Set in the mystical lands of Persia, a rogue prince reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time - a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Sometimes I think it is better to have not seen or in this case played the original source material before seeing its big screen adaptation. Coming into Prince of Persia with little or no background information on the game allowed me to just sit back and enjoy the film without having to analyze and compare it to anything else. And enjoy the movie is what I did. I enjoyed it for what it was, a mindless action film with lots of special effects and fighting meant to entertain and while away an afternoon. The film is not great by any means but it was still fun and entertaining and that was all I was looking for or expecting.

Prince of Persia has a pretty good story and actually in this case it might have too much story as the film almost seems like it should have been two films as the lead characters rush from one task and one quest to the next. Sometimes less is more and the movie does have a good baseline story but it just seems like it takes way too many side roads on its way to its final destination. The film films a little bloated at times and despite how much fun and entertaining the film can be at times you just want to scream get to the point about three quarters through the movie.

You can see the film though is hoping for a number of sequels to delve more into the world they create and what a world it is. I was somewhat reminded of another Disney film Aladdin as the film casts that fanciful look on a once historical place full of wonders and orphans, kings and roofs that seem perfect to be leapt from in chase sequences. And just like Aladdin we have another orphan making his escape from the royal guards using those very rooftops as his means of escape.

I am not entirely sure about the casting for the film as Jake Gyllenhaal does do an ok job in the lead role he just never really captures the essence of the character. He just feels miss cast the entire time and that just may because this is first real foray into this type of genre of action hero but then that is no real excuse because others have pulled it off before in their first time switching genres. Alfred Molina is the actor that sticks out the most for me in this film as he turns a fun comical role into something just a little more. Prince of Persia was a good film but it was also a little long winded at times and meander in it’s bloated story way too much.

Grade: B-