Aladdin Movie Analysis Essay Example

“Aladdin”, which was released in May 2019, was a live-action movie, and the actors of the main characters are Mena Massoud as Aladdin, Naomi Scott as Jasmine, Will Smith as Genie, and Marwan Kenzari as Jafar. The director is Guy Ritchie, who is also well known as the director of “Sherlock Holmes(2009), and he also wrote the script of this movie with John August. Aladdin is a famous Disney animation movie, and this live-action version is mostly the same as it. Therefore, the genre can be said to be Adventure, Romance, Fantasy, and I felt the live-action style is more focusing on “Musical” than animation. To put my feelings in one word, I was impressed! The key point is the pros and cons of making over animation to live-action movie.

The movie is about a young kind-hearted street thief, Aladdin, who lives with monkey Abu, whose life suddenly changes by the encounter with the beautiful and gorgeous princess of Agrabah, Jasmine. Due to the encounter, Aladdin stands for many trials to win the princess's heart. During the adventure, Aladdin comes across Genie of the lamp, who may be a key person.

In this movie, the surprising and amazing point is the spectacular view no matter if it's real or CG. For example, the cityscape and the palace are so precise, elaborate, and magnificent! Unbelievably, those are all set! It looks as if Agrabah exists. In addition, the most beautiful scene I thought was the time Aladdin and Jasmine take a ride on a magic carpet. The sky, sea, mountains and Agrabah, lightened by the moon, are so splendid. I couldn’t understand what’s real, and what is CG. 

Pointing out the CG, you’ll probably be surprised at the reality of animals. Aladdin is always together with his monkey Abu. They are good friends, and Abu looks so lively. However, he was made of CG. The quality of the CG was above my expectation and at first I didn’t realize he was unreal. Also, the actor's performance made us believe Abu is there. What’s more, the camera work was exquisite! There’s the part where Genie sings a song called “Friends like me”, and while he sings, the CG and the real are fusioned by the smooth camera work. It’ s so fascinating! The view of the world of Aladdin is totally fantasy, it can’t happen in real life. However, the live-action makes us feel a sense of closeness than animation. In addition, the realistic CG makes us believe that those magical things really exist.

On the other hand, music was also playing an important role. I have two points. First, the movie started with sailor’s singing the song “Arabian Nights”. The lyrics were like storytelling, and it matches with each scene, so we could get into the story imperceptibly. I felt this scene was very important, and actually, it’s so meaningful if you see it until the end! Second, this movie’s BGM was not just “background”. It naturally leads to the character’s singing. Actors sometimes sing as if they are speaking, and that makes it more like a musical. Those songs include the feelings of characters which have strong messages, all of it is so breathtaking.  

I thought Aladdin was highly recommended, however, there are some criticisms about the original character, Prince Anders, who was played by an American actor. The critics point out the meaning of adding the original White character in the Arabian story. They say it’s racism. However, I felt it worked positively. The appearance of Prince Anders emphasized Jasmine’s intelligence, and powerfulness. Because of it, I was strongly moved by Jasmine’s character song, “Speechless”.

In conclusion, Disney movies are loved by every generation, so probably this movie can make many people satisfied. Live-action style helps us to get into the story more deeply than animation, because we can feel affinity to the characters. The mixture of amazing actor’s performance and high‐quality CG will catch your heart and make you believe the world of “Aladdin” really exists. Making over Live-action was successful!!!