Will Smith or Guy Ritchie Could Not Save This Movie

Rating: 5/10 (25 May 2019)

Mr. Smith you had BIG shoes to fill and you left me VERY disappointed. After going back & forth on whether to see this or not, I did it. My initial review from the previews was Genie looks weird and this looks like a Netflix movie. It's too glamorous. Growing up with Aladdin being 1 of my top 2 Disney films I told myself not to have high expectations. Robin Williams' Genie was so grand and was the best part of the original. You would have thought the movie was about Genie and not Aladdin. Of the old one, Williams voice & performance was very iconic and you just don't get that from this live action Aladdin. A) Netflix I think COULD have done better B) Genie was simply boring. To me, it honestly seemed as if they told Will to tone it down. I wanted Genie's personality to be more extra. The Arabian Nights song at the beginning was actually really good & Smith's voice was not bad. So, I was excited for my favorite songs to come. Man, y'all really let me down with Friend Like Me. Prince Ali was just... okay. C) Iago, the parrot, was hilarious and one of my favorite parts about the original. Y'all should have either not let him talk or made him funny. He was not funny at all. D) Jafar's voice was wayyyy too high and he just wasn't scary or evil enough E) Aladdin was too pretty. He's supposed to be a street rat not a movie star with a dingy hat. F) They left out A LOT of the old dialogue I love about the original.
For the things I thought was good. The acting wasn't terrible from all cast. I thought Princess Jasmine had the best performance and best voice. So, it didn't bother me that they gave her 2 new songs. I loved that the cast was not Caucasian and Indian dancing was incorporated. I really enjoyed that. After the movie was over, they did the extended Friend Like Me version and that was good.