FAQ

In order to destroy the evil sorceress Morgana Le Fay (Alice Krige), who killed Merlin the Magician in 740 AD, good sorcerer Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) has been searching for over 1,000 years for the next Prime Merlinean, the only one who has the power to destroy Morgana and her accomplice Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) and to stop their plan to raise dead evil sorcerers (Morganians) and take over the world. Then one day in the year 2000, 10-year-old David Stutler (Jake Cherry) wanders into Balthazar's Manhattan shop, the Arcana Cabana, and Balthazar realizes that he's found the Merlinean. David's life is about to change as he becomes the Sorcerer's Apprentice.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice was loosely inspired by "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of Disney's classic movie Fantasia (1940) (1940). However, it has been significantly aged up to appeal to older audiences, it is not a cartoon, and it does not feature Mickey Mouse. Both movies are based on "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", a 1797 poem by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) .The Disney movie is much closer to Goethe's original story. The screenplay for the film was co-written by Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal, Matt Lopez, Doug Miro, and Carlo Bernard.

While Dave (Jay Baruchel) watches, Balthazar releases Morgana's spirit from the body of Veronica (Monica Bellucci) and takes it into himself then orders Dave to enclose him and Morgana inside the grimhold. Dave and Veronica balk at the idea, giving Morgana time to escape from Balthazar's body and take her own form. She shoots a wall of fire at Balthazar, but Dave is able to shield him magically, so Morgana begins pelting Balthazar with plasma bolts, knocking him to the ground. Dave steps forward to challenge her, shooting a plasma bolt that misses Morgana and hits a nearby electrical grid. Dave continues to shoot bolts at Morgana, but they pass right through her. As Morgana pummels Dave with her bolts, electrical wires from the grid begin snaking their way along the ground, converging on the park's lamp posts and creating a Tesla coil that destroys her. Dave turns to Balthazar, but Veronica declares him dead. "If Morgana can stop his heart, maybe I can start it," says Dave, and he begins beating Balthazar's chest with plasma, eventually reviving him. Dave welcomes the old man back and returns the necklace so that Balthazar can give it to Veronica himself. Suddenly, Becky (Teresa Palmer) runs up to Dave and tells him that she wrote "girlfriend" on the note. Dave invites her out for breakfast—in France. In the final scene, they fly off together on the back of the steel eagle.

A Tesla coil is an electrical circuit created by wireless transmission of electrical energy between two or more coils that resonate at the same frequency. It was invented by Croatian-born inventor Nikola Tesla around 1891. It produces an alternating current with higher voltage than electrostatic generators. Early in the movie, Dave shows Becky how his laboratory Tesla coil can be made to play music.

It's called "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World.

Yes. the 1797 poem is in the public domain and can be read online in numerous places, such as here.