I can’t help but wonder what someone like Baz Luhrmann (“Moulin Rouge” and “The Great Gatsby”) might have done to recreate the energy and charm of the original and maintain the film’s feel as a musical. When it came to the musical numbers, however, Ritchie fell short: the CGI and strobe effects were downright distracting from the choreography. Guy Ritchie’s (“Snatch”) directorial style was a good fit for the action sequences, and the escape from the Cave of Wonders was particularly harrowing, even though I knew exactly how it was going to end. With Smith, the obvious option would have been to leverage his smart-aleck quips and family-friendly, storytelling rap style. The best chance for success here was to do a complete 180 and reimagine the Genie entirely. ![]() To be fair, the original defies imitation. Key memorable quotes from the original were omitted, and the special effects to turn Will Smith into a genie were creepy. Unfortunately, I was left missing Robin Williams’s 1992 Genie. Additionally, the remake offered an opportunity to refine the back stories of key characters including Jafar, who reveals he grew up on the streets as a thief just like Aladdin. For example, Massoud offered a refined and sensitive version of Aladdin, and Jasmine was a more well-rounded and less sexualized character with her own ambitions of becoming Sultan and a strong voice for change. Massoud, Scott, Kenzari, and Negahban were all phenomenal in their roles, and I appreciated the slight tweaks to their characters. All this is mixed in with a liberal dose of singing, dancing, and attempts at inspiring the audience to be true to who they really are.įor the most part, the casting and character development are spot-on. He uses his wishes to try and get closer to Jasmine, and the duo ultimately works together to prevent Jafar from realizing his evil plot for ultimate power over the existing Sultan (Navid Negahban). Jafar lures Aladdin to the cave to retrieve the lamp, and it’s Aladdin who activates the Genie (Will Smith) first. Meanwhile, the Sultan’s vizier, Jafar (Marwan Kenzari), plots to acquire a magic lamp from the fabled Cave of Wonders. The bulk of the plot remains true to the original version: street rat Aladdin (Mena Massoud) meets Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) while she is in disguise in the busy streets of Agrabah. While the still catchy soundtrack and action sequences may keep younger audiences entertained, I found it hard to see any Disney magic in this film as an adult. The 2019 live-action remake version of “Aladdin” makes some attempts to rectify past issues, but the film is still problematic. The larger-than-life Genie carried the production through glaring plot holes and won audiences over despite its racial controversy. ![]() For many, Disney’s 1992 film “Aladdin” is lovingly remembered alongside classics like “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast”.
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