It works as a reminder of what we already love, but it does enough things differently to excel in areas that the animated film does not to make it a movie that is just as good as the original.
From the studio that is in the prime of remaking films they already made, comes the live action visualization of Aladdin. A film centered around the fictional middle eastern country of Agrabah where street rat Aladdin will eventually fall in love with Princess Jasmine. Directed by Guy Ritchie (Snatch) and starring Mena Massoud (Aladdin), Naomi Scott (Jasmine), and (the very blue) Will Smith (The Genie), Aladdin tempers the unlimited boundaries of animation with their live action attempt to make another quick couple million dollars.
Plagued by lackluster trailers and sporting an unfinished Genie (in the middle of post-production), social media was ready to come for Aladdin’s head. This is all rooted in the hiring of the English and white Guy Ritchie to tell the story of people of color. Dating back even further to Disney’s struggle with putting people of color behind the camera to tell their stories, and without extending this out even further, Aladdin had a tough journey ahead. Not to mention a usually lackluster Memorial Day weekend at the box office for Disney, but I digress as the movie surprised me in a few ways.
First and foremost, the performances from Naomi Scott and Will Smith are simply terrific. Both expanding the characters’ wings to have a more concrete placement in the narrative as fully realized people (or magic beings in the case of the genie). Smith’s genie was met with immediate disdain due to the late, iconic, and beloved Robin Williams performance in the original being replaced. Driven by context-less emotion to make these points, the Genie very well may be the best aspect of the film. The CGI still looked and felt a bit rough (particularly in the face), but this is where the translation between mediums shined it’s best. Using the Genie’s limitless capabilities to turn into a mummy, lift some weights, or even into a regular looking citizen. Smith honors the late, great, and hilarious Williams with a sincere, genuinely funny, and occasionally heartfelt performance. Back to Scott, she showcases an immense amount of range for a character that was originally conceived as the most basic “agency-less princess trapped in castle”. Given far more to do, say, and perform, Scott transforms Jasmine into a character with an identity where she sells the musical outbursts the best. As for the titular character himself, Mena Massoud’s Aladdin needed finer tuning.
He looks the part and steps into the physicality of being a thief of the winding, tight corridors of Agrabah with some pep in his step, but he’s nearly unconvincing otherwise. There’s a level of charm that stokes the fires, but the line delivery will sometimes make those moments fall flat. Particularly every single musical number he’s apart of. Every one of those moments was the equivalent of trying to convince me that magic was actually real. He couldn’t accentuate those moments with enough believability and power to give me a reason to be enamored with it all. The same goes for Marwan Kenzari’s whiny and lame portrayal of the slimy Jafar. Most of this hinges on the writing and visualization of Jafar, but his demeanor (at best) is as intimidating as the manager of a Chick-Fil-A. There’s nothing about Jafar that is remotely interesting enough to make him feel like there was enough of a presence to give the film a sense of urgency or emotional stakes within the narrative. He weakly connives his way around with the help of Iago (voiced by Alan Tudyk) flying around and doing all the work for him. This is one of those aspects that was lost in translation across the mediums and it is sorely missed.
Outside of the performances, there are some notably remarkable aspects and decisions that were a surprise. This didn’t help counteract some strange decisions, and some qualms come at an effect caused by the good decisions, but Aladdin gets through it in the end.
The production design is dazzling, and the performers fitting into the costumes only helped this aspect shine brighter. All of Jasmine’s costumes are updated, empowering, and absolutely stunning to take in. Contrasted with the raggedy, personality filled outfit of Aladdin and other meandering citizens, gives the film a vast array of personality. Beyond costuming and production, this is certainly the most visually striking of the Disney remakes. Instead of hinging on the level of “realism”, Ritchie leans into its originator by blending the restraints of live-action paired with the unlimited potential of CGI. It’s something that was lost in The Jungle Book, and something The Beauty and the Beast failed to make work overall. Despite gushing over some excellent angles, performances, and musical numbers (A Friend Like Me is terrific), every shortcoming is the animation’s strength, and vice versa. Characters get more agency here, but at the expense of a prolonged runtime and it’s villain lacking a narrative presence. It’s animated roots are lost in translation, and the team makes due with the material at their disposal, but a lot of it’s magic evaporates into thin air. A Whole New World is an iconic piece of Disney music to be birthed out of the Renaissance era of the 90s, but it’s visualization here is flat and missing it’s beaming life. This point rings throughout the entirety of the film. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy myself and came out of Aladdin liking it as much as the original, which isn’t that much.
There’s a lot to like, and enough to come away feeling as if this was the most purposeful of the live-action remakes, but there’s too much lost in translation to make this experience a great one.
Aladdin gets a 58/100