The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is streaming on Disney Plus. This allows Alfred Molina to ham it up as the main adversary in a film that balances wonder and reason much better than its initial critical reception suggests. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is as sweet as it is strange, thanks to Cage’s surprisingly restrained performance - he was the driving force for the movie, so it could easily have gone off the rails - and Baruchel’s hangdog earnestness. But when things get grim (this is a pun you’ll appreciate more if you take our recommendation), Dave steps up and into the “old man shoes” that are part of his new magical uniform. Directed by Jon Turteltaub of the National Treasure franchise, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice follows a sorcerer named Balthazar (Cage) and his reluctant apprentice, Dave (Baruchel), who’d rather be playing with his Tesla coils and romancing his childhood crush, Becky (Teresa Palmer), than waging war against a bunch of other occult beings. In this reimagining of a Disney Fantasia short, Jay Baruchel and Nicolas Cage battle the forces of evil and awkward adolescence in a fizzy action-fantasy concoction. Image: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is available for digital rental or purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu.

(We didn’t get a sequel for a reason.) - Matt Patches There are little gifts aplenty in this fantastical romp, even if the whole thing doesn’t gel. Jackson as a fanged, white-haired demon guy and lets him Go. While the movie mostly drifts from set piece to set piece, Burton goes to town with special effects, macabre design, and even a bit of stop-motion to bring the world of quirky Peculiars and evil monsters to life. Adapted from Ransom Riggs’ popular fantasy novel of the same name, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is basically X-Men for goths, following a group of superhuman children all taming their abilities under the eye of a shapeshifting headmistress (Eva Green). But in an era of homogeneous superhero movies, it pops.

Tim Burton’s last truly great film might be Sleepy Hollow in 1999, so as a blockbuster cranked out by an aging visual artist running on steam, no, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is not top-tier.

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