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Item published by ArcT on 8th January. 0 Comments.

Prince of Persia: Just What do we Know?

It's true that there's little to go on aside from the standard Disney production clues, but possibly most interesting is the return to PG-13, not seen in a Disney film since Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End, the finale of a trilogy of films that's now, surprisingly, seven years old. Wild conjecture is fun, let's be honest. My personal bet is that the Prince will, at some point, say, "no, no, no, that didn't happen", something I'll probably applaud, cinema audience or not. We might even see some proper Princely leaping and bounding around the palace, wall-running just because the stairs are the 'normal' thing to do.

Here's something interesting, though. Sands of Time isn't a stand-alone game, but part of a longer story that spans eight years and a further two, taking the Prince to different lands and questions his own identity. According to various sources, we will see elements of all three of the games within the film but according to scriptwriter Jordan Mechner,'rather than do a straight beat-for-beat adaptation of the videogame, we're taking some cool elements from the game and usign them to craft a new story.' And the changes are clear. Dastan surges through the ranks of society from street-urchin to kingly heir in a single battle sequence, preventing the king's sons from scrapping amongst themselves when he dies. He then joins up with Princess Tamina, rescuing the Sands of Time from Ben Kingsley's villainous Nizam. Pretty standard Disney stuff, then; child overcoming diversity to save the world and consequently rule it.

This is where we've got to ask some difficult questions, though. We're certainly looking at the next Pirates franchise, if Disney has their way, but if there are various elements of the entire storyline incorporated within the first film and if the script is a re-imagining of the arguably classic game, can we expect an entirely different direction for the film series? And if so, how successful will it truly be? Scuttlebutt is that we're looking at the gaming market representing quite a chunk of the ticket sales, so if unsatisfying, both to the audience and the shareholders, this trilogy could quickly become a single film. Excitement is definitely warranted, but as far as this writer can see, we've got to take more than a pinch of salt with what's coming.

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