Lavish, fun, well-made & joyous; kudos to cast, crew, art and cgi depts!

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2019)

Vaguely knew (didn't read) that some critics were a bit negative and some fans thought their childhood was destroyed or something. But I wanted to see this for Will Smith (who IMO is scarily talented in this, esp. when he sad great actor doesn't overdo or underdo) .
So I'm there with other folks who are kinda dubious, and none of us are into musicals so much (one of them wears a lot of leather and rides a motorcycle that kind of thing) and - we ALL enjoyed. Light and charming with some good underlying messages; Jasmine is fiery and believable; and Will Smith works his &ss off but at the same time seems like he is having a good time. I especially liked an insanely lavish dance number - there's a bit of Bollywood here and that's a GOOD thing. They used REAL PEOPLE, not CGI peeps OMG!
Noticed in the credits that a bit of this was filmed in Jordan; don't usually pay attention but a great mixed cast who IMO did a fantastic job. Maybe the villain was a bit quieter at first - but there are scenes where he has to be incognito so u just couldn't have Darth Vader type with A VOICE it would never work LOL.
IMO this is a great complement to the original, and Disney did real good. I'd happily see this again, and will buy when released. Kudos to Will Smith esp. as far as I know he dealt with the fan base with grace who were complaining. He's a great choice and all the cast is appealing IMO. Finally, IMO the "genie" CGI was excellent. I was fascinated how well that was done. Everyone left the theater smiling!