Better than expected, but ...

Rating: 10/10 (9 June 2019)

I was dreading the idea of watching this.. one of my favorite movies of all time wasn't looking to be making the transition to live action worth my while... the film proved me wrong.. but it did do something previous remakes didn't.. make me question why it was necessary
The bad: Will Smith's Genie has his moments.. but definitely not when he's singing... but he's not too far behind the leads.. Aladdin is flat and can barely reach the notes and although Naomi Scott shines the brightest, her vocals just can't reach the quality of the Score..
The Good: Visually incredible.. lavish sets, gorgeous costumes, and special effects bring the magic to life. The story tweaks work well, the cast, aside from singing, do a fantastic job of bringing the classic characters to life
But outside of the incredible score, upgraded to an epic degree by Alan Menken.. very little of the movie really justifies why it needed to be made. This could be said about the remakes that preceded.. but they offered enough to keep me from questioning their existence. I still look forward to coming remakes, but they do need to start finding their own identity.