recruits Dave Stutler, a seemingly average guy who demonstrates hidden potential, as his reluctant protégé. The sorcerer gives his unwilling accomplice a crash course in the art and science of magic, and together, these unlikely partners work to stop the forces of darkness. It'll take all the courage Dave can muster to survive his training, save the city and get the girl as he becomes "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." (Walt Disney Pictures)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

The Sorcerer's Apprentice boils down to "The Karate Kid" meets "Harry Potter," with maybe a dash of "Ghostbusters" to keep it interesting.

Read Full Review >
75

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Holleman

A tamer tale of supernatural shenanigans that is far more appropriate for young children than the sometimes too-scary scenes from J.K. Rowling's stories.

Read Full Review >
70

Village Voice Nick Pinkerton

Cage will likely not earn a second Oscar here, but he and director Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) make leftovers into fine PG malarkey with their hokey naïveté and prankish hocus-pocus.

Read Full Review >
70

Chicago Reader Cliff Doerksen

The tone is both goofier and darker than the Potter pictures, and some of the magic battles built around New York City landmarks are eye-popping; there's also a genuinely affecting romance between Baruchel and fetching newcomer Teresa Palmer.

Read Full Review >
67

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Turteltaub has a workmanlike touch and an easy sense of humor here, and he and his team do a better-than-expected job of keeping you interested in the story, despite it being yet another Tale of a Reluctant Young Man With A Supernatural Hero's Calling.

Read Full Review >
67

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is too long, and it's ersatz magic, but at least it casts an ersatz spell.

Read Full Review >
65

Movieline Stephanie Zacharek

Turteltaub strives to show us realistic-looking magic, without realizing he’d be better off if he acknowledged that there’s no such thing. Instead, we get human figures that emerge “magically” from swarms of cockroaches and sorceresses who dissolve into dust particles right before our eyes. It’s the best CGI money can buy, and who cares?

Read Full Review >
63

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The CGI is relentless and what you might call reverse-magical: The more we're hit with stuff, the less wondrous it becomes.

Read Full Review >
63

New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott

As fun as it is at times -- particularly early on -- the longer The Sorcerer's Apprentice goes on, the more the magic wears off.

Read Full Review >
63

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a perfectly typical example of its type, professionally made and competently acted.

Read Full Review >
60

Boxoffice Magazine Pete Hammond

Big and brash with a fantasia of battles and chases thrown in to keep the young ones enthralled for its nearly two-hour running time.

Read Full Review >
60

Empire Ian Nathan

Despite Cage in a snit, it’s a likable if functional summer-show.

Read Full Review >
60

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

A frenetic, overstuffed but imaginative fantasy.

Read Full Review >
58

St. Petersburg Times Steve Persall

Baruchel aside, The Sorcerer's Apprentice contains a few minor delights. One is Cage's surprisingly low-key approach to a role that he could be expected to play over the top.

Read Full Review >
50

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The movie isn't so much bad as it is formulaic and uninspired. In some ways, that might almost be a worse sin.

Read Full Review >
50

Time Richard Corliss

Somewhere in recreational value between an afternoon on a San Diego beach and one at a Detroit public swimming pool. Either way, before you know it, it's evening.

Read Full Review >
50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter

The lively verbal sparring between the good and evil sorcerer-apprentice pairs sustains the movie, but, with a predictable plot, by-the-numbers action-movie jolts and no real sense of wonder, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is really just a pumpkin.

Read Full Review >
50

NPR Scott Tobias

The lesson at the core of Goethe's poem -- that powerful spirits are not to be taken lightly, and should only be conjured by those who can control them -- goes out the window, and the mentor-student relationship gets swallowed up in the action. Bruckheimer may be the dark lord of Tinseltown, but he's the Mickey Mouse of this scenario, and the mops and brooms get the best of him.

Read Full Review >
50

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Cage is amusingly skanky, Molina is dependably arch, and Baruchel is engagingly down to earth. But do we really need to watch them play out this exhaustingly empty scenario?

Read Full Review >
50

The New York Times A.O. Scott

While Mr. Molina and Mr. Cage supply a measure of well-compensated eccentricity, their labors ultimately serve to emphasize the grinding mediocrity of the enterprise.

Read Full Review >
50

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

A flavorless family-friendly action-adventure that doubles as memory exploitation. It has nothing to do with either the Mickey Mouse broom sequence of the same name from 1940’s “Fantasia’’ or the 213-year-old Goethe poem that inspired it.

Read Full Review >
50

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

On the whole, the movie is more Cheez Whiz than wizardly.

Read Full Review >
50

Arizona Republic Bill Goodykoontz

A by-the-numbers, good-vs.-evil tale.

Read Full Review >
42

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

While both actors have been hammier and more hilarious, and neither one overdoes things enough to be notable, they at least seem to be having loads of flailing fun as they conjure up CGI scenery to chew on. And when Apprentice limits itself to their battle, it’s generally fitful dumb fun.

Read Full Review >
40

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

"Apprentice" lurches from one been-there-done-that sequence to another.

Read Full Review >
40

Variety Justin Chang

The magic here feels machine-made and depressingly state-of-the-art.

Read Full Review >
40

Time Out New York David Fear

Other than the Pottersploitation and presence of current It nerd Baruchel, this fantasy-action-comedy might have been spat out into multiplexes any summer over the previous two decades, yet it would seem like forgettable abracadabra filler regardless of the date.

Read Full Review >
38

USA Today Claudia Puig

The movie is a clunky, noisy contraption. Director Jon Turteltaub piles on gadgets and devices in the hopes we'll be dazzled enough to miss the story's lack of coherence and charm.

Read Full Review >
38

Orlando Sentinel Roger Moore

A generally joyless pastiche of sorcery history, imitation Potter “chosen one” Messianics and mirthless silliness, it’s another in a string of recent black marks against Cage’s Oscar-owning reputation.

Read Full Review >
38

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

As Balthazar, Cage doesn’t disappoint. He's just manic enough to keep the character from becoming too predictable.

Read Full Review >
38

Premiere John DeVore

This booming, cartoonish confection is a transparent attempt to take a property Disney owns rights to, and to try and create a Harry Potter-like franchise.

Read Full Review >
30

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

If there were any brooms in Disney’s new Sorcerer’s Apprentice they would have to be used to sweep this tired dreck to the curb.

Read Full Review >
25

New York Post Kyle Smith

A two-hour trailer: explosion, shape-shift, chase, wisecrack, repeat. Its most amazing trick will be how it vanishes from your memory before the seat you vacate has stopped moving.

Read Full Review >
25

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Cage and Baruchel work hard to stay accessible, but the computer-generated effects come on like heavy artillery blowing away any hint of flesh and blood. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice should be rated U for Untouched by Human Hands.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 28 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

dan g. gave it a3:
Where do they find these male leads these days?? jay barawhatever reminds me of the kid in spider man: wimpy. jay has pharynxy, nasal, sinusy voice ... positively put me off my kettlekorn. maybe hollywood is trying to get back to when leading men didn't need looks (edward g robinson, et al)... at least the women are still hot, tho i have some mixt feelings re cursing, increasing displays of cleavage, the f and other questionable initialed words... next time i'm sneaking in some cracker jacks.

Steve Z. gave it an8:
Very nice, entertaining but predictable.

Concerned Moviegoer gave it a1:
Shameless cash-in on the popularity of Harry Potter and the washed-up actor Nicholas Cage. Spare yourself the awfulness and go see something else.

Joshua S gave it an8:
The effects are breath-taking and Nicolas Cage is such a great actor.

Rade M. gave it an8:
My girlfriend, my sister and I really liked this movie, and we are in late twenties. It reminded us of childhood. It has funny moments, not too many slow moments and a predictable story that was told in a good and interesting way. In fact everything we expected from this movie we've got in the end. My sister even asked me if there would be a sequel! :)

Jared C gave it a10:
Without doubt, great.

Almas A gave it a7:
Entertaining, humorous, romantic.

Read more user comments >

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use