The Disney Renaissance produced many classics. From the late 80s to mid 90s, Disney produced a set of musical hits that would make any movie studio absolutely envious. Animation came to forefront of entertainment with Beauty and the Beast being the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture in 1991. Aladdin followed the next year with a strong showing anchored by the performance of the late great Robin Williams. Due to Disney's love of money, they have produced many remakes of their animated classic in the live action form. A select few as in The Jungle Book have been brilliant. Others, such as Beauty and the Beast have been lacking any sort of magic. That being said, what is the latest remake of Aladdin? Can it match the magic of the original? Could Will Smith possible fill the shoes of Robin Williams in the role of the Genie?
Aladdin lacks all of the magic and wonder of the original movie. Guy Ritchie was chosen as director his portrayal of street characters. He has also never directed a musical and oh boy does it show. Having dizzying special effects within a musical number is not aesthetically pleasing at all. All of Alan Menken's original songs fit well in the movie mostly. Even the blatantly auto-tuned Will Smith was passable. However, the new songs written by Greatest Showman writers Benj Passek and Justin Paul were distracting and annoying. One of these modernized songs was placed in the middle of the climax of the movie, which totally takes the audience out of the tension that is built up.
Some of the praise I will give is for the acting. Naomi Scott and Mena Massoud do serviceable jobs as Aladdin and Jasmine. Will Smith comes nowhere close to the brilliance of Robin Williams, but still was nice comic relief as the Genie. The one casting choice I could not grasp was Marwen Karzani as Jafar. The actor is far too pretty of a person to play the sinister Jafar. Someone older and, dare I say, uglier should have been cast. He plays a caricature of the character that is comically uninteresting.
Most of the worst parts of Aladdin are the direction choices. John August and Ritchie's screenplay focuses far too much on minute details, such as consistent jokes about jam. Committing to a joke that is simply unfunny made me feel uncomfortable and awkward as a viewer. Incorporating elements of hip hop to a movie about an Arabian kingdom made little to no sense This reached it's apex when the words, "DJ Khaled." were shouted over the end credits. I'm not even kidding folks, DJ Khaled somehow had a place in this movie.
With each live action remake, Disney seems to get less and less inventive the repackaging of each of their animated masterpieces. Perhaps they should stop hiring directors such Guy Ritchie and Tim Burton, who have not made a competent film in over a decade. Aladdin at least kept my interest, but the CGI-laden fest had an incredible amount of poor directorial choices within its bounds.
Grade (6.5/10)
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