Will Smith Saves an Otherwise Dull Reimagining of a Classic

Rating: Null/10 (27 May 2019)

Firstly, neither Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, or Mulan should be remade. None of them are even over 30 years old and are still fresh in the majority of the movie going public's eye, and are constantly re-released on home video with brand new special editions and are almost always played on television. It was a bit different with your Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella, and Jungle Book because they were much older and not as fresh in the eyes of the mainstream so a reimagining of any of those seemed expected to happen sooner than later. With Aladdin one is left with a raised eye brow pondering its need to exist because what could you really do to expand upon or redo what was already done well to fine in the 1992 original animation? Having seen it these questions still persist as there is really nothing on display that improves upon the content of the original or does it do anything creatively new and exciting that would make one want to revisit it as opposed to its original. The characters lack the charm of their original counterparts, the scope feels fairly condensed to where obvious sets are obvious and the bulk of the action is kept in mostly one spot because of obvious budgetary reasons(odd given how much was invested into its production), the musical numbers do not feel organic to the story and often come across as very forced in, and the cinematography comes across so amateurish you're left to wonder where all the money was spent.
I suppose after The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and King Arthur Guy Ritchie really just needed a hit and decided to play it very safe, unfortunately he enters territories he is not well versed in such as directing orchestrated musical and dance. There are only one or two spots in the movie which feel truly like Guy Ritchie was behind the camera, but everywhere else feels like it could've been easily been someone whose biggest credit in their career was random filler episode of any season of television for The CW or Freeform. The inclusion of political mumbo jumbo to be more 'relevant' with today's cinemagoers are but more forced additions into the narrative that will date it sooner than later and cause many to eye roll in the theater.
The best aspect of this production is Will Smith as the Genie, he steals the show completely in every scene he is in and is doing his best to make the musical lyrics pop and energize the atmosphere. It was going to be pretty hard to step into the late great Robin Williams' shoes but Will Smith did a fine job with his take on the iconic character.
See it if you must, but otherwise stick to the original - its not going anywhere.