Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Run Time: 2 Hours and 8 Minutes
Trailer
Notable Cast
Will Smith ... Genie / Mariner
Mena Massoud ... Aladdin
Naomi Scott ... Jasmine
Marwan Kenzari ... Jafar
Navid Negahban ... Sultan
Nasim Pedrad ... Dalia
Mena Massoud ... Aladdin
Naomi Scott ... Jasmine
Marwan Kenzari ... Jafar
Navid Negahban ... Sultan
Nasim Pedrad ... Dalia
Plot
A poor boy named Aladdin lives on the street and must steal to survive. One day, he accidentally bumps into a beautiful woman. He saves her from a vendor and they run away from the guards. He deduces that she lives in the palace and is very closely connected to the royalty. What he doesn't realize is the fact that it is Princess Jasmine herself (identifying herself as her handmaid Dalia). She goes off to the palace to "help the princess" but Aladdin doesn't stop there. He decides to go visit her in the palace, which is a feat in itself - a thief breaking into a palace at night.
The palace guards catch him and the Sultan's second hand man (a sorcerer named Jafar) takes him out to the desert, hoping that Aladdin is the one that he has been looking for to get an extraordinary treasure (a genie lamp) from a cave (The "Cave of Wonders") because only a "diamond in the rough" can enter. Aladdin takes the job because Jafar says that he could make him rich enough to even impress a princess. After Aladdin's friend Abu the monkey breaks a rule in the cave, Jafar does not help Aladdin out, thinking that he had just gotten the lamp but Abu stole it back from him before the cave closed down. So Jafar thinks the lamp is lost...and Aladdin has it.
Now here's the question: can genie magic make Jasmine see Aladdin for more than a poor thief? What will Jafar do to get the lamp from Aladdin? Can there be a happy end for Aladdin, with or without Jasmine?
The palace guards catch him and the Sultan's second hand man (a sorcerer named Jafar) takes him out to the desert, hoping that Aladdin is the one that he has been looking for to get an extraordinary treasure (a genie lamp) from a cave (The "Cave of Wonders") because only a "diamond in the rough" can enter. Aladdin takes the job because Jafar says that he could make him rich enough to even impress a princess. After Aladdin's friend Abu the monkey breaks a rule in the cave, Jafar does not help Aladdin out, thinking that he had just gotten the lamp but Abu stole it back from him before the cave closed down. So Jafar thinks the lamp is lost...and Aladdin has it.
Now here's the question: can genie magic make Jasmine see Aladdin for more than a poor thief? What will Jafar do to get the lamp from Aladdin? Can there be a happy end for Aladdin, with or without Jasmine?
Official MPAA Rating (According to
IMDB.com):
G / General Audiences
PG / Parental Guidance Suggested
PG-13 / Parents Strongly Cautioned
R / Restricted
X
Not Rated
Rating Criteria
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute
waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of
something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but
could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly
amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all
around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.
4/5 - *SPOILERS*
Honestly, at first I was not liking Will Smith as Genie but he grows on you. He's not as lovable as Robin Williams' Genie in Disney's animated 1992 film "Aladdin", but you come to love this Genie as the movie progresses.
One thing I loved about Will Smith as Genie is that he has a good singing voice. <3 The beginning song "Arabian Nights" was not the same lyrics as the 1992 version and it started this movie out as Will Smith's character (not blue) being a mariner on a ship with his wife, two children, and other people. The children want to have a "fancy" ship like that one instead of theirs and next thing you know, the mariner is telling them a tale of a princess and a poor boy, putting himself as the Genie. This bothered me because why would you put yourself into the story... But we'll get to that later.
Here's Will Smith singing "Prince Ali" as he is bringing Aladdin to the palace to meet Jasmine. He had just told Aladdin that no one would recognize him because of genie magic making people accept what is shown to them (it is all appearances) but the magic will not change WHO you are.
Aladdin tries to get to know Jasmine, gets discovered by Jafar and is tossed (tied to a chair) out of a window and into the bay. The Genie actually does help him, eating up the 2nd of 3 wishes, and that brings Aladdin to the problem of "what should I do with my 3rd wish? I said that I would release him from Genie life but I need to keep up appearances so I can stay with the princess....".
Jafar gets his hands on the lamp, banishes Aladdin and tries to take over as the most powerful in the land. Of course, he has a power trip thing going on because that's his whole reason to do anything - get the lamp to get the power I want! Jasmine shows him up, though, and proves that the guard's loyalty is not to the title of the Sultan but to the actual person. You don't earn loyalty and respect by taking a title. You earn it by what you do.
Jasmine, having shown that she cares for her people and for her country, dislikes the fact that she is looked down upon because she is a woman. She has been told time and time again that she needs to be wife to the next ruler, that she must marry a prince from the many that come to court her, and that she cannot take the role of Sultan because she is just female. It sounds sexist but that's how many cultures have lived. This makes the movie more true to the a potential origin of the story of Aladdin: middle eastern folk tales. I enjoyed the fact that she was able to stand up for her people in the face of adversity when her father has been stripped of his title and when she was being led away. Because of this, Jafar realized that he had to step up his game so he could be the most powerful because he didn't want to work for the title.
Jafar's 2nd made him the most powerful sorcerer and, after Aladdin reminded him that all of his power was given to him by the Genie, his 3rd wish was to become "the most powerful being in the universe". Genie says something about a lot of grey area with that wish and turns him into a Genie: phenomenal cosmic power, itty bitty living space. And a Genie without a master goes back into his lamp, so there's your downfall, Jafar. You wanted power. You got it, but now you have to have someone else give you orders so you can use your powers. Ironic, isn't it?
Aladdin frees Genie from being a genie. Right after, he goes over to Dalia and asks her if they could travel the world. "I want children." (Break to the "other" world where we started the movie and show the two of them on the ship with their children.) Like I said earlier, I don't like that part of the movie with Will Smith's character tying it at the beginning (and here) to say that this is just a story; it could have done without.
The Sultan tells Jasmine that he was wrong to tell her earlier that she couldn't rule, as he had seen her step up against Jafar for her people, and tells her that she is to be the next Sultan. And she can change the rules now [Sultan says that Aladdin is "a good man"], so she decides to change them so she can marry Aladdin (instead of requiring a prince to marry).
All of this review I did was biased because I grew up with the 1992 Disney "Aladdin" movie. Will Smith did a good job at being a genie but I still love Robin Williams' version better. I definitely think that Jasmine became MORE strong than the 1992 version. I highly doubt that the 1992 version would have stood up against Jafar like that; she seemed more weak and merely wanted to get out of the palace because she was more of a "runaway teen" than a woman that wanted to see about the status of her kingdom.
As for the Sultan, he definitely was much more professional than the 1992 version, not playing with toys. Jafar was definitely sinister in both movies and the motivation for what he did in both movies was "to gain power" but in the 2019 version, he seemed to want destruction on countries surrounding the kingdom and to cause wars. In the 1992 version, I think he was more for just wanting Jasmine and the kingdom.
As for Rajah the tiger, Abu the monkey, and Iago the parrot, the CGI was good for realism but their characteristics were lost... Rajah still attacked humans it didn't approve of (never talked in the 1992 version either) but he did make faces in the 1992 version of worry, shock, etc. Abu had more spunk and reaction in the 1992 movie. Iago still talked in the 2019 version but not that much. He rarely spoke more than single lines and never with much character to the phrases.
Aside that, I still think this movie is a very good and realistic remake of the 1992 "Aladdin". I suggest this movie! I would definitely see it again though there are a few issues that I noted in here. (If you are a die-hard fan of the 1992 "Aladdin" movie, you might have a few issues but I still recommend it!)
Anyways, that's my long-winded movie review. Thanks for reading. Keep an eye out for more reviews in the future!
~ Gracie Mae DeLunac
Contact me?
Twitter @gracie_delunac
Skype gracelyn2019@yahoo.com
"Everything Wrong with Aladdin"
Credit to @CinemaSins
1592.
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