Is the Aladdin remake better than the old one? No. Is it still good? Yes. Although it doesn’t hit the high bar set by the 90s Disney classic, Aladdin is still an enjoyable film. It retells the timeless story of Aladdin (Mena Massoud), a young street rat who steals to survive, until he falls in love with the seemingly out of reach Princess of Agrabah- Jasmine (Naomi Scott). When he gets caught up in the Sultan’s right-hand man Jafar’s (Marwan Kenzari) plan to overthrow the Sultan using a mystical, ancient lamp, Aladdin accidently wakes the Genie inside (Will Smith). With the Genie, three wishes, and a little bit of luck, Aladdin must win over Jasmine whilst putting an end to Jafar’s schemes. The music of the film was majoritively good. The score was incredible, and it beautifully captured the world of Agrabah. Most of the other songs weren’t too bad either. I enjoyed the visual complexity of friend like me and one jump ahead, and Prince Ali had enjoyable choreography. A whole New World is another story, the song itself was beautiful, the calming, lullaby-like tune was so magical. However, it didn’t take advantage of the lyrics that the amazing Alan Menken wrote. When Jasmine sings about an ‘endless diamond sky’ I want to be encased in this picturesque description, not down by the river. However, I cannot fault Mena and Naomi on the way they sang this true classic. One thing I struggled to enjoy was some of the third act- particularly the things they added in addition to the original storyline. Obviously the film had to be changed in some way, but the extra chase through Agrabah for the lamp felt unnecessary-along with the giant Iago chasing Aladdin and Jasmine. One addition that was nice to see was Genie tearing into Aladdin after he betrays their friendship. It gave the Genie a lot more depth and made me root for him and empathise with him a lot more Overall, Aladdin is a film that manages to catch the magic of the original whilst still feeling like a different film. Filled with many a plot hole, plenty of blue will smith, but the same classic story that made its predecessor so enchanting.
