Excellent Story undone by poor direction and acting

Rating: 6/10 (7 June 2010)

After watching Prince of Persia in theater i am of the opinion that this is best movie based on a video game, but still can't overlook the fact that it is far from perfect when it comes to good quality cinema.
Only 15-20 minutes into the movie i realized that the action sequences and the sword battles lack a certain amount of intensity and bloodshed, and the director is more inclined to please the kids than the grown up audience. Also when one set fight and jump sequences end the movie seems to rush to the next set of fight and jump sequence, with short dialogues and quirky humor in between. The action sequences themselves are not very long and although most have been well done, i would have preferred lesser but more elaborate ones than having too many of them. Due to this the action sequences become a bit of drag towards the end and the climax doesn't feel that strong. The acting of most lead characters is amateurish leaving aside Jake and Alfred Molina who fits the role of a crook merchant with a lighter side. Gemma Arteton on the other hand stands out as most irritating as princess whatever who cannot act and speaks with a heavy British accent in a movie with an Arabic setting. The method of storytelling does not leave any room for character development or growth of story. Don't get me wrong, the story of PoP is the strongest point of the movie and the only thing that kept me interested. It is the way it has been told that leaves a lot to be desired, which actually is not a surprise to me as Mike Newell, the director was also involved in Harry Potter and the goblet of fire, the weakest movie in the franchise. Though it was refreshing to see a video game movie possessing a good story because attempts prior to this had no story to speak of, let alone a bad one.
A serious take on the good story and maybe no involvement of Disney would certainly have helped in making it a more mature movie than what it is.
Still give it 6/10 just for the story which otherwise is a pop corn entertainer.