More rough than diamond...

Rating: 3/10 (24 May 2019)

It was terrible... I actually had some hope for this movie based on some of the TV spots, but upon watching it, what little expectations I had were destroyed.
Lets start out with the positives...
Will Smith was decent as the Genie. He wasn't bad, he wasn't great, he was decent. He brought his own energy to the role, and although he wasn't as funny as Williams, he did get 1 or 2 chuckles out of me.
The plotline about Jasmine wanting to be sultan was decent, though I do wish they developed that plotline beyond I don't like that people are hungry and i've read books
Will Smith's version of Arabian Nights was a decent change and was lyrically interesting, though the autotune was noticeable in parts.
That's about it. Oooh boy, where do we start with the flaws.
Lets start with Aladdin... I was not impressed at all with the titular character and his story arc.
I wish Mena Massoud the best and I hope this role gives more opportunities to him, but my God he was flat at times. Scott Weigner put WAY more emotion into his voice acting in pivotal scenes. He isn't terrible, especially when he is acting scared, but there was often something off about Massoud's delivery.
I also felt that his character development was a little rushed towards the beginning. And what was with that "I'm a proud, vain prince now" subplot that was brought up and waved away with almost no proper resolution?
Now lets talk about Jasmine... I thought she and Aladdin had almost no chemistry. In the original Jasmine is saved from being horribly mutilated, immediately establishing some huge trust and respect between the two... in this version it boils down to a quick, non suspenseful argument with a merchant. In the original when Aladdin takes Jasmine back to his home, he is quickly impressed with Jasmine's intelligence, and they share some cute banter. In this version he takes her home, she giggles at one of his jokes, and that's about it... for goodness sake, Genie and Aladdin's friend had more chemistry than Aladdin and Jasmine.
The original blows this movie out of the water when it comes to visual appeal. I'm not expecting everything to translate, but there were multiple scenes they could have tried harder. The cave of wonders wasn't beautiful at all IMO. The A Whole New World sequence could have thrown in some clouds, or something more exciting than a dark landscape. As you can imagine from the brief teaser they gave us, Prince Ali was very cheap looking, especially those comically tiny golden camels.
The Prince Ali sequence also brings up another problem... the autotuning. Will Smith was painfully autotuned in that sequence, and the auto tune is REALLY noticeable whenever Massoud sings. Why don't they hire real singers that sound similar to the actors rather than insisting performances out of actors who can't sing? Half the original songs in this movie were ruined.
Lets end with Jafar. He was not intimidating in the slightest. He displays signifcantly more emotion in the original, for ex. when he finally gets the lamp he has been searching ruthlessly for, he is ecstatic... in this version he just kind of smiles.
And can someone please explain to me how Jafar and Iago deduced Aladdin was the diamond in the rough? In the original they discovered him through magic, from what I saw in this Iago just kind of sees him and decides he's the one...
If I can borrow the words of Lindsay Ellis: Thanks, I Hate It! After this and Dumbo I have no excitement for The Lion King, Mulan, or any of the Live-Action remakes slated for release.