Disney's Aladdin - Rylee Bowen

This really surprised me. I was expecting this movie to be almost as bad as the story, but Disney really attempted to make Aladdin a good character. For starters, he could only enter the cave because his insides were made of diamonds. Not literally of course... From the beginning of the story, he gave what little he had to those who were more needy. He also followed directions to not steal from the cave, even though he could have really used anything from in it. Until he was given a taste of power that is... As soon as he met the genie, he began to get selfish and lose sense of his values to "cheat" the system. In order to give himself a shot with the princess, he had to be something he wasn't. When confronted about his identity, he lied because he was so ashamed of his true identity. He also went back on his word to the genie. He promised to free him with his last wish, but when it came down to the genie's happiness or his own, he couldn't resist telling the genie that he had to use the wish on himself. It took him losing everything and getting thrown into his old reality to realise what a prick he was being. Once this was taken care of, he was able to grow and go back to the kind man from the beginning of the story.

Something this story did keep was Aladdin falling in love with Jasmine after seeing her face. This kind of hurt to see, but at least they got to know each other for an hour or two...? This is still a big step for Disney. Their relationship was also a lot more dynamic then other Disney princesses. They were given a beautiful duet to express how the world spun in a different way when they were together. Cute, right? The music added a lot to the story. My favorite song was Prince Ali. I though his entrance was so extra and I loved it. He really got everything with his wish to be a prince.

Jafar is totally a rad villain. He even calls himself evil. He takes every step to ensure that he becomes the most powerful person in the world, and he did it with only a bird believing in him. His downfall was greed. He had everything he could have wanted and gave it up after being taunted by Aladdin.
But he also called Jasmine "Pussycat" so I was slightly uncomfortable...

I think Disney tried to work on expanding their standard gender roles, but there was still a lot of room for improvement. I'm excited to see what role they give Jasmine in the new version coming out this year. Hopefully, she contributes to more action and fights the stereotypes that surround the women of Disney.