Aladdin

Story

Aladdin is a live action adaptation of Disney’s original 1992 animation of the same name. When poor but goodhearted thief Aladdin (Mena Massoud) accidentally discovers a genie (Will Smith) in a lamp, he’s granted three wishes.

Aladdin wishes to be a prince so that he can win the heart of the beautiful and benevolent Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott), but things don’t go entirely to plan. The scheming advisor to the Sultan, Jafar (Marwan Kenzari), begins to suspect that Prince Ali might not be who he says he is. Jafar comes up with a plan to steal back Aladdin’s magic lamp.

Aladdin, Jasmine, the genie and monkey Abu must stop Jafar from getting the lamp and taking over the city of Agrabah.

Themes

Love; friendship; power; magic

Violence

Aladdin has some violence. For example:

• A man is pushed down a well to his death.
• Jafar steps on Aladdin’s fingers. This makes Aladdin lose his grip on a ledge and fall.
• Aladdin is strapped to a chair and pushed out of a high window into the ocean.

Sexual references

Aladdin has some sexual references. For example:

• Jasmine and Aladdin kiss several times.
• The genie and the princess’s handmaiden Dahlia make several very subtle and mild jokes about finding each other attractive and wanting to have children.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Aladdin shows some use of substances. For example, characters go to a party where the Sultan appears to drink alcohol.

Nudity and sexual activity

Nothing of concern.

Product placement

Nothing of concern.

Coarse language

Nothing of concern.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Aladdin is a live action remake of the classic Disney animation. It’s visually exciting and has enjoyable performances from the central characters. Will Smith as the genie does an admirable job, retaining the comedy of the original movie while making the role his own.

This version of Aladdin has several new songs that don’t appear in the original, which might make this movie feel slightly longer for younger children. It’s suitable for all children over the five years, but we recommend parental guidance for children under eight years because of the movie’s mild fantasy themes and very mild violence.

Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include the following:

• Be true to yourself and trust that people will love you for who you are.
• Stand up to injustice, even when the people responsible for it are more powerful than you.

This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like:

• sexist attitudes, particularly towards Jasmine – this is a theme throughout the movie
• stealing.