Director: Guy Ritchie

Genre: Family, Adventure, Comedy

Runtime: 128 Minutes

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

Plot: “Street Rat” Aladdin is convinced by the Vizier Jafar to venture into the Cave of Wonders to seek out the magic lamp – with the power to make wishes come true.

My Thoughts: It feels like the internet has been complaining about Will Smith playing the Genie for years now – and now we can finally see him in the role! I honestly felt neutral about the casting choice…I mean, would anyone have been happy with any casting choice? All I ever saw were complaints, not suggestions. Anyway – I thought Will Smith did a brilliant job. The Genie’s story was slightly changed anyway, and I thought Will brought a ‘Fresh Prince’ vibe to the character that really worked. Colour me impressed!

In fact, with the exception of Jafar (he shouldn’t have been so young and good-looking!) the casting choices here were second to none. Mena Massoud is adorable as Aladdin, he has the boyish charms he was meant to have, and Naomi Scott takes the already wonderful character of Jasmine and gives her this sense of power that she never had before.

I feel like the general consensus is that people don’t want these remakes but honestly? Keep them coming, Disney! Will they ever replace the originals? Absolutely not – but if they’re bringing a new, younger audience to these beloved stories who don’t want to watch ‘dated’ animated movies, then I don’t see what’s wrong with that.

Best Bit: Guy Ritchie as Director seemed like an odd choice but he’s injected a lot of humour into the movie that wasn’t there before, and it works so well. My favourite moment will always be the A Whole New World sequence, but Prince Ali introducing himself at the palace comes a very, very close second.

Worst Bit: It was a bit too long (how is this almost 40 minutes longer than the original, there isn’t that much new content!) and Jafar is the weak link here. He isn’t menacing, and I thought his unsightly appearance in the original added a lot to his character. Am I complaining because Jafar is hot in 2019? Yes, I guess I am.

Fun Trivia: During the scene when Aladdin asks Genie to “make him a prince”, Genie produces an actual prince in the background. The prince is dressed in colors of pink & lime green, the same colors in the title logo & a nod to Will Smith’s comedy The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990). So, the Genie created the Fresh Prince for Aladdin.

My Rating: 4 and a half jars of jam that Prince Ali can’t stop talking about – better get some bread!