Movie Review

Aladdin – Live Action (2019)

Stars: Will Smith, Mena Massoud, and Naomi Scott 

Review

In this live-action remake of Disney’s 1993 animated movie Aladdin, we see Will Smith take on the role of the Genie of the lamp, Mena Massoud as Aladdin and Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine.

I had heard that there was a lot of negativity surrounding the casting of Will Smith as Genie but what we have to remember is that no one can ever replace Robin Williams in this role. I went into the film with an open mind and as much as I can say I wasn’t let down by the film, nor by Will Smith’s role, I was a bit taken back by it. It had much more action than I expected, Aladdin isn’t the same character as he is in the cartoon (it was at this point I started to realise I was making comparisons) and it is more focused on Jasmine.

Aladdin isn’t the same character as the original. How he faking being royalty and how he tries to win over the princess felt very different. I might be remembering Aladdin incorrectly but he was, in my mind, very confident in the animated version whereas in this live-action version he didn’t have the same level of confidence.

It was brilliant to see that Jasmine was portrayed as a strong woman, it is exactly what the women of the future need to grow up seeing. Previously, like all Disney princesses. She was shown as needing a man yet here we are seeing her as wanting to take her role as Sultan when it was her time and not marry someone who she is expected to just to be the Sultan.

The only thing is that I can really say is that Aladdin was not relevant to this story at all however if you want to show young girls a strong female role model then this is fantastic. My 11 year old daughter loved it. She thought Jasmine was cool!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lisa Doherty