New in Theaters: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Common Sense Media


Common Sense Media rates this movie on for Ages 9 and up.
What Parents Need to Know

This review of The Sorcerer's Apprentice was written by S. Jhoanna Robledo

Parents need to know that this fantasy action-adventure, inspired to some degree by Disney's classic Fantasia, is targeted at the same audience who enjoyed star Nicolas Cage's National Treasure movies. Like those movies, The Sorcerer's Apprentice has plenty of thrilling action sequences boosted by special-effects magic -- some of which may be too scary and/or intense for kids under 8. There's swordplay and electric blasts, and characters are threatened with peril and even death. But underlying all the action is a positive message about being true to yourself.

Families Can Talk About Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help

  • Families can talk about the film's action scenes. Do movies have to have actual violence to be scary or intense?

  • Why is Dave reluctant to go for greatness? What does Dave learn from Balthazar? Is theirs a believable friendship, given their differences?

  • In these types of movies, good typically wins out over evil. Why is that conflict so fascinating to Hollywood?

More on The Sorcerer's Apprentice

What's the Story?

Millennia ago, Morgana le Fay (Alice Krige) attempted to unseat Merlin (James A. Stephens), who managed to fend her off by sending her and the turncoat Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) to a prison called a grimhold. Sadly for the sorcerer Balthazar ( More Millennia ago, Morgana le Fay (Alice Krige) attempted to unseat Merlin (James A. Stephens), who managed to fend her off by sending her and the turncoat Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) to a prison called a grimhold. Sadly for the sorcerer Balthazar (Nicolas Cage), his magically gifted beloved, Veronica (Monica Bellucci), is trapped in there, too. The goal in THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE is to find Merlin's descendant -- aka the prime Merlinian -- who's the only one who can vanquish Morgana and her minions forever. Balthazar thinks he may have found him once, in the form of an elementary schoolboy named Dave. But it's not until Dave (Jay Baruchel) is in college studying to be a physicist that he's able to finally take on his mission.

For the full review of The Sorcerer's Apprentice and for more on what's new for your family this weekend, visit us at Common Sense Media.