So close, yet...

Rating: 6/10 (25 May 2019)

To make things clear I came into the movie theater without any unrealistic expectations or biases against this movie. I'm also not going to compare this to the original Aladdin because I understand that this is a whole new take on the classic tale and is in no way trying to be a carbon copy of the original (nor is it trying to be). Instead Aladdin (2019) tried to focus on the smaller details brushed off by its predecesor. Smaller details like why no one recognized Aladdin when he was dressed as Prince Abubu (I'm actually disappointed that joke wasn't in the film) and also some background on Jasmine and Aladdin's parents! Now those were some welcome additions that I really found interesting. I also liked how they met right at the beginning and actually had Jasmine be there for the stealing is ok song. That kind of served as a way for the main characters to bond earlier and show us that cute chemistry they got going. Before I knew it, 15 minutes in and we were already at the halfway point of the old movie so I knew there were going to be a lot of new subplots. Which I would have been totally fine with if the movie actually executed it correctly. Since this is just a short review here are a couple of things I didn't like: Jafar random town destroying plot, annoying side character/love interest of genie, loyal guard speech, random princess Jasmine soliloquy song. Well that is all I can remember. I feel like I need to explain some of those things I didn't particularly enjoy. Jafar wanting the throne should he enough motivation for him, he didn't have say he wants to destroy some random town over and over and over and over again throughout the film to show his evilness. He's evil enough. Or maybe the writers needed to convince us more since the Jafar actor was so unconvincing to the point of cringe level video game dialogue. Don't even get me started with this new comic relief genie love interest character. She was bad, I have no problems with new characters except those that have zero chemistry not only with the other characters but with the audience. The jokes they had for her fell flat and the genie love interest was just well weird. As for the loyal guard, he was okay I mean he was just sort of there but that was okay because he did his job without annoying the audience like that other new character. But then he had this thing in the end where Jasmine talks him into not betraying the Sultan because he saw some blue guy make Jafar a funny hat. I feel like the whole premise of Jasmine using her genuine empathy for people and changing them for the greater good was okay. But it came to the point where it was too dragging and well I just didn't care at that point. As for that soliloquy song she sings before confronting the guard... Well I'm gonna skip talking about it like how the movie was supposed to. Bottomline is the third act of this film really bogged it down. It reminded me of a school play where everyone is just standing around and waiting for someone to tell them what to say or do in that moment. By that point I was already melting on my seat.
To conclude, I wanted to love this film. The first half of the movie was promising, Will Smith exceeded expectations. He wasn't a try hard Robin Williams nor did he try to be. Aladdin was also great and his chemistry with Jasmine was really believable. I also loved the growth of Jasmine's character. She's the same old feisty Jasmine but this time she seemed more determined than ever to be more than what she was made up to be. I feel like that is the recurring theme throughout this movie, even Aladdin goes through this as he becomes more than just a thief. Even the sultan, he's not a pushover anymore so that's a plus. Now I wish the movie just bottled up the positive things in this movie and just applied it to the whole finished product but they ended up with a pretty messy final act. I wanted to love this movie but the final act threw me off. I hate Jafar, I hate the dumb subplots and boring character arcs. That's it 6/10.