Aladdin (2019 film)

Aladdin is a 2019 American live-action film and remake of the 1992 animated film of the same name, both based on the story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.

Synopsis
Aladdin is a lovable street urchin who meets Princess Jasmine, the beautiful daughter of the sultan of Agrabah. While visiting her exotic palace, Aladdin stumbles upon a magic oil lamp that unleashes a powerful, wisecracking, larger-than-life genie. As Aladdin and the genie start to become friends, they must soon embark on a dangerous mission to stop the evil sorcerer Jafar from overthrowing young Jasmine's kingdom.

Plot
In the sultanate of Agrabah lives a kind-hearted thieving street urchin named Aladdin. One day while roaming the streets, Aladdin spots a beautiful girl who gets in trouble after giving away bread to children without paying. Aladdin comes to her rescue, and together they get chased by the Royal Guards. After a while they elude their pursuers, and Aladdin takes the girl to his place for some tea. The girl calls herself Dalia, and is the handmaiden to the Princess of Agrabah. She suddenly has to leave as another suitor for the princess, Prince Anders, arrives. Dalia happens to be Princess Jasmine and Dalia is the name of her handmaid and best friend. Meanwhile, The Sultan's trusted councilor, Jafar, is plotting to overthrown the Sultan by acquiring the Magic Lamp. However, it is hidden in a enchanted Cave of Wonders, and only the "Diamond in the Rough" may enter, which he is not. So, he spends weeks searching for this Diamond in the Rough.

One evening, after turning down Prince Anders' hand in marriage, Jasmine receives a surprise visit from Aladdin, who has come to return her mother's bracelet, which Abu stole. Still thinking she's Dalia, he leaves her with a promise to meet her again, but is caught by the royal guards. The next day, Aladdin finds himself in the desert with Jafar, who assumes that he is the Diamond in the Rough. He tells Aladdin that the girl he met was the princess and that he can make him rich enough to impress her if he helps him retrieve the lamp. By evening, they arrive at the cave, and since Aladdin is the Diamond in the Rough he is permitted to enter the cave safely. The Cave of Wonders is filled with wondrous treasures that tempt both Aladdin and Abu. However, they have been warned to only retrieve the lamp and not to touch any of the other treasures otherwise they would be trapped inside the cave forever. Along the way they meet a Magic Carpet and find the lamp. However, Abu becomes tempted by a big shiny ruby and takes it. This angers the spirit of the cave, and starts to cave in. Aladdin and Abu barely make it back with Carpet's help, but end up trapped in the cave after Jafar takes the lamp and betrays him.

Trapped inside the cave, Abu reveals that he stole the lamp back from Jafar. Aladdin notices the lamp is a bit dusty and gives it a rub. This causes the lamp to release a powerful Genie who can grant him three wishes, as long as he is holding the lamp. Aladdin wishes to escape from the cave (though he makes a wish without holding the lamp, keeping his three wishes intact), and both he, Genie, Abu and Carpet find themselves in the middle of the desert. After seeing Genie's potential, Aladdin wishes to become a prince in the hopes that he can be with Princess Jasmine. Genie transforms him into Prince Ali, and parade to The Sultan's Palace, where the Sultan welcomes him.

Aladdin starts off a bit awkward being a prince and trying to impress Jasmine, especially when Genie has him dance spectacularly in front of the princess. Instead of being impressed she just leaves. Meanwhile, Jafar becomes suspicious of Prince Ali.

Later, Aladdin decides to go to visit Jasmine in her room, while Genie takes Delia out for a late night stroll. By just being himself, Aladdin takes Jasmine on a magic carpet ride, where the two become close. While watching the village people from above, Jasmine figures out that Ali is Aladdin, but he manages to convince her that he is really a prince and that he dresses as a commoner to escape palace life. Then he takes Jasmine back to the palace and they share their first kiss.

The next day however, Jafar captures Aladdin, who has figured out who he really is. He threatens to have him thrown into bay unless he tells him where the lamp is. When Aladdin denies everything, Jafar personally pushes him out of his tower and falls into the sea. Abu and Carpet arrive with the lamp, and Aladdin manages to rub it before drowning. Genie rescues Aladdin, and after speaking with Jasmine they confront the Sultan of Jafar's treachery. Jafar tries to hypnotize the Sultan into thinking they are lying, but Aladdin destroys his staff, proving to the Sultan of Jafar's treachery. He is taken to the dungeon, but manages to escape after Iago brings him the keys.

Meanwhile, the Sultan thanks Aladdin for revealing Jafar's treachery, and would be happy to have him marry his daughter. This makes Aladdin decide not to use his last wish to set Genie free as he promised, as he believes he cannot keep up being a prince without him. Genie is disappointed that Aladdin wants to continue living a lie and retreats to his lamp. Aladdin goes back to his old home in deep thought, and comes to see that Genie is right. He needs to tell Jasmine the truth. Just then, he realizes the lamp is gone and is now in Jafar's possession.

Jafar wishes to become sultan, but when the guards refuse to obey him he uses his second wish to become a sorcerer. He banishes Aladdin to the ends of the earth and threatens to kill Dalia and the Sultan unless Jasmine agrees to marry him. However, Genie sends Carpet to find Aladdin and Abu.

As they proceed with the wedding ceremony, Jasmine notices Aladdin coming on carpet. She plays along with the wedding and once she gets close enough to Jafar, she swipes the lamp from him and jumps onto carpet. Jafar sends Iago after them, turning him into a giant parrot. They almost lose the lamp during the chase, but get it back. However, Iago steals it back, but then loses it when the Sultan interrupts Jafar's sorcery on him. He changes back into a regular parrot. However, Jafar then casts a sand twister that capture Aladdin and Jasmine and brings them back to him. Jafar now has them at his mercy, declaring him the most powerful man in the world. However, Aladdin retorts by claiming Jafar is not as powerful as he wishes to believe. The Genie remains the most powerful being in the universe as he gave Jafar his power in the first place and can also take it away. Realizing what Aladdin says is true and that he is still just "second-best", Jafar uses his final wish to become an all-powerful genie. Seeing Aladdin's cunning plan, Genie grants his wish, turning Jafar into a monstrously powerful genie. With phenomenal, cosmic power at his command, Jafar declares himself ruler of the universe, while he plans to use his newly-obtained powers to destroy Sherebad. However, as pointed out by Aladdin, the power of a genie comes with a price. Jafar receives his own golden shackles and a lamp prison, which sucks him inside along with Iago.

Foiled and trapped by his own greed, Jafar's magic over Agrabah is undone. As for Jafar's Lamp, Genie sends it flying to the Cave of Wonders, where the bickering Jafar and Iago would be forced to remain, as prisoners, for many years. Aladdin apologizes to Jasmine and the Sultan for deceiving them, and is just about to leave until Genie reminds him that he has one wish left to make himself a prince again or erase the law of a prince marrying a princess. However, Aladdin decides to use last wish to set Genie free. Genie decides to spend his freedom seeing the world with Dalia, who he has fallen in love with, and have children together.

The Sultan has decided to pass his crown onto Jasmine, making her the Sultan of Agrabah. Meanwhile, Aladdin sneaks away unnoticed, still thinking he is not right for Jasmine. However, she catches up with him and the two embrace and later marry.

Cast

 * Mena Massoud as Aladdin
 * Will Smith as Genie
 * Naomi Scott as Jasmine
 * Marwan Kenzari as Jafar
 * Navid Negahban as The Sultan
 * Nasim Pedrad as Dalia
 * Billy Magnussen as Prince Anders
 * Numan Acar as Hakim
 * Alan Tudyk as the voice of Iago
 * Frank Welker as the voices of Abu, Rajah and the Cave of Wonders

Development
On October 10, 2016, Deadline.com reported that Disney was developing a live-action remake of Aladdin with Guy Ritchie in talks to direct the film. John August is writing the script that will reportedly retain the musical elements of the original film while Dan Lin is attached as producer.

In March 9, 2017, announced the start of the casting of the protagonists (Aladdin and Princess Jasmine). Lin revealed that they are looking for a diverse cast.

On April 19, 2017, Will Smith was in talks to portray the role of The Genie.

In August 2017, Guy Ritchie revealed that he wanted Tom Hardy to take the role of Jafar.

Later that month, Alan Menken revealed that he will return to compose the music (he also composed music in the original film).

Production on the film was slated to begin in July of 2017. However, on July 11, 2017, it was reported that production on the film would be delayed to August, due to difficulties in finding suitable actors and actresses to portray the leads, Aladdin and Jasmine. Both actors are required to sing, dance, and be of either Middle Eastern or Indian descent. It has also been stated that the studio would prefer newcomers and unknown talents for the two lead roles. Around 2,000 auditions for Aladdin and Jasmine have taken place in London, Egypt, Abu Dhabi, and India, and despite the global search, Disney has not been satisfied with the results. The same report claims that actor Will Smith is "locked" to voice the Genie, while Disney is looking to cast a "big name actor" for the role of Jafar.

At the 2017 D23 Expo, the main cast was announced, including the confirmation of Will Smith as Genie, Mena Massoud as Aladdin, and Naomi Scott as Jasmine.

Production officially ended on January 25, 2018.

Music
After composing the music for the original film of the same name, Alan Menken composed the score for the live-action remake with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul writing a new song called Speechless. Several songs from the original film written by Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice were featured in the remake.

International premieres

 * May 22, 2019 (Belgium, Finland, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Sweden, Taiwan and United Kingdom)
 * May 23, 2019 (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Malaysia, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore)
 * May 24, 2019 (Bulgaria, Canada, China, India, Mexico, Malaysia, Poland, Spain and Turkey)
 * June 5, 2019 (Pakistan)
 * June 7, 2019 (Japan)

Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 56% based on 340 reviews, and an average rating of 5.89/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Aladdin retells its classic source material's story with sufficient spectacle and skill, even if it never approaches the dazzling splendor of the animated original."

Differences from the 1992 film

 * The Peddler was replaced by the Mariner (Genie in human form), who serves as the narrator of the film. Also, the beginning of the film opens on the sea instead of the desert where the Genie cruises with his wife and his two children.
 * This change reflects the original concept that the Peddler was just the Genie in disguise.
 * The "One Jump Ahead" sequence happened when Aladdin and Jasmine tried to flee from the palace guards after giving bread to the street urchins.
 * Jasmine was already disguised as a street urchin when she was introduced in the film. Unlike the original animated film, she did not do this in an attempt to run away from the palace to have a life of freedom.
 * The Sultan is much less childish in his behavior, appearing as a competent, wise and active leader of his sultanate.
 * In the animated film, Jasmine's mother was briefly mentioned. In this film, Jasmine's mother is said to belong from the kingdom of Sherebad and was murdered there. Aladdin's parents were also briefly mentioned in the animated film while in this film, it was mentioned that his parents died when he was young. His father Cassim appeared in Aladdin and the King of Thieves but it is not clear if the father's name is the same for live-action version of him.
 * Jafar's characterization in the film was changed. In this film, Jafar desired to invade Sherebad rather than serving as a sultan of Agrabah. Additionally, he was given a backstory where he mentioned to Aladdin that he was once a streetrat like him. Also, Jafar appears younger than the animated counterpart.
 * Jafar did not disguise himself as an old prisoner to negotiate with Aladdin to bring him the lamp from the Cave of Wonders. Though he does briefly disguise himself as a beggar to steal the lamp from Aladdin.
 * In this version, the Cave of Wonders spoke in a more whispering, yet still serious and deep, voice even if someone does touch the treasure inside. Also The cave's jaws simply snap shut instead of dissolving completely and most of the treasure inside was still intact even after the lava flow.
 * There are some characters in this film that are added or renamed:
 * Dalia is a new character in this film who is the handmaiden of Jasmine and the love interest of the Genie (instead of Eden).
 * Prince Achmed is replaced for a similar new character, Prince Anders and while Achmed was a cruel and snobbish bully, Anders is friendly but dimwitted. In addition, its nationality was changed.
 * Razoul is replaced by Hakim. Hakim was previously the name for one of Razoul's men in the animated Aladdin continuity. The actual Razoul, however appears in the film, but as a minor character, precisely as a chief city guard, essentially swapping the roles between those two characters.
 * Farouk was renamed as Jamal. In addition, prior to Aladdin intervening, he tries to take Jasmine's bracelet as payment for the food she unintentionally stole from his food stand instead of trying to cut her hand off as punishment. This scene was toned down for this film due to both political correctness and to make it less violent compared to the original animated film.
 * Jasmine's goal was to unite the people of Agrabah and to bring back the glory done by her mother's ruling rather than marrying a prince out of love, not by law.
 * Jafar does not try to hypnotize the Sultan in order to arrange his wedding with Jasmine; instead, he tries it in order to start a war.
 * In the animated film, Aladdin never went to the palace until he became Prince Ali by the Genie. In this film, Aladdin breaks into the palace to return Jasmine's bracelet stolen by Abu. It is here that Aladdin was caught by the guards, unlike the original film where the guards on Jafar's orders invade Aladdin's home to arrest him.
 * In the animated film, Jasmine keeps her identity secret while disguised on the streets, and Aladdin only learns her identity when she revealed it to protect him from the guards. In this film she passes herself off as her handmaiden Dalia, and Aladdin instead learns her identity from Jafar after his capture.
 * In the animated film, Jafar hypnotizes the Sultan to give up his ring and eventually uses it to discover that only Aladdin could enter the Cave of Wonders. In this film, Iago after witnessing Aladdin's skills instead reports this to Jafar.
 * In the animated film Jasmine was present when Aladdin was arrested by the Royal Guards. In this film she was unaware of Aladdin's arrest. Therefore, the lie that Jafar used to trick Jasmine into thinking he had Aladdin executed in the animated film was omitted.
 * The Harvest Festival is absent in the animated film.
 * The animal characters: Abu, Rajah and Iago were given smaller roles in this film. Iago is not as talkative as in the animated film but instead, he is more of a normal parrot who mostly imitates people that surrounds him while being able to speak for himself in a limited capacity, and does not have the intelligence that his animated counterpart possessed.
 * In this film, Jasmine was given a solo song entitled "Speechless". All the songs she sung in the animated films were duets.
 * In this film, Genie helped distract Jasmine by asking Dalia for an evening stroll so Aladdin could get to Jasmine's room.
 * In this film, "Ababwa" is now the name of Prince Ali's country, and no longer his surname.
 * Jafar doesn't have any trouble with pronouncing "Ababwa" in this film.
 * Jasmine was not as resistant of Aladdin as Prince Ali during their conversation in her room.
 * During the musical number "Prince Ali", certain scenes in this film were different than the ones in the animated iteration:
 * The part where Genie transforms into a journalist during the golden camel and purple peacock verses was omitted.
 * The golden camels and purple peacocks are depicted differently. In the animated film, each of the golden camels are depicted with two people holding them together while the purple peacocks are shown on a large parade float. In this film, the golden camels are shown being held individually while the peacocks are shown standing on plates albeit with their eye spots being colored purple rather than having each peacock being entirely purple and on a peacock-themed parade float.
 * During the verse about exotic mammals, a flock of ostriches was shown during the verse instead of an enormous gorilla balloon in this film.
 * During the Musical Number, the line, "He's got slaves, he's got servants and flunkies" is changed to; "He's got Ten-Thousand servants and flunkies".
 * While on his stroll with Dalia, Genie used his magic to appear simultaneously on a map to both help Aladdin with his conversation with Jasmine and convince him to be himself instead of appearing as a bee in the original film. He also helped him make the kingdom of "Ababwa" appear on the map so Jasmine can believe it's real.
 * In the process, he made the landmarks of Disneyland such as Fantasyland and Adventureland appear on the map.
 * During the "A Whole New World" sequence, Aladdin and Jasmine only flew to the skies of Agrabah, the desert, and the seas. This change was made because obviously, it is impossible to fly from Agrabah to Egypt, Greece, and China for one night as it is presented in the animated film. Cutting these countries from the sequence also solved chronological errors of the original film. In the original film Genie tells to Aladdin that his look was "too ninth century." Taking this into account: Aladdin and Jasmine could have visited ruins of ancient Greek cities in Byzantine Greece and still seen fireworks in Song Dynasty China ... but they would never see workers in the Sphinx in Egypt, since at that time Egypt was no longer ruled by pharaohs.
 * Abu and the Magic Carpet were not kidnapped after the "A Whole New World" sequence.
 * Abu was changed back into a monkey earlier in the film before Aladdin was caught by the guards the second time. In the animated film, Abu is frequently seen in his elephant form before being turned back into a monkey during the scene where Jafar takes over as the ruler of Agrabah.
 * Aladdin was tied to a chair, but not gagged, and was interrogated by Jafar before he was pushed to the sea. Also, Aladdin did not bring the lamp but instead, Abu brought the lamp via magic carpet and drops it to the sea on the spot where Aladdin sank.
 * In the animated film, the Sultan sends Jafar to the prison but he disappears by magic. In this film, he actually got imprisoned but Iago stole the keys and gave it to Jafar to escape.
 * In the animated film, Jafar finds out that Prince Ali is really Aladdin when he notices the magic lamp in Ali's turban during his arrest. In this film, Iago instead overhears this information and passes it on to Jafar.
 * In the animated film, Jafar had Iago steal the magic lamp from Aladdin, but in this film he steals it himself.
 * Unlike in the animated film, Jafar does not perform his reprise of "Prince Ali" in this film nor does he have a song of his own. This is due to the fact that Marwan Kenzari could not sing, so the song was not used. He did, however, take the words from the song as he sent Aladdin to the "ends of the Earth" as mentioned.
 * In the climax, there is a moment where Jasmine is supposed to marry Jafar, but she refuses to; this scene does not occur in the animated version.
 * Jasmine doesn't kiss Jafar in this film. In the animated film she did this to distract him so Aladdin could stealthily steal the lamp back. Aladdin's attempt of stealing the lamp before getting caught was instead done in an earlier scene for this film.
 * In the animated film a portion of the palace was broken which Jafar used to send Aladdin to the ends of the earth, while in this film Jafar magically transports Aladdin there instead. Also in the original film, Carpet flies after Aladdin, while in this film Genie secretly transports Carpet there to bring Aladdin back.
 * During the climax, Iago turned into a giant bird while chasing Aladdin and Jasmine; this scene is not present in the animated film. This replaced the moment when Jafar became a giant cobra to attack Aladdin, in addition to paying tribute to the Roc.
 * During the climax of the film, many of the inhabitants of the palace are sent to the dungeon when Jafar becomes the ruler of Agrabah also with Carpet getting torn and weakened during the final battle against Jafar. In the animated film, Rajah was turned into a tiger cub, Abu was turned into a toy monkey, and Carpet becomes unraveled during the final battle against Jafar.
 * In this film, the city of Agrabah is situated near the sea, not in the middle of the desert.
 * Jasmine and the Sultan did not become slaves when Jafar becomes the sultan by his wish.
 * Jafar did not wish for Jasmine to fall desperately in love with him. Instead, he forced Jasmine to marry him or else he will suffocate Dalia and the Sultan.
 * In this film Jasmine works with Aladdin to help get the magic lamp back. In the animated film her attempt to do so caused for Jafar to trap her in a giant hourglass to suffocate her with its sand before she was freed by Aladdin after he tricked Jafar into becoming a genie with his last wish.
 * In the animated film, Jafar's final wish was to become an all-powerful Genie. This was replaced in this film to an all-powerful being to make it easier for Aladdin's deception to be more believable, as Jafar was not aware he was becoming a Genie himself until it was too late.
 * In the animated film, prior to Aladdin using his final wish to set Genie free, Genie suggests that Aladdin uses it to become a prince again. In this film, this was replaced with Genie suggesting he could magically remove the law that prevents Aladdin from marrying Jasmine.
 * When the Genie was freed by Aladdin at the end, he transforms completely into a human and he doesn't retain his powers unlike in the animated film.
 * In this film, wishes should be more specific in order to be granted by the Genie. The lamp must also be rubbed while granting the wish, a loophole which was how Aladdin got the Genie to allow their escape from the Cave of Wonders for free with a magic carpet.
 * In the animated film, the Sultan changed the law in order for Jasmine to marry Aladdin. In this film, the Sultan passes the throne on to Jasmine in which she changed the law to marry Aladdin and to fulfill her goal to bring back the glory of her kingdom during her mother's ruling.
 * In this film, Aladdin and Jasmine got married in the end. For their animated counterparts, it took until Aladdin and the King Of Thieves for the wedding to push through.
 * The reprise of "A Whole New World" did not happen at the end of the film but instead, it was replaced by "Friend Like Me" with a dance number before the credits roll.
 * In the animated version, Genie lists killing people as one of three wishes he can't grant. In this one it's not mentioned but it's implied that he can't grant it either.
 * In the animated version, Genie reluctantly granted Jafar his third wish and said "Way to go, Al." as he didn't catch on to Aladdin's plan until the near end of Jafar's transformation and imprisonmen, to which he calls Aladdin a "little genius". In this one, he catches on right away and willingly turns Jafar into a Genie, knowing that he'll be imprisoned in his own lamp.
 * In the animated version Genie is saying "Made you look!" Before The End title, in the live action version, it has the fireworks display and The End title where Abu flies on magic carpet before it dissolves into the magic dust.

Sequel
A sequel to Aladdin, based on the direct-to-video film The Return of Jafar is also reportedly in the works, however, it is unknown whether Guy Ritchie will return to direct.

Trivia

 * Aladdin is the seventh of many live-action adaptations of classic Disney animated films released in the 21st century, following Maleficent, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Christopher Robin, and Dumbo (Pete's Dragon doesn't count as it is considered an adaptation of a live-action movie).
 * In addition, Aladdin is the second of five live-action adaptations of animated films that Disney has slated for release in 2019, after Dumbo and followed by The Lion King, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and Lady and the Tramp.
 * Whereas Dumbo, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Lady and the Tramp are all live-action adaptations of its animated originals, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is a live-action sequel to its 2014's Maleficent (a live-action reimagining of 1959's Sleeping Beauty). In addition, the former three, as well as Maleficent: Mistress of Evil are theatrical releases; while Lady and the Tramp is an exclusive Disney+ release.
 * This is the second live-action adaptation of a Walt Disney Animation Studios movie that is from the Disney Renaissance, after 2017's Beauty and the Beast, and followed by 2019's The Lion King and 2020's Mulan.
 * Frank Welker, who voiced Abu, Rajah, and the Cave of Wonders in the original, reprises his role, making him the fifth actor to reprise his role for a Disney live-action adaptation of a previous Disney animated production after Jim Cummings (who voiced Razoul in the orginal animated film), Brad Garrett (both of who reprised Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, also voiced by Cummings since the late 1980s, and Eeyore, whom Garrett voiced previously in Animated StoryBook: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and recently in Ralph Breaks the Internet, respectively in 2018's Christopher Robin), Nancy Cartwright and Patton Oswalt (both of who reprise Rufus and Professor Dementor in the live-action Kim Possible film), while James Earl Jones (who reprises his role as Mufasa in The Lion King remake) is the sixth.
 * While the teaser trailer used Frank Welker's archived dialogue from the animated film for the voice of the Cave of Wonders, the released live-action film used Welker's newer recordings for the Cave of Wonders' reused lines from the original animated film.
 * This is the second Disney live-action adaptation of a Disney classic to have its music score composed by the same composer as the original animated film after 2017's Beauty and the Beast (which was also composed and scored by Alan Menken) and followed by the CGI live-action adaptation of The Lion King (which is scored by Hans Zimmer).
 * This is the first film in the franchise of the same name in which Iago isn't voiced by Gilbert Gottfried, with Alan Tudyk voicing the character instead.
 * This is the eighth time that Alan Tudyk does a role for a Disney film, after playing King Candy/Turbo in Wreck-It Ralph, Duke of Weselton in Frozen, Alistair Krei in Big Hero 6, Duke Weaselton in Zootopia, Heihei in Moana, and KnowsMore in Ralph Breaks the Internet.
 * This marks the first Disney film to star Will Smith.
 * This is the second time that Billy Magnussen starred in a Disney musical, as well as the second time that he played the role of a prince, after playing Rapunzel's Prince in Into the Woods.
 * Guy Ritchie originally thought of shooting in Morocco for Agrabah, but decided against this setting and went with designing Agrabah as an original location.
 * Unlike the constantly shirtless Aladdin in the original film and the Broadway musical, Mena Massoud's Aladdin in this version does not appear shirtless and is completely covered up for the entire film, with critics noting that covering up Mena Massoud in character was a conservative move by Disney. According to Michael Wilkinson, the costume designer of this film, the reason that their costumes were changed was due to the fact that this appearance would be seen as distracting and inappropriate for the actors by flaunting more skin. This statement is especially true for the latter since Jasmine's animated counterpart received criticism due to her appearance.
 * Also, Jasmine gets a wardrobe selection of outfits for this film, rather than just one outfit in the original; with the iconic turquoise dress in this film being covered and padded to avoid midriff, and the red "slave" outfit being excluded due to its inappropriate nature. Furthermore, much of Jasmine's costumes in this film are also inspired with a combination of South Asian and Arabic influences.
 * Production designer Gemma Jackson drew inspiration from Moroccan, Persian, and Turkish cultures, Victorian paintings, and Iznik ceramics for the design of Agrabah.
 * Agrabah in this film is portrayed as a port city, while in the original, it is said to be situated at the Jordan river.
 * The idea of Iago turned into a giant bird during the climax is a tribute to the Roc, the giant bird from Sinbad; another Middle Eastern folktale from One Thousand and One Nights.
 * The "Prince Ali" song has the lyric "Sunday Salaam" changed to "Friday Salaam". This is actually accurate, as the holy day for Muslims is Friday, while Sunday is reserved as a holy day for Christians (Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians).
 * Will Smith said that he was "terrified" while playing the character, but that "[he] found a lane that pays homage" to Robin Williams' performance in the original film, while still making the role "[his] own thing".
 * Will Smith based his role as Genie on his 1990s roles (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Mike Lowrey, Steven Hiller, Agent J) and remarked that: "There hasn't been a lot of that hip-hop flavor in Disney history, so I think it'll stand out as unique even in the Disney world."
 * Guy Ritchie chose Will Smith to be Genie because he believed Smith could give a performance as good as the late Robin Williams, but not similar: "Just the flavor of the character would be different enough and unique enough that it would be in a different lane, versus trying to compete."
 * Genie's blue suit in human form, is inspired on Genie's outfit in the Aladdin Broadway musical.
 * Will Smith and Alan Tudyk previously worked on I, Robot.
 * During the scene when Aladdin asks Genie to "make him a prince", Genie produces an actual prince in the background. The prince is dressed in colors of pink & lime green, the same colors in the title logo & a nod to Will Smith's 1990 comedy The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In addition, the prince is also played by Will Smith.
 * Mena Massoud was born in 1991, the year before the original film was released.

Cameos and other Disney references

 * The "Friend Like Me" song number features numerous references:
 * At the beginning of the song number, Abu is given cymbals by Genie. This was a reference of his animated counterpart being briefly turned into a toy monkey with cymbals by Jafar (by sorcery) during its climax of the 1992 animated original.
 * In the "this the big part" sequence where a multiple mirror images of the Genie were performing, Aladdin is seen dancing with strings being attached and manipulated by the Genie, in homage to Pinocchio (1940).
 * In the "You got a genie for your charge d'affaires" sequence where the Genie is seen sitting with Aladdin in a sofa and upon handing over a scroll to Aladdin of which they were rapidly travelling by speed on a sofa, features a hyperspace from the Star Wars franchise (which is also owned by Disney).
 * When Genie explains that he is the most powerful being in the universe, he pulls out a scroll that features drawings of the 1992 animated versions of Aladdin, Sultan, and Genie, to illustrate his point.
 * Carpet made a sandcastle of Cinderella Castle (complete with a sand arch over the castle like in the Walt Disney Pictures logo) while Genie explains the wish process to Aladdin.
 * Genie makes Fantasyland from the Disney parks on the map when Aladdin and Jasmine discuss the places they would travel to.