Aladdin (2019) is the 312th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell, Danielle Radford and Lon Harris. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 2019 musical fantasy movie Aladdin. The video is 4 minutes 24 seconds long. It was published on September 10, 2019 to coincide with the film's release on digital/Blu-ray. It has been viewed over 1.4 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - Aladdin (2019) on YouTube
"As far as soulless cash grabs go, this one is clumsily entertaining enough to remind you how fun Aladdin is." ~ Honest Trailers - Aladdin (2019)
Script []
From Guy Ritchie, the director of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and Midge Got Whipped in the Bitsies–okay, I made that one up. Comes another magical Disney fantasy that dares to ask: what if poor people had upward mobility?
Aladdin - but with people this time!
You’ve heard all the complaints about live-action Disney remakes: they're soulless recreations, bland corporate storytelling, and cynical risk-averse cash grabs. Well, yeah. We should all know the deal by now. But as far as soulless cash grabs go, this one is clumsily entertaining enough to remind you how fun Aladdin is...
Dalia: It's clumsy, but in a charming sort of way.
...or at least make you feel like you're watching Disneyland's Agrabah sing-along stunt show. Wee! Can we go to the Galaxy's Edge next?! I want to assemble my own jizz flute!
Welcome to Agrabah, a vaguely Middle Eastern sound-stage maid of parkour courses. Parkour!!! Parkour!!! Thrill at minor new additions to the famous story, like a handmaid the Genie would like to... friend, Jasmine's new psychic time-freezing powers and...ugh...typical Disney forced diversity.
Prince Anders: They say that in Scotland, ya right?!
But don't worry, grownup fans, there aren't too many changes to your precious cartoon! In fact, all the characters are still two-dimensional with a cast of unknowns who, aside from Jasmine, will definitely stay that way! Featuring an Aladdin who didn't even sand his nipples off, a Jafar who went from over-the-top snake wizard to CBD-infused snake oil salesman, and a Jasmine who doesn't need some man to do everything for her, because she already had a perfectly good woman for that!
Dalia: I'll draw the bath.
Huh. Maybe she should be Sultan instead. At least she probably knows that bread costs money.
Bored? You will be, until Will Smith's Genie does his best to "woo!" it up a notch. Oh and don't let that teaser fool you. He's slightly less horrifying in the finished product. Watch Disney try to recapture that Robin Williams magic by casting another fast-talking 90's superstar, as Big Willie throws jokes, dancing and auto-tune at you until you use your final wish to just make him go...chill out on a boat already. Does that mean this whole movie is just some BS Will made up to get discount Jaden and Willow to stop complaining? Respect!
So gather the family for a time-tested tale about lying your way into power, that would have been more interesting if it were about Jasmine, Jafar's rise to prominence, whatever unholy union of man and beast that gave birth to Iago, or the French guy who either wrote or stole the story of Aladdin and snuck it into his translation of A Thousand and One Arabian Nights. But as far as a copy-pasted version of Aladdin with no Robin Williams goes, it's about as good as that could be. And apparently that's worth something. Like a billion somethings. The end.
Starring: Robbing Williams (Will Smith as the Genie); I Love Lamp (Mena Massoud as Aladdin); DJ Jazzy Min (Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine); Cobra! (Marwan Kenzari as Jafar); I Dream of Jiggy (Nasim Pedrad as Dalia); An Animals Playing the Drums Renaissance (Abu, an ant from Ant-Man and the Wasp, and an octopus from Aquaman playing the drums); The Disney Vault (the Cave of Wonders); They're Just Not Sending Arendelle's Best, All Right, People? (Billy Magnussen as Prince Anders); A Rug's Life (the Magic Carpet); and Parrots Just Don't Understand (Alan Tudyk as Iago).
Lamp, Tramp and Three Smokin' Wishes
Aladdin: You can just make the law disappear?
Genie: Please?! Like it never existed!
Does that apply to laws for monopolies? Asking for a friend... (Disney)
Trivia[]
- The Alan raptor easter egg can be seen at 0:43 within the Genie's magical duplication of himself in "Friend Like Me."
- For this episode, narrator Jon Bailey slightly changed his style of voiceover. The writers explain that this is because his usual parody voice (which is well-suited to action movies) doesn't sound right when applied to other film genres like kids movies, family films and rom-coms.
- Screen Junkies also produced an episode of Honest Trailers about the 1992 animated version of Aladdin plus Honest Trailers for several other Disney live-action reboots including The Jungle Book, Maleficent, Beauty and the Beast and Alice in Wonderland. See list of Honest Trailers for more.
Watch the full Honest Trailers Commentary on YouTube
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - Aladdin (2019) has a 96.6% approval rating from YouTube ratings. Ethan Anderton of Slash Film called the Honest Trailer a "scathing dig into the Disney remake." Miss Cellania wrote that "Screen Junkies holds nothing back in their opinions." Joey Paur of Geek Tyrant wrote "Out of all of the live-action remakes that Disney has made over the past few years, Aladdin was one of the better and more entertaining ones. I actually kinda enjoyed it and this Honest Trailer recognizes that, saying, “As far as soulless cash grabs go, this one is clumsily entertaining.” However, the video does go on to point out and joke around about certain silly aspects of the film and takes some amusing digs at it."
Production credits[]
Epic Voice Guy: Jon Bailey
Title Design by Robert Holtby
Written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell, Danielle Radford & Lon Harris
Produced by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, Joe Starr & Max Dionne
Edited by Kevin Williamsen
External links []
- Honest Trailers: Aladdin is yet Another Soulless Cash Grab - EpicStream article
- The ‘This is a Public Service’ ALADDIN remake Honest Trailer. - MOE Lane article
- An Honest Trailer for Aladdin (2019) - Miss Cellania article
- ‘Aladdin’ Honest Trailer: You Ain’t Never Had a Friend Like This, Except That Other ‘Aladdin’ Movie - SlashFilm article
- ‘Aladdin’ Honest Trailer Leans Heavily into the Parkour, Much Like the Movie - Egotastic article
- Honest Trailer For Disney's ALADDIN - "As Far as Soulless Cash Grabs Go, This One is Clumsily Entertaining" - Geek Tyrant article