L'apprenti de Merlin

Merlin has always been one of my favorite characters in all the wide world. I loved the original Sam Neill miniseries. Was I wrong, then, to expect this would be any good? Not at all. The film is a miserable disappointment, and deserves to vanish rapidly into the realm of forgetfulness where Queen Mab (Miranda Richardson in the original) now resides. The new characters are vapid and criminally underdeveloped... especially Brianna. Even Sam Neill seems to have dropped his acting skills at the door. While this story could have gone in any one of a thousand directions that would have been better, it had to be stupidly butchered. Never before have I been so embarrassed to watch anything, and, sadly, this has been captured on film and will now last forever.

I didn't actually think this movie would be that good, but I'm a sucker for anything Arthurian, so I put watched it. It didn't start so well, but I find it hard to ever stop watching a movie halfway through, and it turned around. It wasn't totally clichéd where you know from the beginning everyone is going to live happily ever after; at times it was even slightly morbid.

And it wasn't your average Camelot film; it was what happened after the fall of Arthur and the round table, and trying to find out why it did happen.

All in all it's a good film and if you like all things Camelot, like myself, watch it.

Just finished watching it.. The movie is pretty weak. The original is far better. Sam Neil is barely in this and only in flashbacks. The unknown cast is passable, but nothing in this movie seems to come into focus. Miranda Richardson is really starting to show her age. She's playing the Lady of the Lake character and seems as if she is sleepwalking thru the part. All the characters are very subdued, no passion or emotion is here.. I was expecting this film to contain a lot of magic, however quickly realized there would be none. The film defiantly is lacking the "magical" feel of the first one. Magic takes the back seat to a boring plot. And I think that is really where the movie fails. Now this movie is only 1hr 32mins, so there is far less time to develop anything compared to the 3+ hour running time of the first film. However without Sam Neils endearing performance and and such a throw out plot, this movie is a poor sequel. I would recommend you skip it, or fast forward to the Sam Neil parts.

After sleeping for fifty years, the enchanter Merlin (Sam Neil) awakes weak and returns to the decadent Camelot, where he finds that the Holy Grail has vanished. With the kingdom under siege by the savage Rauskaug (Alexander Kalugin) that is helped by the evil sorceress Lady of the Lake (Miranda Richardson), Merlin seeks help with the thief and aspirant sorcerer Jack (John Reardon) to find the protection of the Holy Grail. However, he realizes that corruption has doomed Camelot.

I love movies about King Arthur, Merlin, the Holy Grail and the Knights of the Round Table. I tried to like "Merlin's Apprentice", but unfortunately it is long, boring, confused and corny. The screenplay shows a messy and silly story with many characters, but most of them are not well developed. Due to the restrained budget, the battle scenes are very weak and the scenes supposed to be funny are not. I loved the beauty of the actress Meghan Ory that I have seen for the first time, but her character Brianna should have been better developed and resolved. I did not like the performances of Christopher Jacot, Sam Neil, Miranda Richardson and Duncan Fraser. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "O Aprendiz de Merlin" ("Merlin's Apprentice")

After being tremendously impressed with 1998's "Merlin," I was excited to see that a sequel had been made. However, aside from Sam Neill as Merlin (and brief appearances by Miranda Richardson as the Lady of the Lake), there is no comparison to its much superior predecessor! The original had amazing special effects, a great cast, and wonderful performances. This has a handful of unknown and unimpressive actors walking around. (Picture a low-rent "Lord of the Rings"!) No surprises and nothing to impress. I only rate it as high as a "3" because I am such a fan of Arthurian legend, but even Arthurian fans shouldn't waste any time or money here!