Like most people my age, the Disney’s 1992 animated classic Aladdin holds a special place in my heart. It’s a movie I watched countless times growing up (and since I’ve “grown up”). I still know all the lyrics to “A Whole New World” and it remains a favorite karaoke song of mine. All of this made my anticipatory feelings…mixed. And those feelings got worse as the first images and clips were released. So I went into Aladdin with fairly low expectations. And the result is an uneven story that ultimately probably exactly meets expectations.
To begin with, let’s talk about Will Smith as Genie. His character hogged all the pre-release headlines. Whether it was the choice of actor, the CGI, the music and singing, there was always something that people found to worry about. But luckily most of those fears were assuaged. There were some CGI problems, but not with the Genie. Robin Williams as the Genie in the 1992 animated original was (and remains) iconic. Smith had a lot to live up to. And thankfully he didn’t try to straight copy Williams’ performance. However, he does lack some of that signature Williams charisma.
But when Smith is just being Smith, he’s great. He has an easy charm that lights up the screen. Where he sometimes gets into trouble is with the musical numbers. Smith has a good-not-great singing voice. When he can fall back onto his rap, he’s fine. But when he has to truly sing? It falters a bit. And the music in Aladdin needs one of two things: top-level energy (like Williams) or a great voice. Smith unfortunately falls right in the middle. It results in the songs having a handful of flat moments. Now when they’re good, they’re good. But they’re just not consistently at that level.
As far the non-Genie songs? They’re fantastic. Mena Massoud as Aladdin and Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine are both incredibly gifted singers and dancers. When they’re in a song, that’s when the movie really pops. Scott is also the best, most consistent part of the movie. Whether she’s singing or acting, she owns the scene every second she’s on screen. Massoud, on the other hand, is a bit more handicapped. His acting is uneven and clunky at times. He just doesn’t have the same on-screen presence acting as he does when singing and dancing. Luckily Aladdin obviously features multiple big musical numbers, so the end result is mostly fine.
Now Marwan Kenzari as Jafar, however, was one of the misses. His performance was perfectly fine, he was just miscast and the the character was changed unnecessarily. Everyone knows him as a bigger, intimidating character. But here? While Kenzari is 6′ tall, he came off smaller on-screen, so that he was close to equal height as the rest of the characters. It lessened his physical presence too much. Rather than being a physically imposing force, he came off as more of a whiny cry-baby.
In addition to all that, the music is always going to be a big factor in these live-action remakes. And I’ve touched on it here and there already, but overall I loved the songs. Visually, you couldn’t ask for anything more. And while Smith’s singing wasn’t the greatest at times, the rest of the performances definitely helped offset that. Again, Naomi Scott and Mena Massoud got a chance to really shine, and the movie was better off for it. One thing I look for in these live-action remakes is how good any original songs are. And Aladdin has one new banger, courtesy of Naomi Scott. I love it, and it has a message of self-empowerment that was completely absent from the 1992 original. That being said, however, it didn’t make much sense within the movie.
Every other song made sense as a way to progress the plot forward, as is normally the case with these types of musicals. But this one? It basically served the sole purpose of saying, “Hey everyone, Jasmine actually has agency this time around!” And while that as a general idea is of course a good thing, this particular moment was handled poorly. It felt more like a music video than a scene that fit within the movie. Great song, cool visuals, stopped the movie’s momentum.
For all the uncertainty surrounding Aladdin, I’m perfectly happy with what we got. It sticks fairly close to the original, while changing some of the more out of touch (to put it lightly) aspects. It’s a serviceable movie that, while I may not have much desire to rewatch, should satisfy fans of the of the original.
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