I Will Not Be Speechless

Rating: 8/10 (2 June 2019)

At first, when I realized that Aladdin was being made into a live-action film, I was extremely skeptical because of the most obvious thing... you can't replace Robin Williams. His role is so iconic that I always felt no one could touch it, but I went in because Aladdin was part of my childhood growing up with the Disney classics.
I am pleased to say that the movie surprised me and made me very happy to have seen it. As Will Smith promised in many interviews, he did his own thing and never tried to step on the toes of the original. I believe that there is something to be said about the live-action remakes. Disney never tries to replace the original, maybe modify it, correct some mistakes, but do something fun with great material from the Disney Renaissance.
Will Smith did get me to laugh, in fact most of the jokes in the film landed well with the entire cast, with the exception of the now awkward and infamous "jam" scene, it was rather cringe inducing.
I loved how colourful the movie was, it made it eye-popping and interesting to watch. The costumes were fairly culturally accurate for a story representing Middle Eastern and Arabic cultures, although I cannot say much on that myself. I believe the crowning jewels were Jasmine's dresses were beautiful and amazingly detailed, I especially liked how her iconic turquoise outfit was made to represent a peacock.
The CGI was well-done overall, despite the uproar that fans had when seeing Will Smith as the blue genie. The effects helped the story stay true to the magical elements of the story; I especially loved how they kept some of Genie's fun antics of duplicating himself and other magical tricks in the story.
The chemistry was on parr for all the characters and I loved how they fleshed out Jasmine further; her power ballad is beautiful and I suspect it will be nominated for an Oscar in the future. I liked how she had more to contribute to the climax and wasn't a helpless damsel in distress the entire time like in the original. I also enjoyed that the Sultan also attempted to help in the end and didn't just sit around and do nothing like in the original. I would like to have seen Jafar fleshed out more, agreeing with several other reviewers, but if they ever made a sequel, we could hopefully explore his life more. I'd also have loved to see the Genie and Dalia spend more time together, further enhance the relationship, even if it was in the background of certain scenes.
However, if I had to pick something that I didn't like, it was Iago. No one else could play him except Gilbert Godfrey and Iago was also a comic relief character who is now just a standard squawking parrot who repeats and sometimes says his own thing. If I could write a sequel to this, I'd have it so the Genie could modify Iago's voice to become Gilbert Godfrey again.
I also enjoyed new and small details added into the movie such as Carpet building the Disney Logo, Genie putting DisneyWorld on the map, Jasmine's iconic blue dress being meant to represent a peacock etc. When I see it a second time, I'm sure I'd catch a few more Easter Eggs.
And lastly, if you haven't noticed already throughout my review, I would like there to be a sequel, and usually I can be pretty picky with those. I believe that there is more to be explored and most of us know that the Return of Jafar sequel leaves a lot to be desired. While King of Thieves is better, it could still be improved. I wouldn't object to mashing the two sequels together by Aladdin's father accidentally discovering Jafar's lamp and the villain attempting to get his revenge. I know since the changes made in this film would cause for some further changes in the sequel, like the Genie now being human, and the forty thieves crashing Aladdin and Jasmine's wedding, but it could be made to work.
Some suggestions could be with Jafar back, Genie is forced to become the magical entity again to stop the villainous deity. Perhaps Aladdin and Jasmine are expecting their first child and with Jasmine ruling Agrabah, Al feels overly-protective of her and also shoved to the side as he doesn't understand the royal life. There are many possibilities.
Don't let the nostagia and love for Robin Williams stop you from seeing this film, it marches to the beat of its own drum and is worth the price of admission