#16: Aladdin (2019)

Fun fact: My mother has never seen the original Aladdin.

Mind, she was also 8 months pregnant with me when it came out.

I can't think of one casting choice here that wasn't hotly contested online, mainly Will Smith and Naomi Scott. I also cast criticism on Guy Ritchie because...really, why?

There's something to be said for Disney casting a half-Indian woman to be their first brown princesses, but it's also not for us to say if she's 'dark' or 'ethnic' enough.

Anyway I enjoyed this immensely?

The '?' is because while I thought "Sherlock Holmes" was perfectly adequate, I abhor "The Man From Uncle" (It has an uneven, patchy second half and frankly, it doesn't deserve a sequel), and "Rocknrolla" is really badly edited and shot but insanely entertaining (and deserves a sequel), I didn't think Ritchie had it in him to make another movie that didn't give me motion sickness or had more than two colors. Kudos!




My only color gripe is the night or dark scenes. I couldn't see shit.

I like Jasmine's increased agency (It's HER family's kingdom, why wouldn't she want to protect it?). If there is a sequel, I would like to see her have more focus. In the end, it's still Aladdin's story.

Though it's remarkable on how little it's changed from the 1992 version.


I'll place blame on the Mouse for this, but it's kind of...eh that 11 years later Guy Ritchie can't make a movie where there's a gay character and people aren't trying to shove them into a hetero box.

I don't want to say he had a 'gay flair', especially as a Bi person myself. Let Genie want to be human but the forced romance there with Dalia? Not needed.

The first 30 minutes could stand to be trimmed down, especially establishing Jafar as evil. He's a vizier in a children's movie, we got it. Jafar looks and acts cartoonishly silly, he's the one thing that didn't seem to have transferred well, even with the minor changes that parallel him to the hero ("I was like you [to Aladdin]").

 I had my reservations about the movie until the bits with Jasmine in the palace and that foppish prince.

While "Speechless" has it's issues - specifically where the reprise is placed in the movie, Jasmine speaking up and saying more or less "Just because it's the law doesn't mean it's right." was great.

It's not the greatest movie, but it is really entertaining and heartfelt, especially Naomi Scott. And the best Disney live action adaptation yet.