Unnecessary and poorly executed.

Rating: 4/10 (20 January 2020)

The original Aladdin has been a favourite of mine for many years. It's got a brilliant mix of humour, action, and morality, in a wonderfully crafted and voiced presentation. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Guy Richie's love action version. From the very offset, we are treated to changes that lend nothing more to the story, and just feel as if they were added to be different just for the sake of it. Add to that, said changes are created from merely average CG, something we wouldn't generally expect from a company like Disney, where the best has always been their natural go to, when animation is concerned.
The classic songs are rehashed in a way that makes them feel somehow less, in every sense. Less competent, less feeling, less needed. Even the orchestra or instruments behind them feel empty, actually sounding smaller, and more amateur, nowhere near on the level of the original versions.
The CGI on the Genie is particularly bad, with the characters face feeling as though it's floating over flat-painted head and body, and eyes that are completely soulless. Smith is the funniest part of this movie, but Both his comedic and his musical timing are somehow nowhere near as well executed as the performance given by the late Robin Williams.
The same can be said for characters like Abu the monkey, and Jago the parrot (originally Hysterically voiced by Gilbert Godfried). Again, poor computer generated imagery is mixed with new versions of these characters that are completely dumbed down. No longer are there conversations between the now twenty-something, short and clean-cut Jaffar and his winged-confidant, Jago, who is now just meant to be a normal parrot, with no more intelligence than the next. All the comedy and charm has been wrenched from the character for no apparent reason, and were left looking at something poorly created and adding nothing to any scene it's in. The exact same can now be said of Alladin's personal sidekick, Abu, who is now meant to be a regular monkey. Why Disney couldn't use a real monkey and parrot for these characters, given the choices they made to remove their personalities, will forever remain a badly- made mystery.
Speaking of which, the Royal Viseur, Jaffar is now a young man, that commands no on-screen presence. His wardrobe is standard black garb, unlike the animated characters, which have him a tall, commanding look, and his age os always a distraction, given that this young man is the advisor to the Sultan of Aggrabah. It's puzzling throughout, and even his hypnosis of the characters just seems tacked-on, at best. The once commanding and menacing voice of a devious, evil power commander, is now replaced by an average sounding young gentleman (who does actually act very well, but just seems miscast). You make think "okay, but this is Disney. There's no need to look at the seriousness of this'd or any other role." and you'd usually be right, but the single-minded villainy of Jaffar, his only goal really to be to get the lamp and rule the world, is now replaced by a man that is actually talking about military tactics, and is hell-bent on attacking the homeland of the Princesses late mother, although, we are never treated to the reason behind this.
Ultimately, I feel this is where the live action version has lost itself. It doesn't know itself if it is a heart-warming family tale or, if it is a serious dramatic love story, with some songs thrown in.
Of all this, the most offending part of the movie is the assumption that the audience will not notice that, in order to not be tarnished with the term "white-washing", the studio have cast Pretty much anyone as Arabian, even lending a Bollywood tone to musical numbers. This is all well and good, but it's like they assume the western audience can't tell the difference between Indian and Arabic, and simply wont notice that the two are very different cultures and ethnicities, and we'll ultimately be too distracted by the on-screen shenanigans to care. This is one of the most insulting versions of racism, when really boiled down. Cast anyone as the Arabians. It's not like anyone will care.
All in all, the live action Aladdin is a movie that already feels dated, and out of touch, and most people will still be reaching for the original Disney movie above it.