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Having seen The Last Airbender gross untold millions despite the worst reviews in many a year, I confess myself discouraged at the prospect of reviewing The Sorcerer s Apprentice. This is a much better film than Airbender, which is faint praise, but it s becoming clear that every weekend brings another heavily marketed action comedy that pounds tens of millions out of consumers before evaporating.
I use the word consumer deliberately. This genre doesn t require an audience in the traditional sense. It attracts children and young teenagers with the promise of cinematic fast food: It s all sugar and caffeine, no nutrition. In place of a plot, there s a premise; in place of carefully crafted action, there are stupefying exercises in computer-generated imagery, and in place of an ending, there s a hook for the sequel and, if all goes well, a new franchise.