The Sorcerer's Groan...

Rating: Null/10 (28 June 2002)

I went into this movie having had the opportunity of listening to the soundtrack first. It was rather interesting to see if my expectations would be met. Afterall, when you listen to the music first it gives a bit of an insight to what the movie truly is about.
Well, I am happy to say that my expectations were met to the "T".
So, what were my expectations? Having read the titles to the tracks themselves revealed much of the story. I was disappointed by the fact the soundtrack gave away much of the surprise. Nevertheless, this is about the movie and not the soundtrack. What I expected was a quasi-story line with little plot. In fact the scenes were a bit disjointed with little or no relevance from one to the next. I felt it dragged quite a bit in the middle, but an attempt was being made to develop the characters. Nevertheless, it could have been done better.
A major part of the movie were the effects and given that it was 2001 when the movie was released I figured the effects would have been outstanding. Contrary to my thought though, the effects were extremely low-budget. We will look back on this movie in a few years time and think, "God, what was the studio thinking?" and then flip the "Lord of the Rings" DVD into the tray. Somehow, we were supposed to be made to believe that the outside environment was real and that there was not blue/green screen behind the actors. Especially during the match, it was painfully obvious that the actors were making an effort to make us believe they were flying even though the effects were bad.
**SPOILER WARNING**
I don't know but does every movie have to end with the good guy beating the pulp out of the bad guy? In this case laying of hands...gosh, I guess they figured the kids wouldn't appreciate blood soaking the walls as they duked it out for supremacy.
**SPOILER END**
Overall, the movie was a second-rate bore with little to appreciate and lots to squirm in your chair about. Save the money on the DVD and spend it on "Lord of the Rings".