A young street rat named Dastan is rescued by King Sharaman of Persia, thus making him a future prince. He becomes a great warrior for his country, and during an attack on a neighboring land, he captures their princess, Tamina, and finds a fascinating-looking dagger. At the post-victory banquet, Sharaman is killed and Dastan is framed. He escapes with both Tamina and the dagger in tow, hunted down by his adopted brothers, the true sons of Sharaman and heirs to the Persian throne. Dastan discovers that his dagger enables him to suspend time and rewind it by one minute, slowly, to allow him to take in all the details around him. While time is frozen, he sees that his uncle, Nizam, has burned hands, which means that he is the one actually responsible for the murder of Sharaman. While running from the forces of Persia, Tamina tells Dastan they must go back to her home, where the dagger's origin is located. Apparently, underneath the city, the sands from a mystical storm have been stored-- the same sands which give the dagger their power to rewind time by a minute. Tamina insists they must go back and destroy the sands before someone unleashes them upon the world, which would result in the destruction of everything. However, Nizam plans on using the sands to go back to his childhood, so that he may kill Sharaman and become King himself. It's a race to the sands, and only Dastan can stop his uncle from inadvertently causing the end of the world.
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Best part of story, including ending:
It's remarkably boring for a movie with magic and apocalyptic threats. The characters have no personality and the special effects are mostly bad.
Best scene in story:
Alfred Molina makes a brief appearance as a treacherous ally of Nizam, and Molina has the power as an actor to make any movie better, if only temporarily.
Opinion about the main character:
Dastan is as bland as can be, given zero personality whatsoever-- the only reason he's even remotely interesting is because he happens to have the dagger.
