Nouvelles aventures d'Aladin (Les) (New Adventures of Aladdin)

Take a trip back to your childhood memories for this adult reimagining of the tale of Aladdin in the French film adaptation "Les Nouvelles Aventures d'Aladin." Directed by Arthur Benzaquen, written by Daive Cohen and starring Kev Adams, "The New Adventures of Aladdin" brings an improvised slapstick twist to the classic tale of street thief turned prince. Kev Adams plays Sam/Aladdin a Santa impersonator working in the Galeries Lafayette. He lies to his girlfriend Vanessa Guide as The Princess/Shallia Sofia about being a financier to impress her and her father. As Sam leaves to work with his partner in crime William Lebghil as Khaled (who is also a Santa impersonated) they discuss how they will be stealing later. But as fate has it Sam is sidetracked by a child who ask for a story to be told, soon after a group of children gather and begin demanding to have different stories told. Sam unwilling agrees to tell a story but all he knows is the tale of Aladdin.

From here the humor of Sam's ad-lib story telling comes from the heart of his character, who feels true and charismatic beyond the ridiculous nature of the events that unfold for his vision of Aladdin. Sam's character starts on a selfish path due to a poor self image but he slowly transform into the man his girlfriend already sees. As Aladdin he first begins to con the people of Baghdad as the princess coincidentally has escaped the confines of her palace to experience the city for herself. She approaches Aladdin to expose him as a thief to the people he is scamming as a literal spark jumps between their hands jolting them upon touching. The crowd turns on him, he's captured by the Vizier played by Jean-Paul Rouve who has his own diabolical plans, and banishes Aladdin to the forgotten sands where he gains possession of the lamp and negotiates for 7 wishes by means of trickery and coercion over the genie, played by Éric Judor.

Aladdin's first wish is for beautiful hair, on himself, ...the parallel of his wishes from the first to the last develop just as his character becomes more altruistic, even though one of his wishes does involve him reintroducing himself to the princess in music video format. As Sam tells the story of his interpretation of Aladdin he uses childish banter and silly dialogues between characters, over the top singing and dancing, and not so subtle adult oriented sexually innuendos.

The absurdity of the plot is cleverly hidden by means of the story being told to the group of children. Nevertheless as Sam continues he begins to understand that he cannot base his relationship on a fabrication just as Aladdin cannot rely on the genies abilities to shroud his own origins. The film loses nothing due to its English translation and every single joke hits the mark, especially the breaks that veer completely off from what is expected into the bizarre. The special effects are accomplished in a fairy tale manner that keeps within the atmosphere of Kev Adams portrayal of Sam and Aladdin. Everything you want in a feel good Christmas themed movie can be found in "Les Nouvelles Aventures d'Aladin." The lighthearted liveliness of this French reimagining of the classic Arabian tale will have you wishing for more!

Saw the 10th May 

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