A young street rat, Aladdin (Mena Massoud), finds and frees a genie (Will Smith) from a lamp and is granted three wishes. His first wish, to become a prince, so that he may marry the beautiful princess, Jasmine (Naomi Scott). But the journey isn’t as simple as making a wish. And the evil sorcerer, Jafar (Marwan Kenzari), will stop at nothing to gain control of the lamp and the kingdom of Agrabah. Aladdin and the genie must find away to stop his plan and show that his true worth lies within.
This is one of this year’s movie I really wanted to see. But was very nervous at the same time. I have never been a really big fan of director Guy Ritchie. So when Disney named him as the one to bring this animated classic to life… I was worried.
Fortunately, I found my fears were not necessary, because Guy, actually did a very nice job with this one.
Like in other Disney “live-action” remakes, they made some changes to the story, new scenes & songs, but it always came back around to the story we’re familiar with.
The set and costume designs were outstanding. Along with the visual effects, I think they did a nice job creating a real life Kingdom Of Agrabah.
As far as the cast goes, Will Smith did an awesome job making the genie his own. Robin Williams version is a big shadow to get out from under, but I think he did exactly that. I was most impressed with our almost unknown lead performers. Mena as Aladdin and Naomi as Jasmine are great choices because, as unknowns I found it easier to believe them in their roles. And they both were outstanding. The only thing I could say that I wish they had done, was get Gilbert Gottfried back as the voice of Iago.
All in all, I think, as long as you let go of how much you loved the animated version, and just enjoy this one for what it is… it will be a fun journey.