Unpopular Opinion #3

I didn’t actually like the live action Aladdin. I think it may possibly be the worst out of all of them. From the beginning to the end, there was very little I enjoyed. There was only one scene that I actually enjoyed and that was the whole “jam” bit. If you saw it, you know what I mean. I didn’t enjoy much else.

Will Smith, I actually thought was a really good Genie though. Whoever was going to play the genie was going to be tough to follow Robin Williams. Will Smith was an a good choice. I don’t mind the choices for the other characters either, Aladdin, was adorable. The acting was good, it was the story-line and the plot.

Aladdin is supposed to be about coming from nothing to something, based on the kind of good person you are. I am all for woman power and woman being on top, but that’s not what Aladdin is about. It’s not called “Jasmine”.

Anyone who thinks that Jasmine wouldn’t be listened to by Aladdin in the animated world, is an idiot.

How many Disney live action movies have their been where the guys comes out on top? One, “The Lion King”. We don’t NEED another female empowerment movie, since the rest are all about female empowerment. This was one was supposed to be about the boys. Not the girls. Aladdin was always my favourite Disney Prince, so this live action really put me off live actions. It probably did not help that I had seen the musical roughly a week before. THAT WAS BRILLIANT!

Then there was the whole my favourite song was at the beginning of the movie, Jasmine had already met Aladdin. The whole “Do you trust me” bit got lost, which was one of the big things for me.

Advertisement

Aladdin – Live Action

This is a kind of review, but more what…too me…Disney represents to me.

*I will warn that there are spoilers. Mainly because I felt like they missed out on some really important issues*

The live action was…alright…It was kind of slow to start off with, but got better. I will warn though. The ending was ruined for me when the ending credits started off with that classic line “Dj Khalid”.

The start was confusing for me, it started of with Aladdin and Jasmine already being chased through the city. So you miss out on the whole seeing Jasmine being trapped in the palace. I’m not kidding you’ll probably realise halfway through “Oh wait, that’s supposed to be Jasmine” because you don’t expect to see her. It was disorientating, and for myself. It made the first “Do you trust me”line, which makes me faint…It ruined it, because it just doesn’t have the same impact. They put no focus on it. If this live action movie was the first one “Aladdin” type movie you saw, you wouldn’t know how badly trapped she felt. It’s not until later that they even explore that. When the next “Do you trust me line” happened, it just doesn’t have that impact that it does. It was only because I know about how much the first “trust me” line SHOULD have had impact, that I even got the second one.

Then there’s the whole Jasmine becoming Sultan instead of Aladdin. Now I am all for feminist, but this was just stupid. Disney have very simple messages. The movie is called ALADDIN not Jasmine. The animated Jasmine is one of my top 3 Princesses (1) Belle 2) Pocahontas and 3) Jasmine). The WHOLE point of Aladdin is to show how someone comes from stealing (nothing) to Sultan, based on him being himself, being “The Diamond in the Rough”. Not Jasmine coming from privilege to more privilege. Aladdin becomes Sultan because of being who he is. A good and worthy person.

THAT’S THE POINT

Disney have PLENTY of Princesses, this one is for the fellas.

The Jasmine songs, the first one was alright. The second one though…I felt…Well I felt uncomfortable. I wanted it over and done with.

My Beauty and the Beast review

Now we all know I am probably going to write an extremely positive review of this movie, Beauty and the Beast, because I have been waiting with postivity since the first day I found out it was even coming out. However, you never truly know how a movie is going to affect you…I might have totally hated it…except for the fact that…I TOTALLY FREAKING LOVED IT!!!

It’s a few days later and I am still on this total happy natural high. It is amazing =D I haven’t felt like this for a really long time.

One of the things that I loved about the animation was that Belle seemed like a departure from the usual “damsel in distress-is doing everything for a man” and READS! Also I could relate to her on a more personal level. Everyone telling me all the time I look gorgeous, but at the same time people consistently making fun of me for being so “odd”. In both the animation and the live action film. The song “Belle” which is one of the first songs (I think it is actually the first song) which introduced us to Belle, both the animation and live action, made me cry. I believe that a soundtrack can break or make a movie, as well as the acting and the plot.

What I really loved and appreciated about this movie was that it extended all the good points of the animation.

There is much more diversity, Belle tries to teach a little girl how to read despite the outrage, much more background on characters, which makes you understand them more. I’m sure you’ve heard about Josh Gad, who plays LeFou, Gastons “sidekick” and the gay “controversy” surrounding that character. The problems for all suffering from illiteracy.

Can my childhood take it anymore? Thank-you Disney!

I had a pretty bad this week, feeling pretty down, letting things get to me that I am always having to have keep under control, just to survive. Especially when I was doing so well, had one bad time and now I’m feeling fed up and frustrated, which is making me feel like I’ve taken a step backwards.

However something that completely made my weekend and made my brain not able to handle the awesomeness.

Not only did I find out that they are making a live action Lion King…Yes! You heard me right, they are making a live action Lion King…Which I’d assume would be more of a CGI thing, rather than getting actual Lions etc to act. The even better news though:

“Breaking: James Earl Jones and Donald Glover join the cast of the Lion King”

Live Action!

 

Not only am I a huge Disney fan, but my favourite top 3 and my favourite Disney princess are from “Beauty and the Beast” (my favourite Disney movie is the Lion King). Every single time I see something new about their live action film I get more excited.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to this movie?

Jungle Book

I finally got to see “The Jungle Book” (2016 film) over the weekend and I cried, I knew that I was going to cry. I laughed, I felt worried, I felt excited. It was great! I always had a feeling that I was going to like it and I’ve been waiting for it all.

The only real complaint I had was that the Elephants looked suspiciously a lot like African elephants, except for the baby elephants, who did look like Indian elephants. I get that African elephants might look a little bit more impressive (and they have a few animals from all over,lol), but this in in India.

Indian Elephant vs,

African Elephant 

It’s a really good movie though, doesn’t have all the dancing and music, but there are couple of favourites that people will recognise. It is also obviously a bit more darker and because the animals are more “life-like”, if you are taking children, just be wary. It’s not necessarily violent, but there are deaths.

Neel Sethis as “Mowgli” was also a great little actor, extremely believable and he didn’t have that “stop and start” static that some child actors sometimes have. He was able to just go with the flow of it.

Would definitely give this 4 and a half out of 5 books, I was just a little disappointed with how they chose the look of the elephants. Everything else was fun and a good story.