Reception
| "While Jasmine is not quite so liberated as Belle, she is advanced considering that she lives in the Dark Ages...Jasmine probably has more in common with the heroine of "I Dream of Jeannie" than with a Muslim princess of 850 A.D. And her dream isn't so different from Snow White's or Cinderella's: She is waiting for her prince to come, but he must be a man with both looks and character." |
| — Rita Kempley of The Washington Post, in analysis of Jasmine's character. |
Critical reception towards Jasmine has been generally mixed. Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly positively described Jasmine as "the most full-bodied...of the new Disney heroines". Brian Lowry of Variety likened Jasmine's strong-willed personality to that of Belle from Beauty and the Beast (1991), describing her as an "anachronistically liberated" heroine. James Berardinelli of ReelViews was fairly positive in his review of the character, commending her for "show the same streak of stubborn independence exhibited by Ariel and Belle," but criticizing the fact that "she doesn't fill a more pressing role than that of Aladdin's 'love interest.'" Desson Howe of The Washington Post accredited Jasmine with providing the film with "feminist consciousness". Contactmusic.com wrote that Jasmine has "likeably cynical streaks" despite being an "essentially bland" character.
Other critics have been less favorable in their reviews of Jasmine. Janet Maslin of The New York Times described the character as shallow and bland, criticizing the fact that her "main concern is deciding whom she will marry." Time Out gave Jasmine a fairly negative review, calling her a disappointing character. TV Guide criticized Jasmine as a lead, describing her as "bland". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times labeled Jasmine one of the film's "weaknesses," describing the romantic relationship between her and Aladdin as "pale and routine". Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine panned the character, writing, "Jasmine is another 'free-spirited' type in the Barbie-doll tradition, a faux feminist who wants everyone to know that she can do everything the boys can".
Sonia Saraiya of Nerve ranked Jasmine fifth in her article "Ranked: Disney Princesses From Least To Most Feminist". Saraiya praised her personality, likening her boldness, curiosity, and skepticism of marriage to that of Belle while commending her for "falling for a completely inadequate 'street rat' and whisking him out of poverty, instead of the other way around." However, Saraiya labeled Jasmine's use of sexuality her "only power," criticizing her for sending a negative message to young girls.
Read more about this topic: Princess Jasmine
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