apples & aladdin.

 Today I really went through my Poshmark closet and reassessed dresses that I had for sale that I actually wanted to try to remix into my closet and this apple print dress was one of them. I thrifted it a while ago and loved it right away but it was definitely too big when I bought it and it still a bit roomy but very comfortable. If anything, I would pin the straps a bit higher in the back but I like that it's not super tight and gives me room and I never noticed until today that the skirt was so asymmetrical which I think add some cool interest. It was a natural match to my Sven clogs and I've been using this thrifted red crossbody almost everyday. The leather is SO soft and the color is SO pretty. It's way better than the original Frye Belle bag that I had wanted for a long time but couldn't justify the crazy price!
This was a girl's day. I spent the afternoon with my best friend. We snuck cookies into the movies and saw the $5 matinee of 'Aladdin' at the mall! 

 I'm wearing: sunglasses-old (pac sun), dress-thrifted, bag-liebskind berlin (thrifted), clogs-sven clogs 

I'm not here to be a movie critic in any way (back when I started blogging in college and had a lot more steam to rant I would have been way more critical) I'm just going to give you guys 5 things I liked, 5 things I wanted and my bottom line for Aladdin, no pressure to continue reading if you aren't interested in the movie or my take!

*SPOILER ALERT* Even though the story has been told and retold a hundred and one times, there are some changes in the new movie and I am going to share my reaction/take on them briefly, so please be warned!

Top 5 Things I Liked:

-the following cast members: the Princess Jasmine, Aladdin, Dahlia, Sultan, and supporting characters/extras really gave a cool feeling to the movie.

-majority of the costumes. wow, stunning! Also OMG the DANCE SCENE. Loved all the dancing so much.

-Jasmine's 'let it go' moment. Yas, Sultaness! Would I have preferred 'Let it Go' in Arabic or more songs that reflected the flavor of the region? YES 100%!
It was still nice to have Jasmine assert herself and get that 3 dimensional character treatment that fell flat in the animated version.

-the new love story of Genie & Handmaiden, Dahlia. This romance had double wedding, Shakespeare vibes and I was all for it!

-the Magic Carpet. I loved it. It honestly had more character than the Genie during a lot of scenes, just my opinion. I definitely was really sad when it almost 'died.'

Top 5 Things I Hated:

-lack of delving into the culture/substance to add to the story. Like I alluded to earlier, having songs in or featuring Arabic would have been SO welcomed and such great updates to the original movie score. Also, the only food featured that made me think of my own visit to the Middle East was dates which was nice but---come on! More food! More music, more language, more family life, customs, ect. would have been SO much richer and brighter to the film. THIS ARTICLE goes a bit more into another writer's opinions on the "pseudo-Arabian' vibe of the movie and I have to agree overall. This to me, feels like a missed opportunity to really depict the Arabian landscape and beauty in a loving and magical way as I've seen movies do with other Disney (real) places like "Rio," "Moana," and "Lilo & Stitch." Every time I watch 'Rio' I want to go to Brazil, 'Moana' makes me want to explore Polynesia, and when I watch 'Lilo & Stitch' I'm ready to fly to Hawaii. Any one else?

-Genie. I know it's been said a million times but nobody can replace Robin Williams' character and it added insult to injury that there was no tribute or dedication to him either before or after the movie. To have Will Smith and not have him either reference other characters/voices he's known well for or do original/funny bits pretty much at any time in the movie was really disappointing. He just wasn't funny. He could've been funny. He needed better writing and I would say to completely lose the blue would have been fine with me.

-Female Modesty/Decorum ignored. I definitely felt very uncomfortable with the lack of authenticity in the females modesty in the film. I feel strongly that having all of the unmarried females' heads covered, at least their hair, even with a thin veil, would have been SO much better than the sometimes yes, sometimes no, sometimes looking vaguely Arabic, sometimes looking Indian, confusing female wardrobes. Especially the Princess Jasmine.  It also REALLY bothered me how easily Aladdin grabbed Jasmine's hand in the market and just seemed casual about touching her in general. In a culture where unmarried men and women seldom touch, especially strangers, it just seemed really false and unnecessary to the plot or movie. Why didn't she resist? He later came clean that he recognized right away that her clothing was from the palace, which didn't help the matter either in my opinion.

an artist's really cool depiction of a more historically accurate Jasmine

-Parents. Jasmine's dad was a sweetie and I'm so glad he got a better treatment and wasn't the Sultan caricature in the original film (ugh the playing with the toys bothered me the most in the animated version, he was like a child)! Why couldn't we get more of a background story on her mom? Why couldn't we get some good old rewritten and refreshed flashbacks and memories into Aladdin's childhood with his parents? I would've really loved that. I especially had this feeling like Jasmine's  mom died mysteriously and possibly Jafar-related so that would have been SUCH an interesting story to unpack and give some new fuel and background to a regurgitated tale.

-Jafar and Iago. I can't think of 1 good reason why Gilbert Gottfried isn't Iago. Not 1.  Also, I can't be the only one who thinks this but don't you think Jafar would have been SO MUCH BETTER as a drag queen? The complete lack of eyeliner and theatrical villain tall willowy windy goatee vibes from the original were devastating to me. Also, a lot of people thought he was hot on the internet. So that is definitely not supposed to happen!

Overall, I'm a 90s kid and will probably be disappointed with most of these remakes but I LOVE fairy tales and romance and I stand by my thoughts that the 'Cinderella' remake was 100% my favorite Disney re-do so far. I loved 'Tangled' and I loved 'The Princess & the Frog' and hope for more animated princess soon as well. I didn't hate 'Aladdin.' I still liked it and don't regret spending five dollars on seeing it in the theater. I originally said that I would give it 8/10 but after really thinking about it and a lot that could have been better, I will ultimately rate it a 7.5/10. It was better than I thought it would be, but still left a lot to be desired.

Did you see it? What is your favorite Disney movie? xx