Reviewed by Angie on
To say I was excited about A Whole New World would be an understatement. Aladdin is my #5 favorite movie of all time, so of course I had to read this twist on it! Sadly, it’s not that twisted. It’s essentially the movie, but rearranged. Then in order to fill in the gaps between Jafar completely taking over and Aladdin defeating him, the author turned Agrabah into a dystopian society and had Jasmine be the leader of the rebellion. Oh, and zombies. That’s great in theory, but it didn’t really capture my attention at all.
The first half of A Whole New World is the Disney movie, right down to the dialogue. Aladdin running across rooftops with his bread, Jasmine pretending to be crazy, the sultan playing with animal figurines, Abu putting his grubby paws on the treasure. All of of it is the same. I expected similarities, but not to this extent. Then I assumed it would diverge once Jafar (disguised as the old man) got his hands on the lamp. Nope. The end of the movie where he makes his two wishes got moved up. I kept waiting for the twist! There was no twist, just a shifting around of scenes!
I really don’t have a lot to say about A Whole New World. If you’ve seen the movie, then you know exactly what happens here. The ending did seem like it was going to be interesting, and in a way it was. But by then it was too late, and honestly, I don’t believe that Jafar would have made that wish. It didn’t fit his character at all. It was all just disappointing, even the genie. The author was trying to mimic his humor, and it all fell flat. There’s only one Genie, and that ain’t him.
Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 20 June, 2015: Finished reading
- 20 June, 2015: Reviewed