Despite those really rubbish ones that fall out of cheap crackers at Christmas time, it’s difficult not to be impressed by a good magic trick. Everything from a sleight of hand card shuffle to sawing a woman in half, from making someone disappear in front of your very eyes to living inside a dangling, Perspex box for 44 days – no, wait, scratch that last one.

It would be difficult then to turn down the opportunity to work under one of the greats of magic... unless of course it was Paul Daniels, especially after seeing him in that episode of Wife Swap with Vanessa Feltz. This is exactly the position nerdy student Dave (Jay Baruchel) finds himself in.

When he was ten, Dave wandered into a peculiar-looking antiques shop in NYC on a school field trip. He was chasing after a note from a girl he had a crush on, to see if she felt the same way. Once inside however, he came across the scruffy Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage); Blake senses something about young Dave and proceeds to give him a ring with a dragon on it. Dave tries it on, at which point it appears to come to life and all manner of weirdness breaks loose. He runs out of the shop clutching an odd-looking nesting doll which he quickly throws away; little does he realise that in doing this he has set some rather magical wheels in motion.

Ten years on and Dave is studying physics at New York University. It’s also at this time that Blake and his evil arch enemy Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) find themselves released from a vase they were magically sealed inside of, on the fateful day of Dave’s appearance. The race is now on to retrieve the nesting doll, which they last saw in Dave’s possession ten years ago. The reason? It’s no ordinary nesting doll: it is the Grimhold that has served as a prison for the evil sorceress Morgana (Alice Krige) and the beautiful Veronica (Monica Belluci) for hundreds of thousands of years.

Horvath wants the Grimhold to unleash Morgana so that they can finally go about destroying all of mankind. And Blake wants it to prevent exactly that from happening; oh, and to see his love Veronica again. But Blake knows that he won’t be able to stop them on his own. There’s a reason why the dragon ring worked for Dave all those years ago: Dave is a descendant of none other than Merlin himself. With the blood of the world’s most famous sorcerer running through his veins, Blake believes that Dave just may have what it takes to learn what he himself learnt from his own master – Merlin – all those years ago. And who knows, together they could defeat Horvath and his dark ways.

Now this new technique for pest control may look a tad unconventional to you sir, but trust me, when they see this coming they'll shit themselves.

Over the years, it’s become painfully more difficult to take Nicolas Cage seriously with every film he makes. And yet we sit through them. Hoping. Praying. It’s still a little puzzling how he still gets work; after all, the majority of his films stink like a tramp’s arse: The Wicker Man, Ghost Rider, Bangkok Dangerous and Knowing, to name just a few of his more recent 'gems'.

Back in the eighties, many of his performances - in such classics as Peggy Sue Got Married, Raising Arizona and Moonstruck - went all the way up to eleven; this meant that regardless of what was going on around him, Cage was always worth keeping an eye on.

Since then however, Cage has been in cruise control for the most time, appearing in bland project after bland project. Things don’t appear to be that different for him on the horizon either, with not only National Treasure 3 but also a Ghost Rider sequel in the pipeline.

And yet the strangest of things has happened. In the unlikeliest of places – this Disney film no less – a glimmer of the Cage of old can be found. He doesn’t quite hit eleven, but he’s getting there. Dressed, as he is for the film’s duration, in some quirky outfit that would make the coolest of Goths drool uncontrollably, Cage appears to be really enjoying getting under the skin of Blake. More than that though, he appears to be having fun playing him. A ball in fact.

Perhaps he’s simply at ease, working with a director he’s worked with before: Jon Turteltaub (on the National Treasure franchise). Or the fact that he gets to play opposite Alfred Molina, who tears the screen into pieces with his über-charming performance as the fiendish rogue Horvath. Whatever it is, it’s good news all round.

And as far as Jay Baruchel is concerned, he hasn’t done his career any harm at all as the geeky Dave. He has Michael Cera’s trademark awkwardness, but he also harnesses it with a blind bravado. Dave is no fighter, but under the right circumstances, with the right buttons pushed, he’s prepared to have a go, regardless of the consequences.

Another highlight is Toby Kebbell as the David Blaine-esque Drake Stone. Kebbell pushes the whole chameleon thing to a new level; he has that knack of producing the following response during a film’s end credits when his name pops up: “Oh my god, I didn’t even recognise him in that role!” Whenever you’re out and about, be sure to check that guy standing over there; chances are it’s Kebbell.

Although magic spells are an integral part of the film, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has far more in common with Ghostbusters than Harry Potter. There’s something about New York that just makes it the perfect location for all things ghoulish n’ ghostly. You half expect the Stay Puft Marshmallow man to peer around a corner and give a gooey wave.

Thankfully it also doesn’t bog itself down in silly spells from books or any of that other hocus pocus; instead it delivers magic on a Pot Noodle level – in an instant. Some of it is quite clever stuff too, involving mirrors, but then the best kind of magic often is.

Another trick it picked up from Ghostbusters is its huge sense of fun. Not only is there some nice exchange in dialogue, there’s a playfulness in the relationships that the characters have – particularly between Cage’s and Molina’s, despite them being enemies.

Its weakest areas are that of a terrible teen soundtrack that would make Ray Parker Jr shake his head in disapproval, as well as some awful and obvious product placements – shame on you Disney.

As family flicks go though, this one hardly sets a foot wrong. It throws a lot onto the screen, but it never fails to demonstrate that a good time is on the cards for one and all. And more importantly for Cage fans, they can be reassured by the fact he’s still got that little bit of magic.