Will Smith saved the movie! 5/10

Rating: 5/10 (17 January 2020)

Review:
Will Smith definitely saved this movie, because I was falling asleep after the first half an hour, and the singing was getting on my nerves. In true Disney fashion, the sets are spectacular, and the animals, which include a tiger, a monkey and a parrot, are terrific but the two main characters, Aladdin (Mena Massoud), and Jasmine (Naomi Scott) became a bit dull after a while. The movie really picks up when the genie, played by Will Smith, enters the plot, just like Robin Williams in the original movie, and he brings a whole new light to the popular character. Guy Ritchie makes full use of CGI throughout the movie, and the fabulous costumes and humongous sets look great on the big screen, but it could have done with some other established stars in the cast. If your not familiar with the storyline, it's about a kind-hearted street urchin, Aladdin, who lives in the Arabian city of Agrabah along with his pet monkey Abu. Aladdin rescues and befriends Princess Jasmine, who has snuck out of the palace to explore the city because she is tired of her sheltered life. Meanwhile, the grand vizier, Jafar, schemes to overthrow Jasmine's father as the Sultan. He, along with his pet parrot sidekick Lago, seeks a magic lamp hidden in the Cave of Wonders that will grant him three wishes. He has been unable to retrieve the lamp himself because only "the diamond in the rough" is allowed to enter the cave. Jafar discovers Aladdin is the diamond in the rough, and when Aladdin sneaks back into the royal palace to talk to Jasmine, he is captured and persuaded by Jafar's deal to help him retrieve the lamp. As Aladdin can enter the cave alive, Jafar offers him enough riches to impress Jasmine, in exchange for the lamp. Jafar warns Aladdin not to take anything but the lamp. Inside the cave, Aladdin finds a magic carpet and obtains the lamp, but Abu accidentally causes the cave to collapse after he catches a fallen ruby. Aladdin gives the lamp to Jafar but he double-crosses Aladdin and throws him and Abu back into the cave, but Abu manages to steal the lamp back. The magic carpet catches Aladdin and saves him from falling to his death. Trapped in the cave, Aladdin rubs the lamp, unwittingly summoning an omnipotent Genie, who lives inside it. Genie explains that he has the power to grant Aladdin three wishes, with the exceptions of murder, romance, the resurrection of the dead, and more wishes. Aladdin tricks Genie into freeing them from the cave without using a wish. After they get out of the cave, Aladdin uses his first official wish to become a prince to impress Jasmine, and promises to use his third wish to free Genie from servitude and turn him human. Aladdin enters Agrabah as Prince Ali of Adawa, arriving in an extravagant spectacle. However, Jasmine is unimpressed by his first presentation, including an assortment of gifts and gems. The two later bond when he takes her on a ride on the magic carpet to show her the world she wants to see, while Genie goes out with Jasmine's handmaiden, Dalia. Jasmine realises who Aladdin is and tricks him into revealing his true identity, however, he convinces her that he is actually a prince and only dressed like a peasant to meet the citizens of Agrabah beforehand. Jafar discovers Aladdin's identity and to test his theory, throws Aladdin into the sea, saying if he lives, it will be because he found the lamp and the Genie saved him. If he dies, he really is a prince and doesn't have the lamp. Abu and the carpet arrive with the lamp and Aladdin rubs it just before losing consciousness. Genie saves him but at the cost of his second wish. At the palace, Jafar tries to turn the others against Aladdin with lies but when Aladdin returns, Jafar is exposed by him and Jasmine, who was also suspicious of Jafar. He is arrested and imprisoned in the dungeon. The Sultan offers Aladdin the position as heir to the throne. Fearing he will lose Jasmine if the truth is revealed, Aladdin needs Genie with him now and refuses to free him, much to Genie's disappointment. Lago snatches one of the guards keys and he frees Jafar. Jafar stealthily steals the lamp from Aladdin and becomes Genie's new master. He uses his first two wishes to become Sultan and then when the guards refuse to acknowledge the change at Jasmine's request, to become the world's most powerful sorcerer, imprisoning the guards and Jasmine's pet tiger Rajah. Will Aladdin save the day and reunite with his loved one, and take down the evil Jafar? You have to watch the film to find out. The core of the plot is very much like the animated version, so you can easily work out the ending, but the main changes are the Genie, who made the movie watchable. All of the songs that we grew to love in the original, became tedious after a while, and the additional songs didn't really work. With all that aside, it made a hell of a profit at the box office, which must please the bigwigs at Disney, but it got mixed reviews from the critics. Personally, I much preferred the Disney classic, mainly because of Robin Williams as the Genie, but I must commend Will Smith for taking on such an iconic role. In all, it's a watchable film but I didn't like the singing. Watchable!
Round-Up:
This movie was directed by Guy Ritchie, who also brought you Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998, Snatch, Swept Away, Revolver, RocknRolla, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. He also released The Gentlemen in 2020, which I'm yet to see, and he is due to direct Cash Truck and Empire Rising, which are both in the development stage. Compared to Guy Ritchie's previous movies, this movie is definitely out of his comfort zone, but he managed to pull it off, even though I wasn't that impressed. Like a lot of directors, including Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, his earlier work is much better than his later projects, but they have become bankable filmmakers, mainly because of the profit that their movies make at the box office. Personally, I'm yet to fell the magic that I did when I watched Lock Stock & Snatch, in his latest projects so I'm hoping that he has gone back to his original style of filmmaking with The Gentlemen.
Budget: $183million
Worldwide Gross: $1.05billion
Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Cast: Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad, Billy Magnussen, Aubrey Lin, Nina Wadia, Alan Tudyk and Jamal Sims. 5/10