A fun remake that doesn’t quite capture the magic of the original
Aladdin is the most recent addition to Disney’s live-action remake initiative and it had quite the uphill battle to get here. Between controversy around the Will Smith being the genie to try to replace Robin Williams, to claims of whitewashing, Aladdin has been surrounded with a lot of uncertainty. Despite all of that, the new film has come out swinging in the box office, even with mixed reviews from critics and fans alike.
Directed by Guy Ritchie, the plot is almost exactly the same as the original with Aladdin (Mena Massoud) meeting Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) and attempting to woo her along with the assistance of a magical genie (Will Smith).
I will say, I didn’t have very high expectations for the film. The trailers were all over the place and how in the world would Will Smith capture the magic of Robin Williams? I came out pleasantly surprised. It was a fantastic film, but it did what it needed to do by introducing the classic story to a new generation (keep in mind the original came out 27 years ago) of Disney fans.
The look of the movie was absolutely beautiful. The sets were dazzling and the big musical sequences were phenomenally well made. The CGI struggled in a few places, but overlooking that, they really outdid themselves when it came to capturing the attention of the audience with color and choreography.
I also enjoyed some of the changes they made to the story. They made Jasmine a more impactful character instead of the damsel-in-distress that she was originally made to be. They also fleshed out Genie’s story a little bit which I certainly appreciated. I was a bit nervous when I saw this one would be 35 minutes longer than the original, but they filled the time well, even if a couple things here and there could have been cut to make everything a little more smooth.
Jafar definitely got the short end of the stick with the story changes though. He didn’t feel like that scary of a villain to me, and his powers were fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I’m sure they wanted to cut things down a little bit so the movie didn’t run too long, but they could have given Jafar a little more development and screentime so he could actually be a villain worth looking out for.
Now for the question everyone was wondering: How was Will Smith? The genie in this live-action remake is very different from the original but that’s a good thing. Smith knew that he couldn’t match Robin Williams so he put his own spin on the character and made it more like you would expect from Will Smith. He didn’t try to meet the expectations of replacing Williams, he forged his own path, and I appreciated the character all the much for it.
Despite all the positives, there was something missing. I’m not quite sure what it was, but I didn’t have that same feeling from watching this one that you get from the original. There wasn’t enough pizzazz to really make it memorable in the long-run. I’ll likely forget that I even watched it in due time, much like the other live-action projects that Disney is pumping out annually. I’m not sure if this is an Aladdin-specific problem or an overarching live-action Disney problem but it’s just not the same. It’s missing some magic that I’m not sure how to bring back.
Aladdin is a fun new Disney movie for fans of the original, but it doesn’t give you enough to justify its recreation. There are a lot of cool additions to the story and the musical sequences are a joy to watch, but if you’ve gotten a sour taste in your mouth from the other Disney live-action remakes, it might be best to just watch the 1992 version instead.
The Movie Hall 
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