Fun Homage to the 1992 with Some Weaknesses

Rating: 7/10 (13 October 2019)

If you come into this as an Homage to the 1992 Robin Williams/Disney animation, then you will have a nice time. It's a fun, well-made musical, with many of the original songs and a couple of new ones, and some originals slightly remixed. The sets are colourfully OTT, looking like the Agrabah of the animation, and there are some good performances.
Now the weaknesses, and my main gripe with the film - Jafar. In the animation, he was a powerful, evil, man who was well spoken, with dry humour and just wanted more power. In this version he comes over just as a spoiled brat who just moans about being second all the time and doesn't want power as such, just moans about not being 'first'. Second, much less of a big gripe is that although he never tries to replace Robin Williams, (and you shouldn't see this film to compare him to the original) Will Smith just doesn't carry the movie enough. He is competent, and fun, but just doesn't give out the classic character feeling that Robin Williams' did.
Overall, see this, it's a fun romp that you'll enjoy, sing-a-long to and then probably watch the 1992 version the next time you want to watch Aladdin!