Director: Glenn Campbell
Writer: Glenn Campbell, Tammy Klein (Screenplay)
Starring: Adam Hollick, Lucia Xypteras, Daniel O’Reilly, Monroe Robertson, Naya Abou Mousa, Lord Kraven
Plot: With the help of a magical lamp, an impoverished young man transforms himself into a prince in order to win the heart of a beautiful princess.
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Low Budget TV Fun
Story: Adventures of Aladdin starts when the sultan passes away leaving his daughter Shahzadi (Xypteras) to rule Bagdad, with Vizier Maghreb (O’Reilly) not being impressed with his decision. Shahzadi wants to see her people with an acrobat Aladdin (Hollick) catching her eye.
Vizier decides to use Aladdin’s skills to get a mysterious magical lamp, only to show his true colours leaving Aladdin buried in the cave, with the lamp. When Aladdin rubs the lamp a Genie (Williams) appears to grant him his desires, turning Aladdin into a prince to win Shahzadi heart.
Thoughts on Adventure of Aladdin
Characters – Aladdin is a street acrobat, performing for any spare money or food with his friends until he captures the eye of the new Sultana Shahzadi. He gets tricked into finding a lamp which sees him need to use his skills to escape the traps. Once he has the lamp he ends up using the Genie to get what his friends always wanted. Vizier Maghreb has been waiting for his time to be Sultan, he is angry is doesn’t get the chance and now he will find his own way to become Sultan. Shahzadi has been made Sultana after her father’s death, she doesn’t want to follow the tradition wanting to give the people more freedom. The Genie comes to grant wishes, he is filled with riddles and doesn’t give a limit to the number of wishes granted.
Performances – Adam Hollick is Aladdin, he does give the charm required and like the rest of the cast they are all solid through this film. Lucia Xypteras is strong in the Jasmine role (we can’t use that name for legal reason), while Daniel O’Reilly as the villainous figure brings the evil needed. Tionne Williams is the one we want to see more from his character, because he seems like he is the most interesting character in the film.
Story – The story here does follow everything storyline wise from the original Aladdin, it holds back on the comedy to narrow down the idea that good and evil are trying to win the heart of the Sultana with the help of a genie that will grant wishes. This might not be the most original story, but it keeps everything simple enough for the audience, it doesn’t dive into the comedy like the animated version. We get the morale messages about letting the world unfold the way it should instead of wishing it away, we also get into a darker side of the story which is a surprise with deaths in the film.
Adventure – The adventure side of the film shows how Aladdin goes from street performer to a position where he needs to stop an evil ruler.
Settings – The film is set in what is meant to be the outskirts of Bagdad, it shows the different class system that we are seeing.
Scene of the Movie – Getting the lamp.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It feels too safe.
Final Thoughts – This is a simple and safe version of Aladdin, it takes out the comedy to show how average the story behind the original really is, the genie is again the most interesting character and we would have liked to have seen more of him.
Overall: Safe and Simple.
Rating
