| Home | Movie Archives | Useful Information | Product Reviews | Recalls | Rating System |

Film Title: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

 Best for ages: 10 & Up

Movie Website: Click Here

Year Released: 2010

Rated: PG-13 (US)

The Review

   There have been many video games turned into high budget, high profile films in the past twenty years.  Some have succeeded, but many have failed.  I for one stopped heavily playing video games when I was in college. This was when Playstation and X-box entered the gaming world to compete with Nintendo.  I was never familiar with the popularity of the titles that went on to make millions, and become so popular to be made into a film.  I’m guessing Prince of Persia: The Sand of Times is one of the best selling games to have the honor of Disney turning it into a big budget action film with producer Jerry Bruckhelmer and director Mike Newell at the helm.

      Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time follows the story of a boy named Dastan that was adapted by a king after he showed bravery at a young age and defended himself and his friend from the kings troops. Years later the boy is a warrior prince and along with his brothers and uncle they take their army to the borders of Persia to conquer their enemies. However, they discover that an ancient holy city under their rule may be providing their enemies with weapons. They raid the city and its temple and acquire a dagger with magical powers from the city’s princess. The dagger gives the person who holds it the power to travel back in time. However, Dasten is accused of murdering the king and is hunted along with the princess when it is discovered that they have the dagger. The two must use their knowledge of the dagger and find out who was behind the setup and the death of the king. Together they must convince everyone in Persia that the war was a setup for a certain family member to get his hands on the dagger.

   This film was criticized for the casting of Jake Gyllenhaal as Dasten.  In the game, Dasten is of course of Persian decent and many people thought the character should have been played by a Persian actor. I for one disagree as many characters of both television and literary fame have been played by actors of different descents and races that differ from the original characters. I think that Jake Gyllenhaal was fine in the role and even though he didn’t have a Persian accent, to me this film was just a fun adventure film. I didn’t really care how historically accurate the film was. It is not based on history. It is an action adventure fantasy based on a video game. I don’t think that it should have been labeled as such an issue.

   The film as a whole is one big giant stunt and visual effects extravaganza.  There are some very well choreographed fight scenes, lavish set design as well as creative and unique costumes. The acting is not half bad, it’s what you would expect from a video game based movie, nothing great, but not half bad for what’s it worth.

   The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack not only comes with the film on both DVD and Blu-ray but a digital copy is included as well.  The Blu-ray disc has the CineExplore feature which explores how The Sands of Time was bought to life.  Such features include forty segment time travels using the dagger where you can go back and explore scenes in the movie. There are also segments in which you can explore how the film was made from the filming in Morocco to the wall climbing sequence to the ostrich race tryouts. There are also deleted scenes included on the disc as well. The DVD features one featurette about the making of the film.

    Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time is rated PG-13, and rightfully so. Although it may look like a harmless adventure film that you might let young boys watch, it does contain some very violent fight scenes that do include the use of blood and characters dying on screen.  There is even a shot of a dismembered corpse. So parents beware, I would say at best maybe a ten year old can handle the violence, but you have been warned. I personally found the film to be a fun adventure film that is not as bad as many made it out to be. It one of those films where you can hang back and enjoy the ride, even if it’s not the greatest of movies. It the perfect popcorn film, the type that a father and son might enjoy together.

BUY THIS MOVIE.