Not a bad live action remake

Rating: 7/10 (24 February 2020)

I too am one who grew up with the original animated version. I'm a Disney dork for sure and don't really care for the idea of remaking all the animated shows. It seems like a cheap excuse to not be creative and look for new stories. But I'm willing to give them a fair shake. Now if they wanted to take some of these and add to the story (a la Malificent) I would 100% back that kind of new wave of movies. (Off my soap box and moving on to the actual movie)
I won't compare the different actors to the voice actors from the original. They are going to bring their own flavor to the character which can be refreshing. Will Smith was great in his own right! He made good choices with delivery of lines and what he was conveying with his character. Not better or worse than Robin Williams. The actor portraying Jafar didn't strike me as someone who could carry the torch of a villain. Sure he said the right things but he lacked a certain presence that one would expect at minimum for a villain. To me he was simply there to say the next line and move the story along. I didn't enjoy him and I ALWAYS love the villains. Also, Jasmine was better than I expected. I wasn't crazy about the Bollywood feel of some of her main scenes but the actress did alright with what she had.
Changes in the story are expected after seeing Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast remakes. However I can't help but dislike the blatant girl power agenda pushing in all of these new movies. I'm a girl. I stand up for women's rights, equal rights, equality among the work place. But it doesn't feel like it should be in the story. Maybe I'm the only way that feels this way.
Overall not a bad live action. I still won't go to theater to see these as they are released but I don't think they are bad enough to bash either. Just blah until Disney decides to be more creative and come up with something unique.