painfully mediocre, except for the dance numbers

Rating: 5/10 (30 August 2019)

Aladdin was, as best I can recall after all these years, a movie that didn't really get going until the genie appeared. The same can more-or-less be said for the sequel, although I'm inclined to say the movie never really gets going at all.
The first half hour is pretty bad. The young leads, Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott, seem like solid touring company actors who aren't notable but can sing a little and dance a little and deliver their lines with a semblance of attitude. Marwan Kenzari is another dinner theater actor who imbues Jafar with all the ominous power of a testy assistant manager at The Gap.
There are also several new songs in that first half hour; they are all drab and mildly irritating.
And then the genie comes, and the songs from the original movie come, and it's ... mildly entertaining. Will Smith is okay as the genie, but neither he nor filmmakers manage to create the manic hilarity Robin Williams supplied.
The movie is surprisingly workmanlike coming from director Guy Ritchie, who one would have expected to at least shake things up a little. But while generally watchable, the only thing that really stands out is the dancing in several musical numbers. Choreographed by Leah Hill, they deserve to be in a much better movie.