Wednesday, 1 October 2008

Film review of Aladdin



Mr Van Straten asked us to do a film review of our fav films. I have so many, so here is just one...




Aladdin

Aladdin is an animated, adventure, fantasy musical based on an Arab folktale, about a young street boy named Aladdin who tackles the dangers of the street of a fictional Arabian city, Agrabah, many years ago, with his only friend, a trusty monkey, Abu.

The film begins with a man ridding a camel singing Arabian Nights. It creates an air of mystery and suspense as we don’t know where the man is going or why he is in the desert!

We meet Jasmine, a young teenage princess from the palace of Agrabah. She is not allowed to leave the palace walls, but must be married before her next birthday! Having turned away every suitor who has tried to win her, she is fed up ‘having her life lived for her,’ so she decides to venture outside the palace disguised, and on top of the wall she sees the dusty marketplace for the very first time.

She soon meets the mischievous Aladdin and Abu and their friendship begins to explode. Meanwhile the Sultans evil adviser, Jafar looks into his magical machine to see who the ‘Diamond in the Rough’ is, for that person is the only person who can go into the ‘cave of wonders’ to retrieve the magic lamp to complete the evil Jafar’s evil plan! The image reflected back to him is none other than...Aladdin.


I still remember the first time I ever saw Aladdin. I must have been about 5 or 6 and I was living in Antigua. It was hot so I had all the windows open for a draft.
It was on Sky (courtesy of my dads’ job) and I was sitting on a cushion on the wooden floor with my back against the blue sofa. After I’d seen it I asked for it on video for my birthday: I got my mum to make me a Jasmine outfit and bought a purple and sparkly silver hair tie with Jasmines’ face stuck on it which I wore all the time in a pineapple! I think this is one of my favorite films, not only because it’s a classic Disney film but also in the Caribbean I had some of the best times in my life and the film adds to my fairytale image of what it was like living over there.

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