Aladdin Star Naomi Scott on Impersonations, Artistry & Dancing on Set

The live action remake of Aladdin is a colourful, vibrant and musical extravangaza featuring a hip-hop genie played by Will Smith and a fierce Princess Jasmine played by Naomi Scott. Young reporter Ewan got a chance to sit down with Naomi to discuss her favourite filmmaking moments, impersonations and the skills needed to make it in the film industry.

Watch all of our Aladdin videos here.

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.

Ewan reviews Aladdin

Until this point I have felt fairly neutral about the last few Disney remakes, not really feeling either blown away or underwhelmed. So going into Aladdin I wasn't expecting too much out of the way of averageness.

But to summarise Aladdin in two words, those would be "visually mesmerising." From the choreography of the dancing, the parades, very vibrant colour palettes, and the cinematography - such as the one-shot takes of the performances of the songs. The film felt very cohesive in terms of every element coming together to make it mesmerising. Each element of the film came together and complimented each other very well. 

The film is very fast-paced, there was a lot going on within the earliest moments of the film which held my attention and kept me engaged. I didn't feel bored at any moment.

Of course, Robin Williams' performance of the Genie in the original will forever be iconic and untouchable. However, credit to Will Smith who took the iconic character of the Genie and put his own spin on it. If I was to describe the Genie in this film, is that it is what the Genie is typically known as, combined with Will Smith's charismatic self (which we see a lot of in his vlogs). I found Will's portrayal of the Genie refreshing, and a new perspective to look at the Genie from! 

My only issue with the film was the performances of the songs, even though I felt the music itself was great and Alan Menken really came through, on camera I felt the performances could have been delivered more passionately, which made it slightly awkward to watch. How the songs were incorporated into the films' plot felt like interruptions and took me out of the experience, and could've been eased into the film a lot better. 

However with all this being said, Aladdin definitely exceeded my expectations and was definitely refreshing and captivating.