Review of Aladdin (2019) by Davrosdaleks1 — 24 May 2019

I enjoyed myself during this. Liked it better than the Beauty and the Beast remake. Course I think this remake had the liberty of the source material being a more lighthearted comedy, giving this adaptation's writers more breathing room.

This movie follows the basic plot points of the original, but it does a decent job of coming up with with some fairly good original jokes and other content. Jasmine (the Power Rangers movie's Naomi Scott) and Jafar (Marwen Kenzari) get more backstory and motivation, and the Genie (Will Smith) and Aladdin (Mena Massoud) have more time to naturally build their friendship.

The first ten minutes or so are a little top heavy. The events up to and involving Aladdin meeting Jasmine seem to be really fast forwarded, and it seems odd. This movie is 38 minutes longer than the original. Why the need for condensation? The One Jump Ahead music sequence definitely looks like they sped up the footage. The rest of the films mostly moves smoothly with a couple quick edits that seem odd. It definitely feels like Nasim Pedrad's character, a handmaiden named Dalia, and Billy Magnusson's Prince Anders had more stuff that was cut.

Will Smith is his old charming self. (It's been a while since we've see him go full Smith.) Massoud is a very likable Aladdin. Scott is a good Jasmine ,but some of her female empowerment lines don't work. I don't blame her, she just has some forced dialogue. (To clarify, I'm saying it doesn't work because of the script's execution and not the actual message.) Dalia, created mostly for someone else for Jasmine and the Genie to talk with, is a funny, slightly-off kilter character. Iago's character (Alan Tudyk) feels the most changed from the original. Here he sounds more like a parrot and talks in short beats. I didn't dislike it. You're never going to match Gilbert Godfried if you try to copy him.

Jafar is definitely the weak point of the movie. Yes, I did give props to his backstory but that is about it. The original was one of Disney's greatest villains, A wonderful combination of cunning, droll humor, and malevolence. This guy is either dull or sounds like he's a child throwing a brief temper tantrum that's just for show. Kenzari doesn't sound intimidating at all. (BTW: Having seen director Guy Ritchie's two Sherlock Holmes movies, what is with him and low-energy villains?) He's also there as the main figure representing society's attempts to silence Jasmine's strong female voice, and he just sounds so unnatural at these moments.

The movie looks great; very colorful and lavish. The musical numbers were well shot. Friend Like Me may be one of the most ambitious live action musical segments in a while. Yes, many fans of the original may be frustrated that the musical numbers or action scenes just don't match the strength of the original. (Their isn't even any giant snake Jafar, although I still felt the final act's action piece worked.) That's true, but by itself I say this is a likable mvoie.

They keep all the original songs except Jafar's Prince Ali reprise, which is so short anyway that I'll allow it. Friend Like Me and Prince Ali get a hip-hop revision to them, which actually works better than I expected. Not so much with Will Smith and DJ Kaled's rap version of Friend Like Me during the credits. Did not care for. Did Emma Watson's weak singing voice in Beauty and the Beast bother you? Prepare to be more disappointed. Both Smith and Massoud have weak voices. Whereas B&B had three new songs, we only get one here: Speechless, a song for Jasmine and done by original composer Alan Menken with Greatest Showman's Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. I really liked this one. Unlike her co-stars Naomi Scott's got pipes!

Overall, if you haven't been fond of the recent Disney remakes, this probably won't change your mind. But, I think the others will have a nice time.