Will Smith Save This Movie.

Rating: 6/10 (7 October 2019)

Review:
'Aladdin' is an American musical-fantasy film directed by Guy Ritchie. It is a live-action adaptation of Disney's 1992 animated film of the same name. Upon watching this movie, I was skeptical due to the fact I didn't believe they would be able to capture the same magic that the 1992 animated film had. At times this movie really shined, but that didn't happen until the second and third act. I was almost ready to turn the movie off after the first act. It didn't grasp your attention at all, and everything was lackluster and boring.
The film follows Aladdin (Mena Massoud) a street urchin, as he falls in love with Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) befriends a wish-granting Genie (Will Smith) and battles the wicked Jafar (Marwan Kenzari).
This movie didn't take off at all until Will Smith was introduced. His charisma and funny attitude towards Aladdin and certain situations were amazing. He stole every scene he was in and basically saved this movie from a bad review. I could care less about the other characters in this movie aside from Genie, Aladdin and Jasmine. Jaffar, who is supposed to be this big bad was not scary or menacing at all and I do believe that is because the actor did not have what it takes to pull the character off. It just fell flat. I really enjoyed Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott's portrayal as Aladdin and Jasmine. Their chemistry together was real, and it felt like the characters could come off the screen and live in the real world. However, as I said the rest of the characters fell short and you don't care what happens or even remember who they are when they come on screen another time.
I told myself I would not be comparing this to the 1992 animated film, but it's hard not to compare Genies. Will Smith did a great job in this movie and took on what was thought to be an impossible role and made it his own. I did still find myself missing Robin Williams when it came to the music numbers. I will say what I liked the most with this movie is the ending. Man did it stick the landing on that ending. It made you feel so many emotions. Now, I'm not one to complain about CGI when it's from a movie that has a low budget such as an Indie film or even a B-rate production company. When it's Disney and you see things like Marvel or The Lion King you know they can produce good CGI and this movie fell short in that aspect.
Overall, this movie fell hard in the first act and was lucky people stuck around for the second and third because the movie does a 180 turn and takes off. If you want a fun adventure film this one will do that for sure, and if you're a fan of the original this one keeps its core values as well as throwing in some fresh elements.
3/5