Aladdin (2019) Remake! Worth it?

Hello everyone, it is I, me, and before I get into this review I just wanted to say that recently I just posted on my Instagram (Which none of you follow shame on you) that I’m working on a review of the 1990 Captain America, and that the review is very much in the works. It is a very hard film to watch, so please bear with me, but I put myself through it for the sake of comedy.

Anyways, I just saw Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin and it.conflicts me. There are a lot of things that this film has going for it, and I lot that really put a sour taste in my mouth. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a little outspoken against these Disney remakes, as I find them to be tired re-tellings of stories that were already, for the most part, perfect. But, Aladdin was one that I really enjoyed as a kid, and it’s been the only one so far that’s really got me curious.

Right, onto the review.

THE FILM

So obviously it’s Aladdin, everyone and their Robin Williams-loving grandmother has seen and enjoyed the film. Sure the cast is uh, wow, that’s a whole lotta white people, less than ethnically accurate, but at the time, it was seen as just pure voice acting, as long as the drawn characters weren’t offensive stereotypes.

This film more or less stays on track with the original, as it is a remake. There are some elements that are added and a few taken away. What felt weird in the beginning was that the character buildup of Aladdin and Jasmine that took the original film 1/4th of the runtime to make, was accomplished right off the bat. Aladdin jumps in and meets the princess almost immediately. Kinda weird.

Anyways, Jafar is a mean bad guy with an arabian chicken, and wants to find someone that can go into the cave of wonders without being eaten by a big sandy kitty. He finds Aladdin, and uses him to venture into the cave to steal a lamp. Is there any point in me explaining this?

Aladdin gets the lamp, Abu the poorly CGI-d monkey ruins it, and they are trapped until he rubs it and you see Will Smith’s genie. More about him later, I have a lot to say.

Aladdin uses the Genie to become a prince, go into the palace, sweep Jasmine off her feet, they both get trapped by Jafar, but because of the “grey areas” that go into Genie magic, Jafar poops on his own plan and things are fine, and Jasmine and Aladdin get married and stuff.

Then that leads into a strange Bollywood-esque dance number at the end of the film that wasn’t poorly choreographed, but had some weird things (namely editing choices).

WHAT I ENJOYED

Right off the bat, I want to say that I enjoyed the production design of this film. The colour palette was absolutely stunning, and it made the film super vibrant. It added the feeling of culture as well, seeing as the Middle East isn’t exactly a sandy wasteland of bad guys that America likes to think it is. The costumes in the film were perfect; some were directly crafted from the original film, and a lot of them were new designs, particularly on Princess Jasmine who had somewhere around nine different costumes. They were period accurate and left little else to be desired.

Something that I figured would happen was that I enjoyed Will Smith’s Genie, and I thought he gave the character justice. Obviously he had some pretty large shoes to fill, as the late Robin Williams played the character in the original film. Smith got a lot of internet hate for accepting the role, but to that I say...well, you know, he’s an actor. These characters can be played by different actors and interpreted in many different ways, good and bad. What do you think Robin Williams is the only person that can play the Genie? You think that’s fair in this age of live action reboots? Would you prefer that they CGI Williams from the grave? Shame on you.

Anyways, the character was a fun element in the film, and I actually think that the film picked up for me when he was introduced. In the original Aladdin, it’s very jarring to go from a charming but slightly dark children’s movie before Genie’s introduction, and be thrown into this world of obscure impressions and slapstick jokes. For me, this film actually got better with Smith’s character. That being said, there’s other stuff about him that we’ll get on.

Also Nasim Pedrad’s character was completely hilarious and charming. Sometimes I wish she was Jasmine, though I know the studio probably wanted to go with a younger and current actor, even though Pedrad would’ve nailed it, I think she nailed this character too.

Also cave of wonders was still spooky as hell.

NOT SO MUCH

Okay here we go,

So I didn’t like the pacing of the film very much. We were fast-forwarded into trying to develop both Aladdin and Jasmine, and if we hadn’t already had the previous versions of these characters, it would’ve felt a little more forced than it already was.

The acting in particular wasn’t great. I felt like during a lot of the song performances, the actors were very aware of trying to make their facial expressions as attractive and emotional as possible, but mixed with the odd editing choice of speeding up and slowing down characters, it felt like one long tiktok video. The music was also heavily autotuned, and it was obvious, as it has been for a lot of these remakes, that we are hiring on fame vs talent. Real shame.

The comedy in this film was really hit or miss. I found myself laughing at a lot of the Iago stuff, as well as most of the things Smith said. But that ongoing bit about the jams...give it a rest bud. Like, it’s kind of funny at first but when you make it to the end of the film and they’re like “the jams, haha, REMEMBER?!?!” it’s just tired.

Jafar was okay, but he lacked some development as well. In the original he was a big bad guy with a clear motive and clear backstory, but in this, he felt watered down, and less threatening. Same with the Sultan, Jasmine’s father. In the original he was a fun father character. He was short and full of energy, but also a wise instructor and caring dad. In this, he’s stoic, tired, and doesn’t seem like he wants to be there at all. Even in a lot of the emotional bits, the actor was just stale and uncaring. May as well have been played by Harrison Ford.

There was a particular musical number that Jasmine had thrown in towards the climax of the film, where she sings about not being silenced or put down. It’s a message that the original character had, which is what made her so great in the film, but this song was...not good. It felt like a modern throwaway, flavor of the month pop song on any drab radio station, thrown into a film full of old, well-crafted Disney songs. It took me out of the film completely, and it was awhile before I could go back in.

Some of the CGI wasn’t great, which was disappointing, considering that after Life of Pi, animation houses have mastered animal rendering, but it felt like we went back a step on this one.

Also why did they impose Will Smith’s head on a half buff half dad bod guy, when his normal physique would’ve been just as fine? I don’t really see why that’s necessary, I mean I know it’s resembling the old cartoon, but it was a CARTOON, and this is supposedly live action, if you’re going to cut how animated and wacky the Genie is in ‘Prince Ali’ number, maybe take some more liberties.

Maybe it’s noticeable that I keep saying “in the original” in reference to the film that is being remade. I keep going back on this because I feel it’s important to ask why we need these remakes in the first place. Disney’s original films that they’ve been pushing out lately have been less than successful, and these remakes are moderately to not very well received by critics alike, yet everyone keeps going to see them, because it’s what we’re used to.

Just remember next time you’re watching one of these, how magical it was to see it for the first time, and how nostalgic it feels to rewatch them and hear the music again. However, don’t let that distract you when you’re trying to figure out whether or not you actually liked this movie.

If you like these remakes, by all means, see the film. It’s the same as we have been getting, and the same that we will be getting. If you aren’t a fan of these remakes, let’s hope Mulan gets something going.

Mena Massoud as the titular character

Overall rating: 4/10