Prince of Persia is a very nice video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner, originally developed for the Apple II Computer. Through the various titles, the series has been developed and published by many different companies: the first two games in the series, Prince of Persia and Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame, were developed by Brøderbund; in recent years Ubisoft has developed the games, starting with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Originally it was primarily a 2D platform video game; the franchise has evolved to three-dimensional action-platform games, and has spawned the movie Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time released in May 2010, by Disney.On November 18 a collection titled "Prince of Persia Trilogy" will be released, only on PS3. It includes The Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones, remastered for HD, and Trophy and 3D support.
Now it's fair to say that the big screen adaptations of computer games haven't been hugely successful in recent years with the likes of Hitman, Max Payne and Tomb Raider crashing and burning.
Having said that the film is a little disappointing as it just could have been so much more but it just seems to settle for being a popcorn movie that isn't bad but makes no attempt to blow you away.
But that trend looked like it may come to an end this summer when the team behind The Pirates of the Caribbean brought Prince of Persia to the big screen.
Set in the mystical lands of Persia, a rogue prince Dastan (Gyllenhaal) reluctantly joins forces with the mysterious princess Tamina (Arterton) and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time - a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.
And while the computer game curse hasn't exactly been lifted with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time this movie is better than many of those that have come before.