Disclaimer: The views expressed here are mine alone and do not represent those of allgames.com.
Introduction to Aladdin Movie Review by Ms. H
There was a lot of hype about the Aladdin movie before it actually reached the movie theaters. You may already know that plenty of this hype came from a well known actor -- Will Smith. Did the hype match the actual movie once it was released? Check out my movie review to find out.
Mena Massoud and Will Smith as Aladdin and Genie
The Aladdin Movie Synopsis
The main characters in the Aladdin movie are Aladdin, Princess Jasmine and the Genie (Will Smith). There are other characters in this movie; however, the storyline is simple and revolves mostly around these three characters and of course a villain. The synopsis is sort of a cliche of a boy meets girl story, except this villain of sorts was thrown in the mix as well as a Genie with magic powers.
Realism of the Aladdin Movie
Aladdin is a Disney film so it is to be expected the story would have many unrealistic factors complete with a gesturing, flying carpet, etc. Regarding the content --the Aladdin movie borders on being a musical, which was a surprise to me. Fortunately, the musical numbers were few and far between. In my opinion, some of the songs were too broadway-like in nature and did not particularly keep my interest. On the flip side, there was a song by Will Smith that gave the movie an uplifting and positive mood called, “A Friend like Me.”
Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine
Focus of the Aladdin Movie
Spoiler Alert: A segment of the movie story seemed to be an "add-on" plot dealing with the villain attempt to marry Princess asmine who is Aladdin’s romantic interest. To me, this seemed way off-base and far-fetched when during the movie it looked like the villain Jafar played by Marwan Kenzari who demanded Jasmine’s hand in marriage had no connection with her. In fact, this character almost became a leading character during the second half of the movie when I guess the director thought it was time to try to add some type of drama and more conflict in the movie.
Aladdin Movie Little Known fact -- Did you know that in 2017 over 2,000 actors auditioned for Aladdin movie roles probably when it became known that no big name stars -- other than Will Smith -- would be in the movie? The parts of Aladdin and Princess Jasmine eventually went to Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott respectively.
Will Smith As Genie in the Aladdin Movie
Because of Will Smith's prior publicity for the Aladdin film, I was expecting to see him appear in the movie a lot sooner than he did. However, when his character, the Genie finally did show up, I think it was worth the wait.
Spoiler alert: A downside to the Genie character is when the villain took control of the magic lamp and thus had three wishes -- you could tell from the facial expressions of Will Smith that the Genie was not happy to carry out the villain’s wishes. I think this was done mostly for children’s sake to send the message of who the “bad guys” were; however, actually I think, even in a fairytale, a genie will fulfill wishes without any emotion or concern as to who the wishes were requested by.
Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott as Aladdin and Princess Jasmine
Assessment of the Aladdin Movie
There is action, suspense, adventure, humor and do not forget the singing in the Aladdin movie. I will not watch this movie again, at least not in the movie theaters, but I may take a look at some of the performances in the movie on youtube, including the one where Will Smith sings the Friend Like Me song. Even though I think the hype for this movie was overstated -- Aladdin may be a Disney movie you might want to check out -- especially if you are a Disney movie fan.
Rating of the Aladdin Movie
Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate the Aladdin Movie 3 stars.