Aladdin (2019)

Rating
the JoshMeister's rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️

3 out of 5 stars: "It was okay."

Review
Aladdin (2019) is a live-action, nearly shot-for-shot remake of the cartoon film Aladdin (1992). Mena Massoud (Aladdin) and especially Naomi Scott (Jasmine) offer good portrayals of their characters, as does Will Smith, who had the challenging job of reimagining the iconic Genie character originally portrayed by Robin Williams.

Although there's a lot to like about this movie, something about it rubbed me the wrong way. Ultimately I realized that the title character is a rather disappointing role model in the way he objectifies the woman he pursues. Although Aladdin has a redemptive moment near the end of the film, it's unrelated to his relationship with Jasmine, and we don't actually get to see him repent of his apparent male chauvinism and begin to treat Jasmine with greater respect. Jasmine is for the most part a strong female character, but in the end she seems to dismiss how Aladdin treated her throughout most of the film, in spite of his apparently lack of remorse. Perhaps we're supposed to assume this is simply a cultural difference between the Western and Arab worlds, but I'm not so sure that's the case given Jasmine's general assertiveness. If we had caught some glimpse of Aladdin changing his attitude toward women, I would have rated this film 4 out of 5 stars, rather than the 3 out of 5 stars I'm giving it.

MPAA Rating
"Rated PG for some action/peril"

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(This film is produced by Disney, an ostensibly family-oriented company, which has repeatedly refused to allow its content to be filtered or edited by third parties to better meet the content preferences of families and individuals with high moral standards. If you hope to see Disney change its position on filtering, you may wish to contact the Walt Disney Company to politely express your opinion.)

How to watch

 * Rent or buy Aladdin on Amazon Prime Video
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