90's baby's honest review. *NO SPOILERS*

Rating: 8/10 (29 September 2019)

The original Disney Aladdin came out the year I was born, so I spent much of my childhood watching and rewatching the film and it's most definitely one of my favourites.
Like others every time Disney announce they are doing a live action remake I find myself excited ,for childhood nostalgic reasons, whilst also a little bit nervous because how can they do the originals justice and WHY remake something that was already incredible? I felt this way when I found out about Aladdin, seeing all the articles about people being angry about the casting, how no one could replace Williams as the genie.... they're all valid points. BUT this film is so so SO good.
1. The casting really isn't all that bad, yes I understand the comments about how it feels like 'an all Indian cast', but I think the actors all do amazing bringing that magic of the original characters to life.
2. The cgi maaaaaaybe could have been better, but even with Abu being entirely cgi I found I loved the little Monkey just as much as before, they show his emotion and his mischievous side really well.
3. Omg the songs! The songs have been modernised in a way but they are still just as catchy and you'll definitely find yourself wanting to sing along.
4. The genie, yes, Williams did an amazing job and the genie is one of his most loved roles. But Smith does such a fantastic job, he's not trying to be or replace Williams, he's doing his own thing and I genuinely think he did a beautiful job. One of my favourite scenes is the first conversation about Jasmine between Aladdin and the Genie, it's comedic gold and just made me think of all the times me and my girlfriends would discuss boy crushes.
My only major criticism is Jafar.... Kenzari is an actor I've not heard of personally before this film so I can't really comment much on his acting. I thought he did the best he could do portraying the villain but he didn't feel as even as the original character, maybe it's because Jafar genuinely scared me as a child with his super long neck and overly long face. Or maybe it's because Kenzari didn't have the same dramatic flare we loved from the villain. Who knows.
Even if you think this film won't be good, I honestly say just give it a go, I loved it!