The new movie Aladdin came out in theaters on Friday, May 24, starring Naomi Scott (Princess Jasmine), Mena Massoud (Aladdin), and Will Smith (Genie), has capturing visuals and sensational songs.

The movie is a live action remake of the classic Disney cartoon version of Aladdin released in 1992. Aladdin is a street rat in the middle-eastern city of Agrabah, where he meets and falls in love with Princess Jasmine. Jasmine’s father, the Sultan (Navid Nagahban) is being undermined by his wicked Vazier, Jafar (Marwan Kenzari), who can influence the Sultans decisions with his magical snake scepter.

Aladdin gets sent into the Cave of Wonders with his pet monkey Abu. There he finds many amazing treasures including a lamp that houses a wish granting genie, a flying carpet, and riches beyond his wildest dreams. Aladdin sets off on a crazy adventure to gain the affection of Princess Jasmine with the help of his companions.

The movie leads off strong with a fun and lively chase through the streets of the city when Aladdin steals back Princess Jasmine’s bracelet after she gave it to a street vendor in exchange for bread. This is one of my favorite scenes of the movie, emphasizing the beautiful city and the lightheartedness of the movie.

I also thought the casting was very good. Particularly the casting for Aladdin, Princess Jasmine, and the Genie. Mena Massoud did a very good job conveying the charming awkwardness of his character Aladdin and I thought he was very funny too. In addition Naomi Scott did a good job portraying the strength of Princess Jasmine, and her singing voice is very impressive.

I was pleasantly surprised by Will Smith’s performance as the genie as well. He has a mediocre voice, but he found a way to make the genie character his own without changing the character too much. He was also very funny.

However, I thought that Jafar could have been better casted. The actor who played Jafar was Marwan Kenzari, who played his role only mediocrely. He lacked the sinister feeling portrayed by the original Jafar. One specific thing that I noticed was his voice. His voice was somewhat high in comparison to the original Jafar, who had a very low voice.

In addition the movie used a lot of animation, for Abu, Aladdin’s pet monkey, the flying carpet, and the genie. I thought that these were all very well done, especially the genie and the carpet. Abu was good as well, but I thought he could have looked a little more lifelike.

Aladdin was one of my favorite movies when I was younger, and I really enjoyed this remake. Overall, although there were a few aspects of the movie that could have been improved, such as the animation and casting of Jafar, I really enjoyed watching this movie.