A Whole New(ish) World

Rating: 6/10 (28 May 2019)

A remake done right can be a great thing. Sometimes it can take an already great film like Infernal Affairs and expand on the concepts to make a classic like The Departed. Other times it will only take the base elements in a complete reimagining like John Carpenters The Thing. But any good remake relies on originality, otherwise you just end up with the Psycho remake, where nobody's really sure what point of making it is. But recently Disney has been attempting to copy some of their classics, using our nostalgia for the originals to make millions at the box office.
This brings us to their most recent remake, Aladdin. Odds are you'll be familiar with the story: a thief falls in love with a princess, finds a genie and wishes to become a prince to win the princesses love. Just like the other recent Disney remakes, there's not much new here by way of stories or songs and the focus is more on reliving the highlights we loved from the original classic, whilst adding just enough to the film to keep it technically original.
For the most part, the film is well made on a technical level. There's some great sweeping shots of Agrabah, including a great introductory shot which swoops over the city to provide an introduction to all the main characters in a single take. It's the kind of creative filmmaking that Ritchie has always excelled at, even if he can't always quite find the substance to support his style. And unlike the recent Beauty and the Beast remake the music sequences felt surprisingly lifeless, Aladdin has much more creative movement on screen. Through a mixture of creative camerawork and big dancing set pieces, we're provided with enough visual eye candy to live up to some of Aladdin's most memorable songs.
As for the songs themselves, these are done with varying degrees of success. Will Smith's version of Friend Like Me is able to leave it's own mark with an energised sequence and is quite possibly the highlight of the film. Plus the Arabian Nights intro is redone with some incredible backing music in a way that even surpasses the original film. But other tracks like Prince Ali just lack that same energy and the new tracks feel out of place or completely forgettable.
The rest of the new additions to the film work pretty well, with some extra scenes between Aladdin and Jasmine which helps to give them a more natural on screen chemistry and they give Naomi Scotts Jasmine a far more engaging personality, actually showing her going out of her way to do right for her kingdom and playing a much more active role in the story. Though the best addition ends up being Dalia, Jasmine's handmaiden, who ends up stealing some of the films funniest scenes.
In contrast the rest of the supporting cast like Iago, Carpet and Abu are all entertaining, but never live up to their charming personalities from the original. But the only character who was done poorly was Jafar. The original Jafar is arguably one of the best Disney villains, striking the right balance between being goofy whilst still maintaining a creepy and intimidating presence. In contrast this version of Jafar has neither of these personality traits and is not given anything to replace them either. You know the filmmakers messed up when a rug has a more interesting personality than your main villain.
But the most challenging part of an Aladdin remake was always going to be the Genie. So much of Robin Williams personality was infused into the role that it seemed like it would be impossible for anybody to recreate it. Even Dan Castellaneta, arguably one of the best voice actors working today, couldn't capture the unique spark of lightning Robin brought to the role. But they took the best approach they could have in readapting the character, building the character around Will Smith in the same way that the original film was built around Williams. And in his own rights Will Smith is able to deliver a fantastic performance. He brings the same level of charm he brings to all of his memorable roles and combines it with some solid comedic timing to become the highlight of the film. Smith is not able to live up to Robin, but given that Robin's Genie is an icon of cinema that's probably an impossible feat to pass.
But that's ultimately the main failing point of most of these recent Disney remakes. They rely so much on the ideas created by the originals that they're never able to escape the shadow of the originals. Which is a shame, because with the effort that was clearly put into this film along with the small sparks of originality scattered throughout the film makes me think that if Guy Ritchie and this crew were to have been given more freedom without being restricted by the original Aladdin, we could have had a very memorable film. But instead the film is so restricted by copying the beats of the original that it fails to find its own voice.