Disney Newly Released ‘Aladdin’ Official Trailer Reels in Better Reactions

Disney’s live-action Aladdin movie has released its official trailer, and it’s a whole new world indeed.

The 2019 live version of one of Disney’s classic animated films already started quite the buzz since its production. The teaser trailer alone garnered so much attention—racking up 8.3 million views since its release in early February. The teaser garnered more dislikes than likes, though, with many believing it to be very underwhelming and disappointing. Now that Aladdin has released its second full trailer, the film appears to be much more promising.

Here are some details you might’ve missed:

The Aladdin official trailer gave us a sneak-peak into the vast world of Agrabah, opening with a slice in the life of Aladdin (Mena Massoud) as a street rat. It gave a few snippets of Aladdin’s street rat parkour and shenanigans with trusted monkey sidekick Abu (Frank Welker). Then in comes Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott), who immediately catches Aladdin’s interest.

The Cave of Wonders also makes a cameo in the preview, where Jafar (Marwan Kenzari) meets Aladdin with a promising proposition. Contrary to the animated version where the cave pops out from the sand in the middle of nowhere, the reboot establishes it as just a cave carved like a tiger’s head (yeah, like that’s a reasonable thing to find in the middle of a desert).

Debunking Backlash

One of the biggest upsets from the teaser trailer and first-look pictures was the portrayal of beloved Genie (Will Smith). With the original role voiced by the late Robin Williams, Smith had some big shoes to fill. In the official trailer, Smith as the Genie wasn’t half bad as expectations were from the teasers. The snippets of Genie showed him giving his own spin on the character. He’s still funny and snarky—just in a different way. And sure, the animation-plus-blue-body-paint makes things a little unsettling. But to be fair, there is no “realistic genie” to go off on since there’s no real-life reference of a genie to begin with. This trailer alone proves that the upset on how Genie was portrayed was a rush to judgment.

So this is the confusing part of the trailer that will hopefully be clarified in the actual movie. Much of the joyous dance numbers with the bright costumes and choreography look a lot like Bollywood. This is contrary to this movie’s setting in the middle east. Of course, not all of it was featured in the trailer so it’s too soon to call it out on cultural inaccuracy. That being said, it’s also worth noting that the Disney interpretation of the real Aladdin tale was culturally inaccurate, with it originally being set in China. But props to Director Guy Ritchie for making sure the film was not whitewashed. Lead actors Massoud is from Egyptian descent and Scott is part Indian.

Aladdin premieres May 24, 2019. Here’s the official trailer: