Aladdin: Do you trust me?
Jasmine: Yes

Disney has finally made all of their viewers’ dream come true; the remake of Aladdin. Last May 23, cinemas all over the world has witness the new version of our childhood favorite disney movie, Aladdin.

To those who haven’t watched or heard about it, Aladdin, is a story about a young man who lives as a thief and in his journey, he met the young princess Jasmine, who then became a reason why Aladdin, wanted more.

During his treasure hunting, he found a magic lamp-which he didn’t know until he rubbed the lamp clean-and a genie appeared in front of him asking him for his three wishes.

Aladdin, didn’t think twice on wishing that he could have enough wealth to impress the princess who is actually looking for a prince to marry. In his wished, he wanted to be a prince so he could fill the standards set by laws of the Kingdom that only a prince can marry the princess.

In the end, the disguise was revealed because of Jafar, an evil, selfish, power-hungry wingman of the sultan, who before was the one who asked Aladdin to get the magic lamp from the Cave.

Aladdin’s second wish was then used to save his life from drowning. However, Jafar got ahold of the lamp and used it for his own intentions to become the sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the universe.

The fate had it coming, and so, Aladdin tricked Jafar into wishing to be more powerful that the genie, and there you know what happened, Jafar became a genie of his own. Later in the story, Aladdin used his third wish to free the Genie and yes, just like any other disney films, they live happily ever after.

The Verdict

Let’s start with the characters;

Mena Massoud as Aladdin. First of all, Mena was also known for his role in Jack Ryan as Tarek Kassar. Who would’ve have known they will actually find someone who will look like Aladdin in real life. I mean, seriously? The entire time I was watching the film, all I just noticed is how hot Aladdin was (but I was expecting more, especially the hot abs wasn’t shown in the film considering that Aladdin was originally wearing a vest.) He has an Egyptian race, meaning, Mena Massoud has the Middle Eastern vibe that the movie was portraying.

Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine. Hey! I know! She is Kimberly from the Power Rangers Film last 2017. Naomi’s face is just as beautiful as Jasmine’s. However, I expected more in this film and I thought they will get someone who looked more Arabic because Jasmine was supposed to be an Arab Princess. I like Naomi’s face but, you see, making a live action film is a critical thing to do coz creating a live version of a cartoon needs details.

Will Smith as Genie. Well, aside from the physique, the infamous blue genie was portrayed by Will as is, however a little sarcastically-comic. The cartoon Genie was nothing lot like Will, maybe he is but not this much. They overworked the character in the film that it looked so much staged. But Will did good though.

Marwan Kenzari as Jafar. Well, aside from the obvious, it was cool that he played the role coz I cannot think of anyone who fits to play as of the moment.The evil-vibe is already there but lacking a little charisma, Jafar in the cartoon is someone you will be scared of but Marwan looks nicer for his role.

Other casts;

Nadim Perdad as Dalia

Billy Magnussen as Prince Anders

Navid Negahban as The Sultan

The Review

Story wise, it was good. We cannot expect anything else from a 1992 cartoon movie but to be made live in action just like Beauty and the Beast. However, when there’s an original, there will always be a room for comparison and these are the ones I noticed;

• The Fictional story has to connect to the real world. Okay, magic is not for the real world but at least the directors or producers of the film could’ve hired casts who looks more Arabic. After all, the film was supposed to have the Middle eastern vibe, the Persian vibe and most of all, the Arab culture was not that visible from the live action. I was expecting more. Not to mention the all white cast. Hello? Knock Knock.
• They added some scenes however, they didn’t justified any of it, as if the film was just made to fulfill the real story even though it might jeopardize some details. I was looking forward on getting Jafar side of the story but it didn’t came. The movie was pushed poorly just to finish. The climax was too quick and I bet if you remove the musical in the movie, it will be just a simple movie of a thief and a princess, coz you ain’t got a genie without his music. That’s what the whole thing gave me.
• It was too colorful. Middle East doesn’t play with much of the colors. (You’ll know if you live in the ME yourself) I felt like I was watching a Bollywood movie because of the colors and the dancing kind of reminded me of the Slum dog Millionaire. I’m not against any of the Bollywood vibe but, Aladdin was not supposed to be like it.

• Aladdin was supposed to be a kid-friendly movie but I don’t think this one was. I think children will get bored at some point. Compare to Robbie Williams, I mean, Will makes average out of this role. I was looking for more connection.
• If you have seen Aladdin in Broadway, you’ll know that this film was mostly inspired after a theater performance not the 1992 cartoon. The blocking and how the casts deliver, it felt like I was watching a musical in Broadway; not bad but not extravagant for a film.
• It maybe timed during the early days of Middle East but the way it was executed, piece by piece was just off. I’ve studied enough history about the early Middle East and it wasn’t like that. Well, this is fictional so maybe, we’ll just give a credit for that.
• A partner for the genie. Well, that was new. It was okay but unexpected. Dalia is maybe a new character but still it just made the film a little worse than it was few paragraphs ago. But I liked how they made the ending considering that the ending on the cartoon was the reveal of a merchant who happens to be the Genie. I like how they managed to make it more timely and appealing to the viewers.
• Jasmine gets her own song. I like the song and I like how empowering it was. However, the film focused on how a woman can also be a ruler rather than marry a person who she really loves which was the main point in the 1992 cartoon.

• Two things, Jasmine and Aladdin’s costumes. I have nothing against them but in the cartoon, there were more skin than it was in the film, maybe because they wanted it to be more culture-aware but I really wanted the costumes they have in the cartoon.
• One thing I am amused about is the film director focused on making the film a little less racist than the 1992 cartoon and it makes more sense that’s why there were so many changes because they need to improve the problem that the 1992 cartoon had.
• The main problem in the movie was their rendition of A WHOLE NEW WORLD. I don’t like it. That’s it. Sorry. The song was supposed to have a ballad vibe in it. While watching the movie, I was there sitting, shaking my head, coz I expected too much. The new A whole new world song was like a bad remix of the old version.

All in all, the movie was very good and it was timely appropriate. I like the approach and the whole colorful and not so boring theme. But next time you make another live action movie of the disney cartoons, please make it better than this. Beauty and the Beast remake is still on top.

After all those, I give the Aladdin 2019 a 80% wonderroanne rating.

To all those who haven’t watch it yet, please do so!