The result is an idealized Arabic culture with whatever modern, Western aspects suit the story.įor example, a brief scene early in the film shows girls in school being taught by a woman such opportunities were likely not available to girls in the film’s 9 th-century setting. As in those other films, Disney softens the depiction of the historical setting in which the story takes place to make the film appropriate for children. In this latest adaptation of the Aladdin story, Disney is about as faithful to the source material as it has been to the European folk tales that have inspired other Disney films.

Adaptational changes and cultural concessions While other works included in Arabian Nights are authentically translated from original sources, “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp” may likely be a creation of Galland, drawing on his knowledge of the Middle East. The first translator of the tales, archeologist Antoine Galland, appears to have been the first person to transcribe the story, which he claimed was based on a story he heard from a Maronite monk in Aleppo, Syria. The tale has a dubious history and may actually be the product of 18 th-century Orientalism. The film also includes a new song, “Speechless,” sung by Princess Jasmine and composed in the same vein as “Let It Go” from “Frozen,” with lyrics like “I won’t be silenced / You can’t keep me quiet / Won’t tremble when you try it / All I know is I won’t go speechless.”īoth the 1992 original and the remake are loosely based on “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp,” an 18 th-century French-language addition to The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights), a much older 14 th-century Arabic-language collection of Middle Eastern folk tales. This “Aladdin” retains the memorable musical set pieces from the original: “Friend Like Me,” “Prince Ali” and the Oscar-winning “A Whole New World,” albeit with a couple of Bollywood and old-school Will Smith hip-hop flourishes. Throw in wisecracking handmaiden Dalia (Nasim Pedrad) and old favorites like Abu the kleptomaniac monkey, the Magic Carpet, Jasmine’s tiger Rajah and Jafar’s talking parrot Iago (Alan Tudyk), and “Aladdin” checks all the nostalgia boxes for a Disney remake. However, the princess, the only child of the Sultan, is more interested in finding her voice and succeeding her father on her own merits than she is in finding a prince to marry. Meanwhile, he falls in love and uses his wishes to win the heart of the Sultan’s (Navid Negahban) daughter, Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott). Living in the fictional Arabian port city of Agrabah, Aladdin (Mena Massoud) goes up against Jafar (Marwan Kenzari), the Sultan’s Grand Vizier, for control of a magic lamp and its powerful Genie (Will Smith).

“Aladdin” (2019), the latest in the recent line of live-action remakes of classic animated Disney films, retells the story from the 1992 animated feature of the same name of a “diamond-in-the-rough” thief and street urchin. (Rated: PG, G and PG for some action/peril directed by Guy Ritchie stars Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Billy Magnussen, Nasim Pedrad, Alan Tudyk run time: 128 min.) Rubbing the remake lamp for big returns “Aladdin” (2019) is directed by Guy Ritchie and stars Will Smith and Mena Massoud.

Aladin movie