A Whole New World
Disney takes the classic movie Aladdin to the live-action screen
May 30, 2019
The animated Disney classic Aladdin came out in theaters Nov. 11, 1992. Disney decided to continue on with this classic and bring it to life on screen on May 24, 2019. This movie includes many Hollywood stars including Mena Massoud as Aladdin, Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine, Will Smith as Genie and Marwan Kenzari as Jafar. All work together to tell the old story in a new way.
The film starts out with Aladdin and his pet monkey, Abu, stealing a necklace from a woman shopping in the market. As Aladdin is running from the guards, he comes across a woman who was in trouble for giving bread to the poor. He helps her get out of the situation, and he continues to take her around the city. The movie goes on to talk about Aladdin’s past and how he became a thief. He finds out that the woman was actually Princess Jasmine.
As Aladdin is leaving the castle after visiting Jasmine, Jafar finds him and gives him the chance of a lifetime to become rich if he could find a lamp in a cave. Aladdin takes the deal hoping he can become rich enough to impress Jasmine. He enters the cave and finds the lamp. Aladdin gives it to Jafar, but Jafar betrays him and pushes him back into the cave. He leaves thinking he has the lamp, but Aladdin took it before he turned away.
Aladdin uses the lamp and meets the Genie who grants him three wishes. He wishes to become a prince, and now everyone in town thinks he is Prince Ali. Jasmine and Jafar believe the act, but both end up finding out the truth. Jafar steals the lamp back and tries to gain more power, but Aladdin and Jasmine are able to work as a team and stop him.
The theme for this movie has many important messages. It shows viewers that there is no need to pretend to be someone else because a person should love you for who you are. It also tells people that no matter how rich or powerful you are people will choose to be with someone who treats everyone equally. It portrays many powerful messages that younger audiences should know.
The scenery and props in this movie were incredible. Everything was picked out to the detail. It was full of bright colors that made the background stand out. Disney also did an amazing job of bringing in a different culture to the screen. It gave people a chance to see how others live and what their setting is like. It did compare to the old cartoon film. For example, the cave looks exactly the same with the tiger mouth opening. It also has the same look of the town form the cartoon version. Overall the setting and props made the movie more appealing to watch.
The music in this movie was also incredible. They still used the classics “You Ain’t never Had A Friend Like Me” and “A Whole New World” sung by the actors themselves. Will Smith definitely surprised the audience with his version of “You Ain’t Never Had A Friend Like Me”. He brought up the nostalgia of the genie from the cartoon version. During the credits, he also had used his version as a remix with DJ Khaled. It was definitely different considering they had added a rap portion. Naomi Scott really shined in her songs. Her vocal are so strong and elegant that it was impossible to not listen to her. I especially liked her song “Speechless”. It is a song filled with a message for people to not just stand back and be told what to do. She sung about how she wouldn’t be speechless and how she would always speak her mind no matter what. It gave a very insightful message to the viewers.
For the most part, the live-action movie has the same storyline as the animated version, but there are many things they had changed. For one, they had revamped some of the music so it sounded differently. They also added Jasmine’s song “Speechless” which was not in the original film. Another thing that was changes is the fact that in the original Jasmine just wanted to escape the rules of her town. In the new version, Jasmine want to be Sultan which is a huge change in the storyline. Although they had many changes, it still brought out the same messages as the original.
This movie is one that all should see. It’s full of comedy, action and love that families would enjoy. It brought out all kinds of messages for the viewers and told them to just be who they are. It had amazing cinematography and music that kept you interested the whole time. It really opened up a whole new world for more live-action films to come.