PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME

RYAN: The new Disney blockbuster Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time stars Jake Gyllenhaal and a girl who would have been Rachel Weisz if she were a tad younger.

CAROLINE: Yeah, I recognized her from Clash of the Titans. She has an ethereal voice. Let’s face it, I wasn’t that into this movie since it’s for children. It’s pretty violent though, so I wouldn’t recommend it for young children.

RYAN: It’s really a fun movie, kind of like anime come to life. The action scenes and stunts are very cool, and I loved the effects.

CAROLINE: Evidently they had parkour back in ancient Persia. When we’re first introduced to the sands of time, I must admit the effects were awesome. I thought, “Maybe I won’t hate this movie.” But then I got so bored after an hour. It’s definitely well done, but this type of movie just isn’t for me.

RYAN: I thought it had a lot of incredible moments, and you slept through the climax so you don’t get to comment on that.

CAROLINE: Yeah, I dozed both at the beginning and the end. Something about kids’ movies does that to me.

RYAN: I literally had to break down for you what happened in the most pivotal scene of the movie, which was also the coolest. I still can’t believe you missed it.

CAROLINE: There’s some cool action, but the dialogue is preposterous at times. Poor Alfred Molina; I felt so bad for him. I didn’t even know he was in this movie, and he got some of the most embarrassing lines. This was a paycheck for him, big time.

RYAN: His character tried to provide the comic relief but it really didn’t work. Ben Kingsley is in it too, and he’s great as usual. I loved the costumes and the sets and the CGI. It’s almost like Aladdin come to life.

CAROLINE: It reminded me a little bit of the Mummy movies. It had that childish sense of intrigue.

RYAN: With a touch of Indiana Jones thrown in.

CAROLINE: After about an hour and fifteen, I didn’t know what I was going to do if it didn’t end soon. That’s when I had to nap. It’s almost two hours long!

RYAN: It was a little bit too long. I thought it could have ended fifteen minutes earlier. But I loved the ending; it was my favorite part. And Jake Gyllenhaal’s accent, which annoyed me in the trailer, wasn’t so bad in the context of the movie.

CAROLINE: I’m not sure why he’s getting so much flak for it. He did a decent job. I just don’t know why he never took his shirt off. When you work out that hard for that long, we want to see pecs, honey!

RYAN: His guns were amazing though. There’s a romantic sub-plot, of course. You wait the whole movie for the big kiss to happen.

CAROLINE: That part was so cheesy and contrived. I’m so not the target audience for this movie, I know. But I do think kids will like it; it’s exciting with great effects.

— BOTTOM LINE —

RYAN: It’s a good summer blockbuster for the family. It really takes you to another world and it engaged me the whole time. It’s kind of a boy movie, but it’s great escapism for all.

CAROLINE: It almost made me laugh how much some of the scenes reminded me of Sex and the City 2 with the dunes and the camels. It’s just funny that they were both shot in Morocco and are coming out the same weekend. I liked the special effects, but that’s about all I can say. I just didn’t care about the story because it’s totally for kids.

RYAN: Honey, what do you want? It’s Disney.

CAROLINE: That’s why I didn’t like it.

— RATING —