Sorcerer's Apprentice, The

The story follows Dave (Baruchel), an average college student, or so it appears, until the sorcerer Balthazar Blake (Cage) recruits him as his reluctant protégé and gives him a crash course in the art and science of magic. As he prepares for a battle against the forces of darkness in modern-day Manhattan, Dave finds it is going to take all of the courage he can muster to survive his training, save the city, and get the girl as he becomes "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." (Gary Reber)

Special features on Disc One include nine featurettes: "Magic In The City" (HD 12:51), "The Science Of Sorcery" (HD 10:27), "Making Magic Real" (HD 11:44), "Fantasia: Reinventing A Classic" (HD 10:12), "The Fashionable Drake Stone" (HD 02:08), "The Grimhold: An Evil Work Of Art" (HD 03:45), "The Encantus" (HD 02:21), "Wolves & Puppies" (HD 03:06), and "The World's Coolest Car" (HD 01:32); five deleted scenes (HD 07:47); outtakes (HD 03:13); Discover Blu-ray 3D With Timon & Pumbaa (HD 04:23); D-BOX Motion Code; BD-Live functionality; and up-front previews. Disc Two is the DVD of the film, including the featurette "The Making Of The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and the deleted scene Balthazar Recruits Dave. Disc Three contains a digital copy of the film.

The 1080p AVC picture is visually exciting and stimulating, with an imaginative stylized appearance with extreme variations in scenic texture, color density, and dimensionality. Colors can be fully saturated and vivid, such as displayed in the Chinatown scene. Other Manhattan scenes exhibit a sort of nineteenth century feel that is expressed in the production design and the costumes, and aided by extraordinary special visual effects. Fine grain enhances the filmic visual character. Fleshtones are quite varied, depending on the particular scene, but always natural within the context. Hues are rich and warm, which enhances the dense visual character. Resolution is excellent, with revealing details in clothing and object textures. Contrast is well balanced, with deep and solid blacks and revealing shadow delineation. This is a fascinating visual experience that provides many varied visuals to fixate on for a truly magical fantasy trip. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is pleasantly diverse and dynamic, with an aggressive holosonic® soundfield presence. Surrounds are aggressively directionalized and, at times, powerfully energized with positioned and panned sound effects. The entire soundfield can excite SPL energy to peak levels, thus, enhancing the dynamic character of the soundtrack. Bass extension is deep to sub-25 Hz frequencies for impact. Enhanced with D-BOX Motion Code energy, the experience is exhilarating, with floating and jolting movement perfectly synchronized to the sound effects and the on-screen action. Dialogue is generally well balanced with, at times, good spatial integration, but at other times sounding far forward and disconnected with the visual setting. The music score has a wide and deep soundstage presence and, at times, engulfs the soundfield with aggressive surround energy. The action scenes are especially sonically engaging, with impressive panning sound effects. This is truly an engaging and fun soundtrack that really emotionalizes the on-screen action, for a totally immersive sonic experience. (Gary Reber)