The Plot. This is a story about a young boy who wanders into a magic shop and encounters a weird man who gives him a little dragon. This dragon turns into a ring, which means that this boy will inherit the magical powers of Merlin. The man in the shop is actually one of three apprentice of Merlin, Balthazar (Nicolas Cage). There is another apprentice who was sealed away with an evil witch, Morgana, into some sort of a doll and the third one, Horvath, who is trying to release Morgana. When the young boy receives the ring, he accidentally releases Horvath who proceeds to get into a fight with Balthazar and they end up locked in an urn for the next ten years. Ten years later, the boy has become a physicist (Jay Brauchel) and is now to train with Balthazar to destroy Morgana.
General thoughts. This movie has a really interesting view on magic in the modern world. The way they try to explain this is that there are some people who can use the unused 90% of their brains to manipulate energy. These people are called magicians. They wear fancy shoes, to help with the grounding, and huge rings, to channel the energy. They also manipulate the energy using really big and colorful CGI effects and use the same energy to give different objects life. Makes perfect sense.
It's nice and all that they tried to find some sort of an explanation to all the magic stuff, but this wasn't really necessary, since it just made this whole thing feel fake and lame. There is no way to manipulate energy enough to give life to a metal hawk and have it save you from a huge metal bull who Wants to kill you. Then again, never say never, right?
This movie is pretty much what you'd expect it to be if you know what's it generally about. There aren't many ways a Hollywood movie has to go. The plot is standard, there is a girl involved and the ending is predictable. Hollywood is about entertainment and this is something this movie has done perfectly well. I myself am a fan of magic and mystery and this movie delivered quite nicely on that. There were a lot of pretty effects, there was a goofy main character who is funny and awkward, there is an angry mentor who occasionally shows that he has a heart, there were funny moments and sad moments and lame one-liners. This review feels like so many others just like it. Change the plot part and you're set. I miss plot twists.
All in all, this is a movie to see if you're into magic, want to see something easy and entertaining or if you like Nick Cage. I'm not a big fan of his, but in this one it didn't bother me.
To be honest, I expected this to be a bit more. It's a decent block-buster, but nothing special.
6/10 Flogs
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