Really Good

Rating: 9/10 (28 May 2019)

A lot of people were nervous about this one, myself included. However, it exceeded my expectations. Don't go in with an angry mindset against Will Smith, of course no one will ever replace Robin Williams, and Will Smith never intends to throughout the film. If anything, his portrayal of the genie was all his own with some inspiration from the late actor, but that's exactly what it is, inspiration, not imitation, so relax. They even pay tribute to the classic Genie with a drawing that's shown when they're still in the cave of wonders - I really liked that. Now there's two genies to love.
The movie is different from the original in many ways. There's more to Jasmine's, Genie's and even Jafar's characters. One thing I wish they did was Jafar's snake and genie transformation. He turns to a genie but not red like in the animated film. If Will Smith could be blue, why not make Jafar red ? Jasmine's father is different too; he's not the plump, child-like character from the animated but it still works nonetheless. He's actually more understanding than the original dad, despite that, which is good. The music was done really well. The cast did a wonderful job bringing the classic soundtrack to life.
I can't say enough how much I loved this live action retelling. Well done to the cast & crew who worked on this film !