Live Action Aladdin Review

Photo Courtesy of Disney

     

It came as no surprise to me that one search of the 2019 live-action version of “Aladdin” on Google came up with a mirage of reviews with claims such as “an embarrassment to Disney” and “this is not what you wished for” and one scalding review after another. Those who aren’t angry, are mostly just confused. It seems like most people don't really know how to feel.

I knew there would be some awful reviews, hell, I think skeptical and scolding reviews were coming out before the movie even hit the box office. It was like people were ready to hate it, looking for every reason to pick apart the movie.

The key, I think, is not to think of the movie as a remake, but its own separate story. The new live-action “Aladdin” makes some changes from the original animated version.

For starters, they attempt to delete potentially racist scenes or lines that the 1992 “Aladdin” overlooked. In the opening song, “Arabian Nights,” the line “It’s barbaric, but hey it’s home” is switched to a less offensive “It’s chaotic, but hey it’s home.” The director, Guy Ritchie, gave Jasmine a more feminist role, and he tweaked the ending a bit to showcase that.

“Street rat” Aladdin is brought to life through the charming Mena Massoud. I’m not sure about the rest of you, but Aladdin was always my favorite Disney prince. A sweet, generous boy who comes from nothing and wants to show you the world? Count me in. Aladdin also, funny enough, seems to be the one with the least criticism.

Critics seem instead to focus on Will Smith as the Genie. He is in fact no Robin Williams, but Smith takes the role on in his own way, becoming a new version of the classic Genie. Smith told Angelique Jackson from variety “The biggest challenge was being able to find a way to not make jarring and disturbing by how different it would be,” he said. “To make people feel at home while they were getting something new and special.” Jackson wrote, “ Will Smith brings the cocky hip-hop swagger of his earlier career.” And while he will probably not be winning a platinum record with his voice, he was amusing to watch.

Princess Jasmine, played by Naomi Scott, takes on a feminist, strong, inspiring role. Josh Rottenberg from The Los Angeles Times interviewed Scott.

During the interview, she said, “In the original movie, as great as it is that she’s fighting for the choice of who to marry, that’s where her ambition kind of stops. In the movie, she’s more ambitious and she looks outside herself. She’s trying to protect her kingdom against this evil dictator [Jafar]. It’s showcasing that you can lead and you can have love. You can have both, girls, and the two aren't mutually exclusive.”

The fictional Arabian realm of Agrabah was brought to life by production designer Gemma Jackson.

Jackson traveled all over the world, including to Burma and Marrakech, to get a sense of the type of scenes she needed to create. Jackson explained to Entertainment Weekly how they came up with the “One Jump” scene of Aladdin and Princess Jasmine running through the street fair.

“We just wanted to make it mysterious, all these fairs in Marrakech have these wonderful, secretive alleyways for running around… so we created quite long runs for the actors so the cameras could chase them though. Guy [Ritchie] loves to do real-time things and play with that so we had some great alleys you come running around and be confronted.”

Whatever your feeling on remaking the old Disney movies, I urge you to go in with an open mind; if you go in hating something, you’re wasting your money.





At a Glance:
Aladdin
Director: Guy Ritchie
Writers: John August, Guy Ritchie
Cast: Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban
Stars: 4 out of 5
Rating: PG
Running Time: 2 hours, 8 minutes
Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical, Romance