Embarrassing.

Rating: 3/10 (6 October 2019)

This was a shell of a film. Lacking both soul and substance. The entire thing feels cheap, plastic, and shallow. The performances were universally poor, to the point where I feel embarrassed for them. Especially the sad, hallow version of Jafar, but the title character himself is truly flat and bland. The only performances that aren't complete failures would be Will Smith's Genie, which still feels like it lacks any of the life and whimsy that Robin Williams brought to the role, but to be fair to him that is a hard act to follow. Jasmine on the other hand, had a little more depth and personality to the role, but perhaps only in comparison to how robotic the rest of the cast comes across. Honestly, the acting feels like I was watching a bad Bollywood or direct to retail film from the $5 bin at Wal-Mart. Even the costumes and sets look cheap... they shouldn't considering the huge amount of energy and resources so obviously put into them, but some how they do... perhaps due to a lack of restraint... too much CGI (so much this is practically as much an animated film as it is live action) and too much fantastical embellishment in the wardrobe and set designs. So it feels like a play at Disney World, not a feature film attempting to truly remake a classic.
The rest of the film elements are a near perfect example of the dangers of this kind of remake. As a 1:1 redo in live action, the film fails to stand up to even a very forgiving comparison to original animated voice performances and even fails when comparing things like scene editing and pacing of the plot points. As a re-imagination, it fails to bring any imagination-nothing new or interesting. This is unlike, for example, the live action Jungle Book remake, which I was pleasantly surprised with, as it brought both a new feel and some new ideas to go along with a great cast and some great performances.