Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: May 28, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
21
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
MovielineStephanie Zacharek
It deserves to be seen on a hot Saturday afternoon in a theater (preferably an air-conditioned one) peopled with other people, the way many of us used to see movies as kids. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
This is what a videogame movie looks like now. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
On the scale of summer action films, this is to the “Transformers” sequel what an Andy Warhol print is to a first-grader’s refrigerator painting. Read full review
70
Boxoffice MagazinePete Hammond
Mixing old-fashioned content and state of the art effects, this Jerry Bruckheimer production trades ‘pirates' for ‘princes' to revive the swashbuckling, sword fighting spirit of the sort Douglas Fairbanks or Errol Flynn specialized. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterRay Bennett
A handsome, fast-paced and innocuous adventure that's easy to take but lacks epic scale. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Corliss
No masterpiece, Persia is fun for exactly as long as it takes to sit through it. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Something is going on all the time, even if that something is oftentimes clumsy, nonsensical, or flat. But the sheer whoosh of the story line keeps you watching anyway. Read full review
63
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
A ditzy film that offers more evidence that good actors, good action and one-liners don’t solve the one thing missing in every movie video game adaptation – a story that makes sense. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The real standout is Alfred Molina, hamming it up as a desert entrepreneur who races ostriches and avoids paying taxes. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
Prince of Persia is woven of recycled fibers, but by the slipping standards of summertime entertainment, it's a magic carpet ride. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
It's sort of fun, certainly more so than the "National Treasure" pictures, as well as less manic (a little less) than the recent "Mummy" films. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
What's missing in Prince of Persia is a sense that all the running, jumping, climbing and fighting is leading to something. The best video games challenge you to reach the next level. Prince of Persia is content to skim the surface. Read full review
63
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
A surprisingly entertaining movie on its own, a strap-yourself-in, suspend-your-disbelief summer popcorn adventure. Read full review
60
VarietyLeslie Felperin
Bruckheimer's passably enjoyable, antiquity-themed epic should satisfy its young male core demographic well enough, but won't connect with other auds on the level of Bruckheimer's "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. Read full review
60
EmpireIan Nathan
Its restraint might put off thrill-seekers, but if you can endure the wooden dialogue and sloppy exposition, it musters the entertainment quotient of a middle-order Harry Potter. Read full review
58
Tampa Bay TimesSteve Persall
None of it is thrilling, but Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has a Saturday matinee goofiness that'll go well enough with air conditioning. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick Schager
Yet Newell, he of "Four Weddings and a Funeral," is ill-suited to steward such sword-and-sandals adventure, his direction--while slightly eschewing modern genre practitioners’ penchant for slicing-and-dicing skirmishes into visual incoherence--is too pedestrian and partial to clumsy slow-mo effects to truly energize the story. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
The audience should be given game controllers upon entering the theater. It wouldn't mean the film would make any more sense, but at least you'd feel like you had some say in the matter. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
By no means a great film, but it is an entertaining one, a nearly bloodless, family-friendly throwback of sorts to a cinematic age when Persian palace intrigue, winsome princesses, and ambitious princes ruled the back lots and Errol Flynn was in like, well, Errol Flynn. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The two leads are not inspired. Jake Gyllenhaal could make the cover of a muscle mag, but he plays Dastan as if harboring Spider-Man's doubts and insecurities. I recall Gemma Arterton as resembling a gorgeous still photo in a cosmetics ad. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Another disposable family entertainment. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Spinning a handsome Disney adventure out of a videogame is a testament to Bruckheimer’s commercial savvy. The fact that it still isn’t particularly good seems beside the point. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
How bad is Prince of Persia? Whether or not director Mike Newell is to blame, the action sequences lack verve and scope. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Stitched together from so many other movies that it plays like an attack of multiple déjà vu. Stray bits of “Star Wars,’’ “Pirates of the Caribbean,’’ “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,’’ and “Robin Hood’’ pass by like flotsam, and the overwhelming tone is good-natured but alarmingly generic. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
For the most part this is perfectly painless mush. The movie is irrepressibly silly -- what were you expecting? -- but a few hours of Mr. Gyllenhaal jumping around in leather and fluttering his long lashes has its dumb-fun appeal. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
In Prince Dastan, he (Gyllenhaal) is supposed to be that heady mix of street smarts, roguish charm and barroom moxie with the noble heart of a lion underneath. It's a lot to ask and turns out to be something more than he can deliver. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
An energetic if empty-headed adventure based on the popular video game. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
It's not the grand scale action-adventure it aspires to be, but this faux epic does offer family-friendly entertainment. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Destined to disappear into the quicksand of time, too innocuous to be hated, too bland to be remembered, just awaiting some bright optimist in a distant future to press the do-over button. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
May be the first movie that effectively erases virtually its entire story line by the very last scene. Read full review
50
SlateJosh Levin
Like most movies in which a central story element doubles as a toy tie-in, Prince of Persia isn't overly burdened by ambition. Read full review
40
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Prince of Persia is meant purely as light entertainment, but the way it draws on layers of junk is depressing. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith Uhlich
A Jerry Bruckheimer–produced video-game adaptation--it has to be good, doesn’t it? (Ya, sarcasm.) Read full review
40
NPRMark Jenkins
What Newell can't seem to do is give Prince of Persia a unifying style, tone or purpose. The film moves well, but doesn't show any motivation other than getting to the next game level. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
There's plenty of action, but it's all the same. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The lesson here is simple: In the digital realm, the bigger the worse. What looks distinctive and believable in short takes and small doses can turn blatantly phony and deadly familiar when the scale is pumped up. Prince of Persia pumps itself up to the bursting point, and bursts. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
As a Jerry Bruckheimer production and a game adaptation, Prince of Persia has every business being jumpy and sequential, and as a frivolous summer popcorn flick it has every business being inane. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
An epic example of muddled storytelling, chintzy excitement and scatter-brained execution. Read full review
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