Movie Review: Prince of Persia

TITLE: Prince of Persia
RELEASED: May 27th, 2010
PEOPLE INVOLVED: Jerry Bruckheimer produced, Disney involved, Jake Gyllanhal(my main reason for seeing this film ;drools;), Sir Ben Kingsley (a very welcome bonus).
GENRE: video game based, fantasy, action
PREMISE: Prince Dustan helps his brothers sieze a city and then gets accused of murdering his father and becomes involved with the captured princess and her really weird time-changing dagger.
MY REVIEW: Every summer I indulge in at least one mindless silly action flick. Last year that flick was Transformers 2, this year it's Prince of Persia (assuming I don't end up seeing Sorceror's Apprentice or the A Team, that M.Night Shamalan screwed up The Last Airbender (which he better NOT have ;inserts evil fangirl glare of doom;) and that Inception is not as awesome as it looks (doubtful because hello Chris Nolan and Leo and Michael Caine, it's like my dream movie, the only thing that could make it better would be if it also had Morgan Freeman or Samuel L.Jackson)).
Where was I? Oh yes, Prince of Persia is unashamed sillyness and I think that's why it worked for me. They didn't try and make this into a ultimate epic, nor did they make it into utter mindless pointlessness (although it occasionally gets close). It just wavers between cheesyness and kind of awesome action flick so while it's definite escapist fare in the tradition of Star Wars, you don't feel like you've utterly wasted your money while watching it or that you're losing your brain cells.
There are undenialably roll-eye worthy moments (there are several slow motion moments and the romance is slightly cheesy). But there are also awesome action sequences and the characters are just fun. I would have loved more scenes with Dustan and his band of rascals in the early part of the film but that probably would have dragged the movie so there was sadly not much of it. But at least there was snarkyness between the hero and the Princess so I was happy with it, even if I felt like the Princess was mainly there for guys to ogle. At least she did more then just be the romantic lead or was the OMG!Shoes! type (yes, I'm glaring at you Sex and the City 2).
So, yes, there is no denying that Prince of Persia is silly, campy, and cheesy. But it's so much fun that it's hard to really mind it. This will not win Oscars (except for maybe soundtrack and effects), but if you're in the mood for a fun ride that doesn't cost you brain cells, this movie is worth seeing on screen.
WHO SHOULD SEE: Bruckheimer movie fans, action flick fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of five back flipping persian princes