Aladdin (Live-Action)

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Farerb
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

Post by Farerb »

D82 wrote:Disney has released a "Speechless" cover by DCappella. They are really promoting this song, aren't they?
They probably expected it to be another "Let it Go". It isn't though.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

Post by bruno_wbt »

farerb wrote:
D82 wrote:Disney has released a "Speechless" cover by DCappella. They are really promoting this song, aren't they?
They probably expected it to be another "Let it Go". It isn't though.
Of course it isn't! It's much better! :wink:
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

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Sotiris wrote:Agreed. Jasmine's a supporting character. A lot of people seem to forget that. Maybe it's because of her association with the DP franchise. I find she has more of a personality and a character arc than her male equivalents in other Disney movies such as Prince Eric. Yet no one ever criticizes them.
Well, truth to be told, there are many people who criticize Prince Eric for his blandness, nonetheless.
Disney's Divinity wrote:Don’t they? I read criticism of Eric and the Walt princes for being bland all the time. I know I’ve specifically compared Jasmine and Eric to one another before, on account of the fact that TLM and Aladdin have so many similarities, as far as both being bland love interests and both barely being worthy of the protagonists, who are much more interesting and worthwhile than they are.
Well, the comparison is rather fair (since Eric and Jasmine share more in common of just having similar hair color :P). And I certainly agree with you about Eric. Lately I've come to appreciate his character more and finding him to be a more compelling and satisfying character than he's given credit for. He's genuinely nice and decent, has a good sense of humor and glee, is respectful and kind towards everyone around him and is genuinely admirable. Too bad that he serves more as a plot device than being his own character.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

Post by JeanGreyForever »

I finally watched the deleted scenes and I loved them! This is another Cinderella case it seems where I think the final film would have benefited from featuring most/all the deleted scenes.

The opening scene is a must imo. Besides the beautiful rose petal shot, I think the final film lacked that scene from the original where Aladdin first sees Jasmine and is captivated by her. Not to mention, Jasmine gets to see more of how the people are mistreated and suffering from poverty. Jafar's Orrery scene is another essential one because it establishes the concept of the Diamond of the Rough, something glossed over in the film's final cut. It seems that both these scenes feature context or information that were present in the animated film but cut here, perhaps because of the expectations that everyone watching would already have seen the original film.

The extended scene with Prince Anders is hilarious although I can see why it was shortened. It's not really necessary for the film but it does explain why he's still there for the festival and it has some great Dalia moments too. Both Aladdin/Genie scenes are in the same vein because as funny as they are, they don't really need to be included.

The other pivotal scene is the one with Jasmine, Jafar, and the Sultan. Jasmine and Jafar have very little screentime together in this film in between the two Speechless songs. This scene not only continues to further her subplot but also presumably cuts back from the Aladdin/Genie storyline. The animated film did a great job of returning to Jasmine even after Aladdin is imprisoned and enters the Cave of Wonders whereas the live-action film sorta ignores Jasmine until after Aladdin becomes a prince. Although Jafar's little fantasy freakout is a little weird tbh but even so, I think this scene should have been retained.

And finally Desert Moon was a must imo. The song is gorgeous and after rewatching the film, I realized how the melody is interwoven in many of Aladdin and Jasmine's scenes together. Watching the film without the song is like watching Pocahontas without If I Never Knew You and Hunchback without Someday since the musical cues are so present in so emotional scenes.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

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farerb wrote: They probably expected it to be another "Let it Go". It isn't though.
I don't think so either.

My guess is they're probably promoting the song as much as they are in part as celebration of Aladdin hitting a billion and partly because the song kind of suits the times. Not that I'm trying to go down a rabbithole, but Disney's been clear in many ways on which side of the political divide they're on (or at least what side they want to be SEEN as being on, rather). Between their changes to regressive female characters, attempts to incorporate more diversity in their films, etc. etc. I couldn't help noticing many of the Frozen coloring books even have the phrase "Stronger Together" on them. :lol:
DisneyFan09 wrote:Well, the comparison is rather fair (since Eric and Jasmine share more in common of just having similar hair color :P). And I certainly agree with you about Eric. Lately I've come to appreciate his character more and finding him to be a more compelling and satisfying character than he's given credit for. He's genuinely nice and decent, has a good sense of humor and glee, is respectful and kind towards everyone around him and is genuinely admirable. Too bad that he serves more as a plot device than being his own character.
I do like Eric as a complement to Ariel. The character has a warm sweetness about him.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

Post by D82 »

bruno_wbt wrote:
farerb wrote:They probably expected it to be another "Let it Go". It isn't though.
Of course it isn't! It's much better! :wink:
I don't know if it's better than "Let it Go", but I personally prefer "Speechless" as well. I like the scene where the Frozen song is sung much more than the Aladdin one, though (which doesn't mean I dislike the scene where "Speechless" is performed).
Disney's Divinity wrote:My guess is they're probably promoting the song as much as they are in part as celebration of Aladdin hitting a billion and partly because the song kind of suits the times.
I think what you said is part of the reason why they're promoting it so much, but also because they want it to become popular to increase its chances of being nominated for the Oscar. And though it's nowhere near as popular as "Let it Go", I've seen that there are many covers of the song online as well, so I guess it's getting some love too.
JeanGreyForever wrote:And finally Desert Moon was a must imo. The song is gorgeous and after rewatching the film, I realized how the melody is interwoven in many of Aladdin and Jasmine's scenes together. Watching the film without the song is like watching Pocahontas without If I Never Knew You and Hunchback without Someday since the musical cues are so present in so emotional scenes.
I didn't know the melody of the song could be heard in the score. If I watch the film again, or the next time I listen to the soundtrack, I'll try to pay attention to see where it appears.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

Post by bradhig »

Looks like the live action Jasmine had to stay mostly covered up to avoid offending SJWs.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

Post by JeanGreyForever »

Which I find ironic since background female characters were able to show off their midriff and it's a cultural aspect that is perfectly normal in that part of the world. I suppose it makes sense considering that Disney also drastically changed Jasmine's outfit in the parks for this reason.
D82 wrote: I didn't know the melody of the song could be heard in the score. If I watch the film again, or the next time I listen to the soundtrack, I'll try to pay attention to see where it appears.
It's mostly Aladdin and Jasmine moments. When Jasmine is first taken to Aladdin's home and she starts playing the instrument, she specifically plays this song which Aladdin recognizes as both their mothers used to sing it to them. The melody pops up a few other times, I think at the end of the film when Jasmine has just become Sultan and follows Aladdin outside the palace gates.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

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JeanGreyForever wrote:When Jasmine is first taken to Aladdin's home and she starts playing the instrument, she specifically plays this song which Aladdin recognizes as both their mothers used to sing it to them.
Oh, so that was "Desert Moon"! I guess that moment was put in the movie to establish that both knew that song from their childhood and to serve as an introduction to the full song that would appear later.
bradhig wrote:Looks like the live action Jasmine had to stay mostly covered up to avoid offending SJWs.
This is the reason the film's costume designer gave when asked about why Aladdin and Jasmine are more covered up in the remake:
“For the same reason why we thought it wasn’t appropriate for Princess Jasmine to be flashing her belly button for half of the film, we also felt that once you make that leap from cartoon into live-action, you really have to make some adjustments,” Wilkinson explained. “We thought having so much skin showing on Aladdin for the whole film would be quite distracting on a human actor as opposed to a cartoon character.”
Source: https://ew.com/movies/2019/05/21/aladdin-clothes/
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

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But none of that is specific to SJW's.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

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Yet somehow it’s magically not distracting that they show skin onstage in the Broadway show? I have to say, the more I see the film, the more I realize how spot on the casting of Aladdin and Jasmine are, but the costumes are just... atrocious and ridiculous for the setting.

If you watch the original, the color palette in and of itself makes you feel warm. You just imagine everyone dripping in sweat almost. It’s why the cool purples and deep blues of the night scenes are so relaxing. It feels like you’ve cooled off. But the movie abandons that feeling by placing the city by water. It gets rid of that feeling of being trapped in the desert. It makes it feel like Agrabah isn’t actually that hot. Especially when you see Aladdin wearing the thickest layers known to man. He looks like he would be warm even in the snow.

And Jasmine covered head to know, and not even head to toe, wearing pants under dresses, an extra layer. One of the things I always enjoyed about animated Jasmine was that she knew she was attractive but didn’t care. She didn’t use it to her advantage. She wore what she wanted, was confident in herself and knew her value, and didn’t abide by the set rules. I think covering Jasmine almost feels like a disservice to the character and actually misses the point of her completely. I’m sure some will disagree. But that’s how I’ve felt about her even since childhood, and why I’ve always thought she was the best princess. She knew who she was, what she wanted, and she’d run away from everything just to get it.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

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They covered up Aladdin, for crying out loud. Of course, they'd cover Jasmine! :lol: They preferred having him in an awful striped shirt that makes him look like a convict over exposing his bare chest. We can't have male nipples out and about in a Disney film. :P
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

Post by rodrigo_ca »

nomad2010 wrote:Yet somehow it’s magically not distracting that they show skin onstage in the Broadway show?
The last time I saw a Broadway show, I don't recall a camera making anyone 10 feet tall. Go figure
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

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Jasmine's original design is perfect. Stylistically, bare midriff look is simple, appealing, and is inspired by traditional albeit stereotypical depictions of women from the Near/Middle East, usually belly dancers. However, from a historical and geographical perspective, there's no way a member of royalty, in a presumably Islamic country, would wear an outfit as revealing as that. If the original Aladdin was made today, with today's sensibilities, Jasmine would definitely be designed to appear dressed more modestly (as shown by the remake). Also, it's not just a cultural thing, people in that region cover their skin to protect it from sun exposure.

And the filmmakers are right. It would be distracting having both leads showing skin when there's no practical reason for it.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

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I'm surprised people actually thought Aladdin would go around bare-chested. This isn't Baywatch lol. And while it's easy to assume that in a desert climate, everybody would be walking around half-naked to cope with the heat, that isn't actually the case. In fact, wearing more layers provides more protection from the sun. I remember when the original Star Wars was being filmed in the desert, the people who were fully covered said they felt less hot than the people walking around half-naked.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

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I'm sure there are some who were disappointed Jasmine was more covered for the same reason I was about Aladdin not showing his chest ( :P ), but I don't see it as a bad thing. I expect they'll add something for Ariel, Triton, and the merfolk in TLM, too, perhaps veils or something, I don't know. I'm scared they'll make whatever they wear look like gaudy scales though.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

Post by JeanGreyForever »

Aladdin is doing really well with Blu-Ray sales and it's been #1.

Blu-ray Sales, September 22-28: Aladdin Wishes for Number One Again
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=25821
https://www.mediaplaynews.com/aladdin-j ... les-spots/
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

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JeanGreyForever wrote:Aladdin is doing really well with Blu-Ray sales and it's been #1.

Blu-ray Sales, September 22-28: Aladdin Wishes for Number One Again
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=25821
https://www.mediaplaynews.com/aladdin-j ... les-spots/
It's so weird to see Sleeping Beauty at #9. This is the third time the film is released on Blu-ray. I thought it wouldn't have sold that well.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

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farerb wrote:
JeanGreyForever wrote:Aladdin is doing really well with Blu-Ray sales and it's been #1.

Blu-ray Sales, September 22-28: Aladdin Wishes for Number One Again
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=25821
https://www.mediaplaynews.com/aladdin-j ... les-spots/
It's so weird to see Sleeping Beauty at #9. This is the third time the film is released on Blu-ray. I thought it wouldn't have sold that well.
Disney promotes the Signature Editions a lot (even if I personally didn't see any marketing for this or 101 Dalmatians). Maleficent 2's release is probably also increasing demand.
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Re: Aladdin (Live-Action)

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JeanGreyForever wrote:Aladdin is doing really well with Blu-Ray sales and it's been #1.
That's great news! On the theatrical front, Aladdin has just become the longest-running movie of 2019!
Avengers: Endgame might be the highest-grossing film in the land, but it just lost one of its records. Believe it or not, Aladdin is still showing in some theaters and has since toppled Endgame as the longest-showing film of 2019. Released on May 24th, the Guy Ritchie film has now run for 143 days. As of Thursday, Aladdin was still being shown on 105 screens around the country.
Source: https://comicbook.com/marvel/2019/10/13 ... l-release/
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