The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Anything but Magical

Nobody is cheering for this Jerry Bruckheimer-produced pretender to the Potter throne, based (sort of) on the iconic scene from Fantasia. Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel play a sorcerer and his protege on a mission to ... do something—anything!—involving lots of spells and special effects. The result is anything but magical, critics say:

• A.O. Scott, the New York Times: The Apprentice is "loud, mechanical and uninspired." Cage and Baruchel "supply a measure of well-compensated eccentricity," but "their labors ultimately serve to emphasize the grinding mediocrity of the enterprise."
• Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: "The computer-generated effects come on like heavy artillery blowing away any hint of flesh and blood." The film ought to be "rated U for Untouched by Human Hands."
  

• Joe Neumaier, NY Daily News: The Sorcerer's Apprentice is "overstuffed" but "imaginative." The fact that "there are more misses than hits," he writes, "will matter only if you're above the legal age to drive."
• Claudia Puig, USA Today: The plot is "disjointed," the story "not remotely fun or magical." This attempt at movie magic, she quips, is "the opposite of alchemy."