Can't hold a candle (or magic lamp) to the animated version

Rating: 4/10 (22 December 2019)

Almost everything about this movie says "weird". For one thing, the sets and costumes don't look at all right. As others have mentioned, it has a definite Bollywood look and feel, and it's hard to believe that was not intentional. But why?
The casting is odd too. In fact, the only characters that I thought were a good fit and interesting were Will Smith's Genie and the handmaiden. They should have just made an entirely new movie about those 2, and left Aladdin, Jaffar, and the rest of the sorry cast entirely out of it.
Overall, it comes across as tired and uninspired, and, yes, weird. I just can't get my mind around what they were going for in this remake. But whatever it was, they clearly missed the mark.
I give it 4 stars because there are a few good laughs, but there's also a lot of dead air between those laughs. Unless you're a huge Will Smith fan, I would not recommend seeing this. And, regardless of your level of Will Smith fanboy-dom, if you are a big fan of the animated Aladdin, you probably should avoid this live action version like the plague. If you've seen both, it's impossible not to compare the 2, and this new live action version just doesn't hold a candle (or magic oil lamp) to the animated edition.