Disney studio execs are not dumb. I have to say this upfront because it’s not as if this review will in any way hinder what they are doing as a studio or the box office for Aladdin. They make a ton of money every time they mine their previous animated IP for these live action movies. The main question I have for them is, do they have to continue being this bad? Surely all of that money spent and revisions on old scripts can generate something as pleasant as Cinderella, right? As it stands, Aladdin fits right in with Beauty and the Beast and Alice in Wonderland in that wasteland of terrible live action adaptations of Disney classics.
Aladdin suffers from too much 2019. When the animated film came out in 1992, it was swift, moving at a decent pace, with its share of extremely problematic things (the lyrics to the opening song for one). In this version everything gets an update, the location (Agraba is now set next to a large body of water?), the plot, the costumes, the girl power, all of them revised. The issues with this come right at the beginning as the movie is framed with the device of a character played by Will Smith telling a story to two children (this will come back to play in the plot in a very strange way). From here it just felt like a series of missteps. The movie digs into many of the character questions from the original but even with an expanded run time, doesn’t feel like it gave weight to anything but Jasmine. Princess Jasmine (wonderfully played by Naomi Scott) is actually given something to do this time around, with her own ambitions and goals, which is wonderful. But in satisfying this course correction, they give the character a climactic number that is staged so haphazardly it distracts from the power of the moment. Add to the above an additional love story, a toothless (storywise), blunt Jafar (with no musical number!), and action set pieces that don’t really zing and you’ve got the recipe for why this movie ends up being a mess.
The staging of this movie is perhaps its biggest weakness. Guy Ritchie is a talented filmmaker, but he forgets that just because things look cool, doesn’t mean it will feel cool. Or any emotion really. The comedic beats in the film play but much of the pathos of the narrative just didn’t land and that’s on him.
All is not bad in Agrabah however. Will Smith finds himself suited well to the role of Genie. Given he had some amazing shoes to fill from the late Robin Williams, he doesn’t so much try as imitate as reimagine with a nod here and there to the original. One of the movie’s best scenes happens when he tries to turn Aladdin into Prince Ali and he tries various different costumes. Did the filmmakers realize that the costumes would save the film? In particular, Jafar and Jasmine are give a wardrobe of looks that would stand among the best of this or any year. It’s unfortunate that they are being featured in a movie that is falling below the high bar that they set.