Much better than expected - Mena made this movie so lovable!

Rating: 8/10 (15 October 2019)

Original Aladdin is one of my top 3 favorite Disney movies, But I saw this for the first time and watched it 4 times in a row in one weekend. I really fell in love with it. To be fair, there were some big mistakes in this film. 1. lack of any real emotion in any of the actors, there are moments where the emotion does not suit the scene, when you make a live action version of Disney, you have the ability to make the emotion so much MORE powerful, not less. Even when Will (Genie) is saying Aladdin is breakin his heart, it doesnt come across at all. Aladdin needed a little bit more passion, desperation and even anger. 2. the new songs are awful, should have been left out. 3. Jafar was a TERRIBLE cast choice. I struggle to believe they couldnt find a more dark, brooding, actor with a stronger voice than this one. He's almost fragile and soft in his appearance and voice, and wasnt intimidating at all.
now that i got that out of the way, i fell in LOOOOVE with Mena Massoud, so much so i want to find all his other movies and watch them, even without the emotion in the movie, he's captivating and lovable. Aladdin is a tough character and he killed it!! Will Smith was a great genie, of course he's not Robin Williams, but he was funny, interesting and i enjoyed him. Jasmine, the sultan, Iago, Raja, the carpet i really loved the portrayal of all these characters. Iago, Raja and Abu were not overdone or corny, they were really well done. The entrance of Prince Ali was everything I dreamt it would be in real life as a kid! spectacular, gorgeous, fun. The "One jump" scene with Aladdin jumping around the city was fantastic. I adored the beauty of the city, the dancing, the colors, costumes, everything was so stunning. I could watch this movie 100 times just like i did the original. Mena made this movie and was the perfect real life Aladdin!