The adaptation of Noah Gordon's best selling book about a British boy who travels to the East in medieval times to learn about medicine may have its financial roots in Germany, but the look and feel of the film couldn't be more international. The settings, the camera work, production design, everything's top notch and in Hollywood's league. Some of the visuals are strikingly beautiful and take you to a different time and place, like every good period film should.

The movie can rely on a couple of acting veterans who never disappoint like Skarsgard and Kingsley, but the leading man, newcomer Tom Payne, makes for a talented and likable protagonist. The film's ambition is nothing short of telling a story of adventure, love and drama on a scale of classics like Lawrence of Arabia. Of course it can't entirely live up to that.

Still, the effort and great eye for detail that went into this is showing and makes for a very entertaining film. The only complaint would have to be how ham-fisted the commentary on current religious struggles that made it into the film feels at times. Those aspects of the story may have a couple of very true things to say about how religion, prejudice and fear-mongering has made life more difficult for centuries, it all feels a bit forced, though. The result is still fine adventure cinema on a massive scale, worth checking out if you're into epic dramas set in beautiful landscapes.

7 out of 10 sand storms