Not enough Aladdin

Rating: 4/10 (26 April 2020)

I went into this movie expecting the worse but was pleasantly surprised for the most part. The disney magic seemed to be present through use of vibrant scenery and atmosphere. There was real chemistry between Aladdin and Jasmine characters, built over sometime, through the additional scenes that I think helped to fill in some gaps of the original. Genie's character was an absolute delight! Will Smith did an amazing job encapsulating the genie's grandiose personality while bringing his own fabulous spin to the character. He was the hightlight for me in this entire movie. I even thought Jasmine's character arc was more compelling and enjoyable. BUT the movie is called Aladdin, he was the only thing it actually does not have enough of. Alladin had no personailty, he was barely a character in his own movie. He lacked conviction, bravery, streetsmarts and devilish (yet loveable) charm. This is not an Aladdin movie at all unfortunately, and I was terribly disappointed to see that.