The result is an idealized Arabic culture with a modernized and westernized story wherever it suits them. With Aladdin, as in many adaptations, Disney softens the depiction of the cultural setting because it is a family film meant primarily for children.

The remake retains the memorable musical set pieces from the original: “Friend Like Me,” “Prince Ali” and the Oscar-winning song “A Whole New World”-albeit with a couple of Bollywood and Will Smith hip-hop flourishes along the way.īoth the 1992 original and the new film are loosely based on “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp,” a tale featured in an early 18 th century addition to the older 14 th century collection of Arabic fairy tales called The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.ĭisney’s take on Aladdin is about as faithful to the source material as it has been with European folk tales. Throw in a wisecracking handmaiden Dalia and old favourites like Abu the kleptomaniac monkey, the Magic Carpet, Rajah the tiger, and Iago, Jafar’s talking parrot, and 2019’s Aladdin checks off all the nostalgia boxes needed to make a live action remake of the 1992 animated Disney feature with a couple of new fun twists. The Princess, however, is more interested in finding her voice and succeeding her father on her own merits than she is in finding a prince to marry.

Living in the fictional Arabian port city of Agrabah, Aladdin is in a struggle with Jafar, the Sultan’s Grand Vizier, for control of a magic lamp and its powerful Genie as he falls in love and uses his wishes to win the heart of the Sultan’s daughter Princess Jasmine. Aladdin – Rubbing the remake lamp for big returnsĪladdin is the story of a “diamond in the rough” thief and street urchin.

Aladdin rubbing lamp 2019