Aladdin

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Controversy struck this film like a slap in the face with a waffle iron when the first teaser trailer came out. And admittedly, I was among the complainers. The big deal, of course, being Will Smith portraying the Genie. More than anything, for me, it was the look. But, it was only a teaser. Who knew what was fully finished yet?

Once the first full trailer came out, I found myself curious, but not hyped. Which is a shame, 'cause this was the one I really wanted to see redone as a live action film. With what Disney can afford in the CG department, I always wondered if it could be pulled off in some way. I guess they heard my thoughts over there at Disney, 'cause they put a pretty good effort forward. I'm happy to say that this really didn't turn out that bad!

So, plot-wise, I'd assume that most of my readers know how this one goes. Jafar (Marwan Kenzari) wants to get his hands on a magical oil lamp in order to become all powerful. The only way to get it, is through the "diamond in the rough", who he finds out is Aladdin (Mena Massoud), and sends him in to fetch the lamp with promises of riches and such.

Aladdin finds the lamp, and soon meets the Genie (Will Smith), who is bound to grant him three wishes. While Jafar keeps trying to get his hands on the lamp, Aladdin is busy trying to charm Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott), who is  actually probably the most interesting part of this movie. In the animated film, a lot of it is about her trying to get away from the trappings of a palace life and live as a normal person. In this, she wants to take over as Sultan, plays a strong female figure, and she even gets her own brand new, surprisingly powerful song called "Speechless", which I am hereby predicting right here and right now an Oscar nomination for.

As far as the other performances go, I thought Kenzari was very convincing as Aladdin; a little bit cocky, a little bit charming, even a little bit clumsy, yet can do parkour. Massoud as Jafar was, however, something that grinded my gears pretty roughly. Animated 1992 Jafar is my favourite of the Disney villains, and I didn't feel like he was done justice here. To be fair, they were going for something a little different with his character. But this guy came off more as someone who would be Jafar's assistant. What you get from him in the trailer is pretty much how he is, and often overacting some of the more intense moments.

But let's get to it, shall we? How is Will Smith as the Genie? Listen, everyone, it's gonna be completely relative. He worked okay for me, because I always saw the Genie as the fourth wall breaking character, who can reference present day pop culture in a story that takes place a long time ago. Will Smith is a name synonymous with pop culture, and so was Robin Williams at his time. For who the character was supposed to be, it worked for me just fine, but it didn't blow my mind unexpectedly or anything. But another way to put it; Will's playing a fourth wall breaking Hitch here, since so much of it is about Genie helping Aladdin get together with Jasmine. But hey, I got a few good chuckles from him. He's no Robin Williams, but again, he works for what the character is.

Moving on from performances, this is also very much a musical (if you didn't guess that already with what I had to say about Naomi Scott). Pretty much all of your favourite old songs are here, just not necessarily always performed very well. In my opinion, the highlight is what they did with 'Friend Like Me', putting on a similar show as the original with it, but perhaps more flashy, and trying out neat new things. You get a split second of it in the trailer, when Genie has Aladdin dangling like a marionette, dancing around.

This ended up being a very middle-ground movie for me, and I still think I prefer the original. But I will say that it most definitely wasn't bad. If nothing else, I was entertained and left with a smile on my face. I always loved that original '92 movie, and I didn't feel like anything was ruined here. It was just a different take on things. While it's not something that demands to be seen in theaters by just anyone, I'd say take the kids and check it out. One thing I will forewarn is that it starts off pretty weak, but give the film time to sink in and do its thing. You might just be happy with the payoff.

3/5

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