It's the week after Thanksgiving. Household budgets are depleted and shelves are full with newly (and cheaply) acquired content. Not surprisingly, the week's release slate is thiner than usual, and its main day-and-date titles include two of the most notable box office disappointments of the summer, which proved that not even Jerry Bruckheimer and Tom Cruise are above an occasional misstep or two.
In his review for
The Sorcerer's Apprentice, staff reviewer Kenneth Brown states, "if I were nine or ten years old,
The Sorcerer's Apprentice would be the single greatest film in my young life." However, as he notes wistfully, he's older than that, so he finds that the film "isn't nearly as magical a film as it could be. In the wake of a misplaced, mishandled, exposition-laden prologue, the story rockets from one battle to the next with commendable enthusiasm, but struggles to weave a cohesive narrative. Jarring tonal shifts are a big distraction, style trumps substance at every turn, and it all falls flat whenever the fire and lightning subside." Audio and video are top-notch, but "its supplemental package is short on magic."
If anything,
The Sorcerer's Apprentice should be praised for being the catalyst for the Blu-ray release of an all-time Disney classic and its follow-up, in the
Fantasia 2 Movie Collection. Ken proclaims that animation aficionados "are in for a real treat," says Ken, noting the "meticulous high definition overhauls" and "sublime video transfers, distinguished DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround tracks and generous suites of special features" these two movies have received. With the caveat of the BD-Live extras, "fans of
Fantasia and its sequel will certainly get their money's worth."
The week will close with
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which like previous installments of the
Twilight franchise will hit store shelves on a Saturday, to facilitate launch parties at retailers and the like.
In his
review, staff reviewer Martin Liebman contends that
Twilight is "a good series and a (so far) decent collection of movies that get a bad rap because of mass overexposure and limitless hype." As to
Eclipse, he ventures that "many might be surprised" that it is actually a fair movie "that's more than two hours of a shirtless Taylor Lautner and a hunky Robert Pattinson gazing out towards a googly-eyed audience." Overall, it is a quality release, recommended to fans, "as if there were all that many fence-sitters to begin with."