Aladdin Amuses And Doesn’t Damage The Franchise

Disney is at it again with yet another live-action adaptation of yet another beloved IP; this time they attempt to bring the fantastical kingdom of Agrabah to life in this reimagining of Aladdin.

Aladdin, a street urchin living in the fictional desert kingdom of Agrabah along with his pet monkey, Abu, rescues and befriends Princess Jasmine, who is upset that the law requires her to marry a prince instead of someone she loves.

Meanwhile, Jafar, the Royal Vizier and his parrot Iago seek to use Aladdin to obtain a magic lamp from the fabled Cave of Wonders, and use it to take over Agrabah.

As a longtime fan of all things Aladdin, I have consumed almost every bit of media based of this franchise and I was able to enjoy this iteration with clinging to the nostalgia of the original.

The gritty sand
I’ll start with what I didn’t like since it’s not a super long list; the CG work was not great. I couldn’t care less about Will Smith’s blue genie form that a lot of folks were complaining about, but any scene involving the magic carpet looked extremely amateurish. For a company with deep pockets like the Walt Disney Pictures. I expected way better. But this is also the company that thought CG Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy was a good idea, so I can’t be too surprised.

Also, as a creative I am anti-autotune; but Disney keeps going for actors who are either weak singers or non-singers and it’s infuriating that fans are okay with it.

Lastly, the number of cheesy scenes was a bit nauseating — a good example is the reprise of the movie’s original song “Speechless,” which while sung beautifully by Naomi Scott (Jasmine) turned her performance into an annoyingly corny pseudo-music video.

The smooth sand
As for the positives; Guy Ritchie’s cinematography was amazing and made for some fantastic stunt work shots.

There were a lot of nods to both the original movie as well as the Broadway musical, from the performance of “Friend Like Me” to Will Smith’s “human” costume, and I thought it was all pretty cool as a fan.

The performances were solid. Mena Massoud as Aladdin had a lot of charisma, and gave his all with his portrayal.

Naomi Scott breathed new life into one of my favorite Disney princesses with a strong, confident, and passionate performance.

Marwan Kenzari was a decent Jafar. The character never scared in the first place, but Kezari made him a lot more fascinating than just “OOH I’M EEEEEEVVVUUULLLLLL!”

Nasim Pedrad as Dalia was a welcomed addition to the mythos. She and Naomi had great chemistry, and she had some lovely humorous moments.

Alan Tudyk as Iago and Frank Welker reprising both Abu and The Cave of Wonders show yet again why they are master-class voice actors.

And Will Smith — let’s be honest he had a pretty big lamp to fill. Fans are constantly going to compare his performance to that of the late great Robin Williams, but in all honesty I dug his performance! Smith doesn’t try to copy Williams beat for beat, and I feel he makes the role his own by infusing his natural charm talent and sense of humor, autotune singing notwithstanding.

As a dancer, I adored the choreography and almost jumped out of my seat during one of the dance numbers. The numbers were a fusion of b-boy and Bollywood, and I never knew I needed that until this movie.

The music was an enthralling romp which showcased the epic scope of Agrabah.

And that’s Aladdin (2019), I liked it, but I didn’t love it. It reminded me why I love this franchise, but there’s no surpassing the original and it’s flaws while minimal put it on par more with Return of Jafar than the original animated movie.

But that’s okay too.

I give Aladdin (Walt Disney Pictures; PG; 2hr, 8min) a 3 out of 5.