Aladdin (2019)

Starring: Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad, Billy Magnussen, Alan Tudyk (voice), Frank Welker (voice)
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Rating: PG
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A young man (Scott Weinger) living on the streets uncovers a magic lamp and an all-powerful Genie (Will Smith).

Review:

Tim: Despite my protests, it certainly seems like Disney won't stop remaking their animated movies into live action films. When you get those dollar signs in your eyes, it's hard to perceive anything else. And, despite any logic, viewers continue to flock to these movies. At some point, I'll do a comparison to see how many of the live action remakes are as good or better than the originals. I'd guess you could count them on one hand (Pete's Dragon and Dumbo come to mind). The problem is perfectly illustrated with Aladdin. Guy Ritchie directs a good movie. There's no doubt that this is a solid, fairly entertaining movie. And yet, the 1992 version is one of the all-time classics. How can you feel good about a good movie when you've seen the exact same story depicted significantly better? That's a big issue. I liked this movie, but if ever given the choice, 100 times out of 100, I'd choose the animated one.

I will say that it was legitimately cool to see the diverse, mostly non-white cast here. Disney at least did that well. That's one of the troubling aspects of the original (although that was just voice cast, obviously). I appreciated this film casting people who would be believable in these roles. That's a big step toward diversity and it's a good one. I appreciated that aspect of the film. I also appreciated when this film expanded or dove deeper into the story. There's (unfortunately) not a lot of these moments, but there's some. It gives the story a new flavor, makes you think about it in different ways. Sadly, there's not more of these moments. Whenever the film added something new, it was appreciated. The dance scene for example- deepens our understanding of the characters, and it was fairly entertaining, too.

The cast was fairly good, but certainly not across-the-board. You have to start any conversation here with Will Smith replacing Robin Williams. This was the trickiest aspect of the entire film. Williams gave one of the greatest voice performances of all time, bringing to life an iconic Disney character. Plus, he tragically took his own life. How do you replace a deceased, beloved actor who did something extraordinary with his performance? The answer is definitely Will Smith. Smith is probably the only person with enough likability and goodwill to pull off this performance. It was absolutely brilliant casting Smith. It feels like Williams would have approved- who would criticize Smith? So, I give the movie a ton of credit for this move. And, Smith puts a lot into this role. He makes it his own, rather than just parroting what Williams did. Smith's performance is strong and it has some of Williams' manic energy. I have so many positive things to say about what Smith did here. And yet, the nagging thought is that he's not as good as Williams. Smith's performance is good, but it's not one for the ages. It's not iconic or all that memorable. This movie did everything right in this area, but you can only consider it a downgrade. That's the danger of remaking classic movies.

Mena Massoud gives a good performance as Aladdin. I liked the energy and charisma he brought. He's solid in that role. The only downside is that he appears too smug- it's like he's fully aware he's doing a good job, and he wants the audience to know that, too. If he was able, I feel like he'd look directly at the camera, break the fourth wall and go, "I'm doing so good as Aladdin, right?". That smugness detracts from his performance. Naomi Scott was fine as Jasmine, but I was surprised by how little impact she made on the film. She really needed a more prominent role. I'm trying to remember a moment to point to, to say, "That was a great thing, right there!" I can't come up with anything. She was decent, I don't have big complaints, she was just forgettable. I love Navid Negahban and he was great in a smaller supporting role. He really is an effective actor. I thought Marwan Kenzari was woefully miscast as Jafar. He didn't look like the character and wasn't nearly menacing enough. He gives a solid performance, but the movie needed to find a better actor. Using Alan Tudyk as Iago was probably a decent move because he's a great voice actor, but Gilbert Gottfried crushed that role, to the point of Iago being perhaps my favorite character from the original. Iago is an afterthought here. That's disappointing. I don't even really want to mention Billy Magnussen. The only white actor in the film was the most generic, unnecessary character in the film. His performance was too over-the-top and added so little to the overall movie. His character felt buffoonish and it was an aspect of this film that I really did not care for at all.

As a whole, this film benefits from having a great source material. The story is fantastic and entertaining. This movie doesn't add to that (it actually detracts from the potential), but it's solid enough for this to be a good movie. This feels like a film that couldn't stand on its own. It's entertaining because the 1992 version exists. This might be a good film, but it's helped mightily by the love audiences have of the far superior original. Guy Ritchie did some interesting things with this film and I'm not sorry I watched it. However, Aladdin still feels superfluous. It feels like Disney took a classic, exceptional movie and made a significantly less great (but still good) remake in its place. You can do worse than this film, but it should have been better.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Aladdin (1992), Pete's Dragon