Watching Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, I definitely got the feeling that Disney wanted Prince of Persia to be the next Pirates of the Caribbean. There are many similarities between Prince of Persia and Pirates of the Caribbean, and Prince of Persia even had a few advantages over Pirates of the Caribbean. Despite its efforts, however, Prince of Persia failed to engage and entertain me the same way that undead pirates and buried treasure did.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time follows Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), a boy from the streets who King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup) chose to adopt as his son. Dastan gets along well with his adopted brother Tus (Richard Coyle) but less so with his brother Garsiv (Toby Kebbell). Their relationships are tested when they go into battle and Dastan emerges victorious. During the celebrations, Dastan’s fortunes change when the king is murdered and Dastan is framed for his murder. He runs away with Tamina (Gemma Arterton), a princess from the conquered city, and he discovers that a dagger taken from Tamina’s city has mystical powers. They set about returning the dagger, and along the way, they run into trouble with Dastan’s uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley), small businessman (and ostrich racetrack owner) Sheik Amar (Alfred Molina), and Dastan’s brothers who doubt his innocence.
Production design is a definite strength of Prince of Persia. The film does a great job capturing the look of the original video game while bringing in a few original elements. Jake Gyllenhaal obviously bulked up quite a bit for the role, and he leaps nimbly up walls, through market places, and past a wide assortment of bad guys. Even Dastan’s costumes are faithful to some of his outfits from the games. Additionally, the script gave some fun new settings that were not in the original games including an ostrich race track, and visually striking settings can do a lot to help a movie like Prince of Persia. Pirates of the Caribbean similarly had some wonderful settings like the seaside pirate town (from the original Disneyland ride) and the Black Pearl (a new addition).
Acting-wise, Prince of Persia is also above snuff for the typical summer blockbuster. Much of this has to do with the cast including Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina, and of course Jake Gyllenhaal as the title character. Unfortunately, this is where the film’s biggest weakness comes in, which is the script. Kingsley has to emote much of his evilness through his villain facial hair, and Molina spends a lot of time talking about being a small businessman who pays too much in taxes. Gyllenhaal ends up with most of the film’s best dialogue bantering with Tamina, but it still could have been much stronger. Kingsley, Molina, and Gyllenhaal are all pros, but the dialogue doesn’t do very much besides move the characters onto the next fight/escape scene. I think that all of the main characters might have been more memorable with a better writer. Unlike Pirates of the Caribbean, there are no Jack Sparrows or Barbossas keeping the audience waiting to hear what witty, dry, or ridiculous line would come out of their mouths next.
Finally, Prince of Persia falls into one of the traps of adapting anything (whether it is a book, Disney theme park ride, or video game) into a film. Film adaptations walk a fine line between completely disregarding the source material and angering fans or staying too faithful at the expense of the film. I am going to sound really silly, but I think the filmmakers tried to hard to set this story in reality. Yes, I am saying this despite the fact that Jake Gyllenhaal is playing a Persian, there is a dagger that can turn back time, and Dastan can run up and down walls like a young Jackie Chan. In the game, Dastan’s world is full of mysticism and magic which is missing from the film. There is too much focus on wars, invasions, and non-existent weapons. I hear enough about it on the news. If anything, Prince of Persia should have had the upper hand over Pirates of the Caribbean because the source material has full storylines and much more to work with. Pirates of the Caribbean added in ancient curses, magical gold coins, and an army of undead pirates while Prince of Persia cut the magical sand people from the game and added in Alfred Molina talking about big government. Ouch. Prince of Persia teaches a very important lesson about summer popcorn movies: Throw in a little more magic and a little less reality.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The Blu-ray disc has one deleted scene, and the DVD disc has the featurette An Unseen World: Making Prince of Persia. The Blu-ray copy of the film also has a CineExplore feature, and as behind-the-scenes junkies watch the movie, they can unlock featurettes about more than 40 different scenes. For those who want to watch the film on their computer or portable device, the set also comes with a digital copy of the film.
"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is on sale September 14, 2010 and is rated PG13. Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Romance. Directed by Mike Newell. Written by Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard, Jordan Mechner. Starring Alfred Molina, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Richard Coyle, Steve Toussaint, Toby Kebbell.
