Review of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Mark (K2) and I saw this on Memorial Day.  Based on some of the trailers I'd seen, I had some doubts, particularly about the CG being a bit dodgy.  Some of these doubts were confirmed.  But as I watched the movie, I found myself being sucked into it, ignoring some of the grievances that I might normally have.  The story was satisfactory - familiar but with a few twists to keep it interesting.  I also enjoyed some of the restraint taken with dialogue.  It wasn't too much or preposterously stupid.  There was even one recurring line that I quite liked the use of.  It said a lot without pounding the point home too clumsily.  The action was a little lacking, if only because it seemed too assembled.  I realize that most action is, but some of the cuts felt like band-aids used to cover awkward moments in otherwise fluid shots.  Still, it got the job done.  I really liked the sets in the movie.  They were rather detailed and created a nice sense of place for the story.  The acting was decent.  I thought Jake Gyllenhaal would be awful, but he performed adequately.  Gemma Arterton was appropriate.  I like seeing her more and more.  The best part of the whole movie, though, in my opinion, was Alfred Molina as the hilarious, motor-mouthed ostrich race entrepreneur.  Overall, I think Prince of Persia had a sort of old-fashioned feel to it.  The way it was structured and the scale of the story seemed to hearken back to adventures of yesterday, and I quite enjoyed that.  It wasn't my favorite movie of the summer, but it was decent.  2.5 stars.

Number rating: 68