Aladdin Is Not The Diamond In The Rough

Rating: 5/10 (29 May 2019)

I can't say I had high hopes for this movie and it was what I expected; an inferior version of a classic movie made for a quick buck. Now, to be fair to this movie, there were quite a few things I liked. I loved Will Smith as the Genie. In every scene he was in, he stole the show. He had the energy and charisma that a lot of the cast was lacking. He was definitely the best part of the movie. I also really liked Jasmine, she was given a more compelling backstory and a bit more character than she had in the original film. This was helped by an amazing performance by Naomi Scott. The movie has fantastic visuals, showing beautiful landscapes of Agrabah.
However, there was a lot that I didn't like. First off, the CGi looks awful. For a film made in 2019 and a studio like Disney the CGI should look a lot better, but it just looks horrendous, especially towards the end. I also did not like the songs, (with the exception of Arabian Nights, which was wonderful) as they didn't have the energy that the songs in the original movie had. In the original, during Prince Ali, the Genie is and running around and changing form throughout the song. In the remake, he's just walking in a straight line throughout most of the song. There were also some bizarre changes to the lyrics to make the songs more modern and funny and they're just odd to me. I didn't mind Aladdin, but there was nothing new that Mena Massoud bought the role to differentiate himself from Scott Weinger's superior performance. Jafar, I did not like. Marwan Kenzari is not very good at capturing the menacing, intimidating nature of the character. His performance makes Jafar come across as more whiny than threatening. In the original, Jonathan Freeman had a cold, sinister voice that instantly made Jafar one of Disney's greatest villains. Kenzari just cannot deliever the magic that Freeman bought to the role. The movie also tries to make Jafar more interesting, by explaining that he was a former street thief that's tired of being second best to the Sultan. The problem is that that doesn't make what he's doing any less evil or make his actions any more justifiable. Iago was a huge disappointment. When I heard that Alan Tudyk had been cast, I was excited. Tudyk's a great comedic actor and he had to potential to be even better than Gilbert Gottfried. Instead, they just made Iago a normal parrot with no personality, wasting Tudyk's great talent.
In summary, I wasn't dissapointed by this movie, I got what I expected. I do not recommend this movie, it's average at best. It's just a soulless remake of a classic movie, made to make money, that lacks the energy, creativity and heart of the original.