Pretty decent

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2019)

Well for one thing; I want to put some people's fears to rest, Will Smith is a great genie, he's the glue that held this together, along with many great performances from the rest of the cast. But Smith really made it, you can't compare him and Robin Williams but I can't say he was much of a downgrade or anything, they brought some different things to the role but they both worked the role just as good.
All in all, I think it was good but it was a little bit hard to compare it to the original. I definitely love what they did with Jafar, he's a lot more threatening when he's got a similar origin to Aladdin (surviving as a thief and gradually working his way to the top) and it makes him craftier and more unpredictable, he's a better thief than Aladdin, he still comes off as a very sinister, not exactly as he was in the original but close, it's not like they totally tried to humanize him, but I do miss how they took away his little song number from the original.
I also like how he sort of has a reason for his desire to become Sultan that extends beyond 'I want to be powerful'; he sees Agrabah as wasted potential and wants to build it into an empire, take hold of the armies and invade the lands around them, he also isn't necessarily married to the idea of making Agrabah the hub of his empire; when Aladdin (in the guise of Prince Ali) and him meet for a second time; he actually offers him his assistance so he could become his vizier, presumably to expose weaknesses in Agrabah to him for exploitation, and to take over Ababwa, which doesn't really exist.
I also liked how they treated The Sultan, very different from the original Aladdin, he went from being the jolly, portly, oblivious, oafish ruler of Agrabah to a more stoic and tougher character who seems more like a proper leader who's had to make harder decisions, although I like how it worked out, even if it did feel awkward when put in contrast with the original. I kinda missed how Iago was in the original, he's not as chatty this time around, talks more like a real-life parrot, still he provides some good comic relief to break up some moments of Jafar's tension.
I think this is the best live-action Disney remake without question, the others like Maleficent and Beauty & The Beast were bogged down with extra characters, plots and last minute additions and revisions and while there are some additional characters here; they fit the story here very well, there's a good reason for them to be there and they don't feel forced or like they've overstayed their welcome; as a matter of fact, two new characters in particular: Dahlia and Prince Anders provide some great comic relief moments in the film, but Dahlia is also pretty integral to the story. I also like the new intro to the film, think it ties nicely together with Genie's story. Hakim is another new character, not focused on as much until Jafar's betrayal since he's the most senior of the Sultan's guards
I was slightly confused with how the start of the film was a blend of both Aladdin's "One jump ahead" song/intro and Jasmine's first foray into the streets of Agrabah, felt kind of rushed but the story evened out from there and it eventually worked.
I also felt like the relationship between Jasmine and Jafar was an improvement from the first, instead of lusting over her; he generally just wanted her out of the picture, wanted her silent because the Sultan listened to her, but on the other side of that coin; Jafar still flips around at the end and demands Jasmine marry him shortly after he becomes a sorcerer, and that felt like it just came out of nowhere, his reason not because he wanted to secure power or because he found Jasmine attractive but because he wanted to torture the Sultan, make him watch as he took away what was important to him.
Kinda sucked though how Jafar didn't turn into a giant snake thing, just as disappointing as he didn't get his Prince Ali Reprise, still does that same reveal of Aladdin but in a more dramatic and dialogue-driven scene.
That being said though, might be a good thing because some of the younger kids in my cinema were a little bit scared by the special effects in some scenes, they do look particularly dark and grim as far as Jafar is concerned, scariest things I'd list are the scene where Jafar pushes Aladdin off a ledge into the ocean and tries to drown him, the scene where Jafar chokes people with his magic, or at least I think that's what he was doing and the scene where there's sort of a carpet chase around Agrabah and Jafar transforms Iago into a sort of giant mangy-looking parrot.
Genie's FX aren't as bad, maybe a little bit uncanny in his introduction but they looked better as he went along, also kind of convenient they switch to his human disguise so he's not blue and huge throughout the film.
I'm guessing if you have younger kids it's probably more appropriate to show them the original, some scary stuff in that too but a lot easier to follow too.
The two new song numbers are pretty good too, just now I've forgotten the details of the first one but Jasmine's second new song is pretty great, Naomi Scott has a really powerful voice, and a really nice message behind it too.
Ending was nice too, Jasmine becoming Sultan, Aladdin and her still together and Genie's freedom sort of implies that he becomes human, he gets together with Dahlia and it nicely segways back to the start of the movie.
Some great choreography and costumes in this as well, one thing I'm really enjoying about these live-action remakes of Disney films is how well they've done costumes and choreography and still kept a really rich palette of colours in each scene.
I can't say it was necessarily better than the original but I think it's a pretty good film nonetheless and nowhere near as bad as people were concerned it would be.