☆☆½
Now that I've seen it, I'm still wondering: What's the point of Disney's new Aladdin? It's a film shorn of all artistic ambition. It exists solely to make money and exert Disney's power. Ironically, the film's big "lesson" is that it's not important how much money or power you have.
Ha.
The new Aladdin is not awful in the way that the torpid, bloated Beauty and the Beast was awful. Indeed, three of its actors -- Mena Massoud as Aladdin, Naomi Scott as Jasmine, and Nasim Pedrad as a new character, Jasmine's handmaid Dalia -- are quite wonderful. They alone are reason to see the movie.
Will Smith as the Genie, alas, is not. As genial of a presence as he may be, he is not a natural comedian, yet director Guy Ritchie seems desperate to make him into Robin Williams. If the original 1992 Aladdin felt like the movie was just trying to keep up with Williams, this Aladdin leaves Smith struggling to keep up with it, and the Genie falls flat.
So, too, does its wimpy villain, a thin-voiced Jafar (Marwan Kenzari, who can't help that he's all wrong for the role). This Aladdin takes away Jafar's songs, adds in an atrocious new one for Jasmine, and continues scrubbing Howard Ashman's original lyrics of potential offense. It's just a "ten-thousand"-ish retread (that'll make sense to sharp-eared viewers) that will feel right at home on the new Disney+ streaming service, and ... hey, wait a minute! That's the point!
Viewed May 25, 2019 -- AMC Burbank 16
1140
Ha.
The new Aladdin is not awful in the way that the torpid, bloated Beauty and the Beast was awful. Indeed, three of its actors -- Mena Massoud as Aladdin, Naomi Scott as Jasmine, and Nasim Pedrad as a new character, Jasmine's handmaid Dalia -- are quite wonderful. They alone are reason to see the movie.
Will Smith as the Genie, alas, is not. As genial of a presence as he may be, he is not a natural comedian, yet director Guy Ritchie seems desperate to make him into Robin Williams. If the original 1992 Aladdin felt like the movie was just trying to keep up with Williams, this Aladdin leaves Smith struggling to keep up with it, and the Genie falls flat.
So, too, does its wimpy villain, a thin-voiced Jafar (Marwan Kenzari, who can't help that he's all wrong for the role). This Aladdin takes away Jafar's songs, adds in an atrocious new one for Jasmine, and continues scrubbing Howard Ashman's original lyrics of potential offense. It's just a "ten-thousand"-ish retread (that'll make sense to sharp-eared viewers) that will feel right at home on the new Disney+ streaming service, and ... hey, wait a minute! That's the point!
Viewed May 25, 2019 -- AMC Burbank 16
1140
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