Disney's Aladdin (live action)

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Brian in Mesa

Brian in Mesa

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Aladdin

Release date: May 24, 2019
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Guy Ritchie
MPAA Rating: N/A
Screenwriter: John August
Genre: Fantasy, Family

Starring: Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad, Billy Magnussen, Numan Acar

Plot Summary: The “Aladdin” cast includes: Two-time Oscar® nominee Will Smith (“Ali,” “Men in Black”) as the Genie who has the power to grant three wishes to whoever possesses his magic lamp; Mena Massoud (Amazon’s “Jack Ryan”) as Aladdin, the hapless but lovable street rat who is smitten with the Sultan’s daughter; Naomi Scott (“Power Rangers”) as Princess Jasmine, the Sultan’s beautiful daughter who wants to have a say in how she lives her life; Marwan Kenzari (“Murder on the Orient Express”) as Jafar, an evil sorcerer who devises a nefarious plot to unseat the Sultan and rule Agrabah himself; Navid Negahban (“Homeland”) as the Sultan, the ruler of Agrabah who is eager to find a proper husband for his daughter, Jasmine; Nasim Pedrad (“Saturday Night Live”) as Dalia, Princess Jasmine’s hand maiden and confidante; Billy Magnussen (“Into the Woods”) as Prince Anders, a suitor from Skanland and potential husband for Princess Jasmine; and Numan Acar (“Homeland”) as Hakim, Jafar’s right-hand man and head of the palace guards.

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Chaplin

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I definitely didn’t hate it and I didn’t expect Will Smith to be the best thing about it, but there is a lot to like in this. Not a lot new other than some minor story changes and one big character change, but it was pretty much as I expected. Some good nostalgia and somewhat fun to see Agrobah as a “real world” place. I love movies that are set in this kind of period and it definitely was better than say, Prince of Persia.

Songs were good and it was a much more meaty role for Jasmine, who was quite good.

But the problem I feared was definitely the main problem I had with the film—Jafar was horribly miscast. He was too young and had a non-threatening, almost feminine voice. He wasn’t sinister enough.
 

Bert

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I definitely didn’t hate it and I didn’t expect Will Smith to be the best thing about it, but there is a lot to like in this. Not a lot new other than some minor story changes and one big character change, but it was pretty much as I expected. Some good nostalgia and somewhat fun to see Agrobah as a “real world” place. I love movies that are set in this kind of period and it definitely was better than say, Prince of Persia.

Songs were good and it was a much more meaty role for Jasmine, who was quite good.

But the problem I feared was definitely the main problem I had with the film—Jafar was horribly miscast. He was too young and had a non-threatening, almost feminine voice. He wasn’t sinister enough.

I agree with all of this good sum up. I was very surprised that my daughters wanted to see it. I had low expectations but I definitely felt my inner kid smile with nostalgia at a couple of parts. We loved the Prince Ali song.

Also totally with you on Jafar. He was 100x more threatening in the original. He was scary, and the first thing he did when he got his powers was chain up Jasmine and put her in a skimpy outfit, so you knew exactly what kind of Sultan he was gonna be.

This guy seemed pretty disinterested in Jasmine and just wanted the throne. It added much more creepiness to the character in the original that he not only wanted the throne, he wanted Jasmine in the most creepy way possible and he was not going to take no for an answer.
 
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Finito

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Just seen this and I thought it was spectacular. A really hard movie to pull off and I think they did a great job. Will Smith did a really good job in an almost impossible task of replacing Robin Williams.

Not a fan of the new songs or the young Jafar but other than that I was impressed
 

Chaplin

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Just seen this and I thought it was spectacular. A really hard movie to pull off and I think they did a great job. Will Smith did a really good job in an almost impossible task of replacing Robin Williams.

Not a fan of the new songs or the young Jafar but other than that I was impressed
To be fair, there was only one new song (and a single verse of another, or maybe the same one). And that song, purely by Jasmine was super short. So I appreciated that. Besides, they just put it in to have an entry for the Best Song Oscar.
 

Finito

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To be fair, there was only one new song (and a single verse of another, or maybe the same one). And that song, purely by Jasmine was super short. So I appreciated that. Besides, they just put it in to have an entry for the Best Song Oscar.

I could of sworn there was 2 new songs?
 

Chaplin

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I could of sworn there was 2 new songs?
She had what amounted to a single verse at the beginning of the movie and then a longer song near the end. I knew there was a song that wasn’t from the original so I expected it.
 

Russ Smith

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We saw it Saturday with 2 teenage girls who loved it. I was surprised I liked it, not a big Will Smith fan and thought no way he can do the Robin Williams role justice, but he did.

Totally agree on Jafar too even the kids said he was much scarier in the original.
 

Covert Rain

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This is one of the best ones yet. Fantastic IMO. My family absolutely loved this movie. My daughters want to see this one again which has only happened with Beauty and the Beast. Jafar's casting at the facial CGI on (Will Smith) could have been better. Those were only minor complaints.

Completely captured the spirit of the original.

Also, the new song? Someone told me it was in the play of Aladdin but it's been so long since I went to that play I don't know if that is true or not. I don't recall.
 

Ronin

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Just saw it.
Two things were missing:
1) the dad being goofy
2) the cave of wonders line “who disturbs my slumber...”

I liked it though
 

BigRedRage

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Watching this tonight with all my kids for Fathers day

Sent from MrYeahBut's phone using Tapatalk
 

BigRedRage

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Overall: they did a great job.

I thought Jafar was fine, he was different but he played the new role well.

I didnt notice the "feminist undertones" I read about online. She thinks she is qualified to be sultan and that having to marry these jackelope princes that cant run her kingdom is a stupid strategy. I agree.

Will smith KILLED the genie role. Great job.

My gripe: I dont go to the movies a lot...do they commonly have the "soap opera effect" these days or is it just because it was a CGI movie? I hated about the first 20 minutes because it didnt have that movie magic, it just looked like I was watching a filmed play. Once the genie popped up that seemed to go away a lot besides a few scenes. Outside of the movie commonly looking that way and taking me out of the experience, I thought it was pretty darn good.
 

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