Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was surprisingly one of my favorite action films of the year. More as to why below:

Release Date: September 14, 2010
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: Approx. 116 minutes

In the spirit of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films transport you to the mystical lands of Persia for this wildly entertaining, epic action-adventure. It‘s a race against time when a rogue prince (Jake Gyllenhaal) reluctantly teams up with a rival princess (Gemma Arterton) to safeguard a magical dagger that gives its possessor the power to reverse time and rule the world. Filled with death-defying escapes and unexpected twists at every turn – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a fun-filled adventure that will keep your pulse pounding long after the credits end.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time could just be one of your favorite action period pieces this year. This is a story that is well written, has a strong cast, has very detailed orientated settings…it truly is an all around fascinating piece of work. As mentioned in the special features, “The characters in the story can believe what’s happening to them.” It’s so real on every level, you’ll be sucked into this world before you know it. Though it did start off a bit slow, once the ball really starts to roll, the fun and exciting adventure begins. There’s action, humor, romance, and so much more. So many elements make this film entertaining. And while I always root for the underdog, I never found myself rooting for Jake Gyllenhaal so much until watching this film. Not only that, but as someone who does not really play video games…I would absolutely love to play this one.

It really is a shame that this film wasn’t praised as much as I would have liked to have seen when it first came out. It seems other critics wanted more or less CGI, they felt that the story was not easy to follow, they thought that the film was trying to be epic like Pirates of the Caribbean, they wanted more memorable fight scenes, they wanted this and that. There was definitely enough CGI in the film, that is for sure. More of it would have totally ruined the authenticity of this world. Yes, you have to really pay attention to understand what is happening, but every movie that I am anticipating has my full attention already. The way that it is done, I wanted to figure out the pieces to the puzzle and if you are as engrossed into the film as I was, you will want to also.

As for the Pirates comparison, many of the crew members worked on the Pirates films. No, I don’t think that the aim was to make an epic film but I do think that the crew works with what they know…working on a grand scale. As for the fight scenes, I agree. It seems that so much is happening in this movie, that there really is no time to slow down a fight scene to see how detailed and amazing it is. Though my only real fault with the film is the character of the Princess, who is supposed to have some grand destiny. She seemed too weak to be the keeper of anything and if she had died, I would not have cared. So much more depth could have been attached to her character from the very beginning, i.e. explaining why she was so weak or simply giving viewers more of a reason to care about her character…because being in love with the underdog sometimes isn’t enough.

Overall, Prince of Persia is a film that I see myself watching over and over again and getting more out of it each and every time. I recommend watching the film and getting the video game!

Bonus Feature:

An Unseen World: Making Prince of Persia (15:49 minutes) – This feature is a behind the scenes look of the making of the film and what a fabulous feature it is to watch. I am in love with this film even more after watching this feature and finding out so much about how this film came together. For one, it was filmed in both Morocco and on set in England. The cast and crew filmed in Morocco during the hottest months of July and August, where the temperature easily reached over 100 degrees everyday. The cast and crew took over 9 stages in England and a lot of the sets & props were actually made in Morocco, so that was consistent. Second, the local Moroccan craftsmen made all of the props and such by hand! Not only that, but there were hundreds of local Moroccans as extras…as opposed to 5 extras standing behind the leader in the pack and through CGI is made to appear as hundreds. This film was authentic in every sense of the word. I found it quite odd that there was an ostrich race in the film, so to get a moment in this feature to learn more about how challenging that actually is…it is very appreciative. Ostrich race coordinator, Bill Riveo helped out for that scene, so props to him! The cast and crew ran into some wild life when not filming as well, as you’ll see in the feature. The last main topic of discussion is Jake’s training (sword fighting, running, parkour, etc…) and it is safe to say that Jake Gyllenhaal is now an action hero. I loved every moment of this feature…it really gave me a detailed look into what makes the world of Prince of Persia and what a beautiful world it is.

Appearing in this bonus feature:
Producer, Jerry Bruckheimer
Director, Mike Newell
Executive producers, Chad Oman and Eric McLeod
Creator of Prince of Persia video game, Jordan Mechner
Supervising Art Directors, Jonathan McKinstry and Gary Freeman
Supervising Location Manager, Michael Sharp
Costume Designer, Penny Rose
Ostrich Race Coordinator, Bill Riveo
Set Decorator, Elli Griff
UK Construction Supervisor, Brian Neighbour
Fight Coordinator, Thomas Dupont
Stunt Coordinator, George Aguilar
Parkour Choreographer, David Belle
Cast Members: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arteron, Sir Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina, Toby Kebbell, Richard Coyle, and Reese Ritchie

1-Disc Blu-ray Bonus Features:
* An Unseen World: Making Prince of Persia
* Deleted Scene – The Banquet: Garsiv Presents Heads

3-Disc Combo Pack Bonus Features:
* An Unseen World: Making Prince of Persia
* Deleted Scene – The Banquet: Garsiv Presents Heads
* CineExplore: The Sands of Time – Take control of the dagger and use it to unlock secrets behind your favorite scenes! Turn back time and uncover over 40 spellbinding segments – including “Walking Up Walls”, “Filming in Morocco”, and “Ostrich Jockey Tryouts”- with this exclusive interactive feature.

Own Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time on DVD, Blu-ray, and DVD/Blu-ray Combo Pack today.