TV Tuesday: Prince of Persia

Disney's most recent video game adaptation has been the film Prince of Persia. As with any movie based on a video game, I had very low expectations with regards to plot and high expectations with regards to special effects and action film fun. Overall, though, I was disappointed.

The plot was lacking, as I expected, so I was not disappointed in that way, but the poor acting made the fact glaringly obvious. The actors did not mesh well, and their body language was pretty flat. It was apparent much of the time that they were just reciting lines.

The special effects were there, but their quality was far below the standard I have come to expect of Disney and other major film houses. Pirates of the Caribbean this movie is not.

The action sequence are pretty fun, with plenty of running, jumping, chasing, and hand-to-hand combat. And this was the primary strength of the film, especially since the action (even in battle scenes) neatly avoids bloody or gory imagery.

For Aspies, my review is mixed. On the one hand, I like the film because the action is neither graphic nor realistic, and there really is no sexual content (the female character could definitely wear more, but it's nothing worse than we are accustomed to seeing in day-to-day advertising), making the film fairly appropriate for young teens and some preteens.

On the other hand, the poor acting and the bad behavior of some of the characters (for which there is no apparent consequence) reinforces the poor social skills so common among children with AS. Moreover, the transparency of plot and characters does not challenge the Aspie child to see situations or people as being potentially multi-faceted. The bad guys are bad. The good guys are good, even when they behave badly. The damsel in distress is generally annoying and useless, although attractive. There are no surprises.

So, if you want to take your child to a fun movie purely for the sake of entertainment, Prince of Persia is probably a decent choice. If you want to find something with a little redeeming value, move on to something else.