Aladdin

Instead of recreating the magic of the Disney classic, Aladdin feels like an off-Broadway stage adaptation. The plot jumps from scene to scene, spitting out dialogue verbatim to the original and interjecting brief songs. It knows that we know the story, so why bother spending time building suspense and wonder? Well, those were the reasons I bought my ticket.

Ignoring the original film and the attempts to keep everything the same, Aladdin does not waste your time. I went into the theater expecting this film to be like Beauty and the Beast (2017): a boring rehash of a film I can watch at home, but there were several scenes in Aladdin where I was pleasantly surprised. It started with the opening song, “Arabian Nights.” The swooping shot through Agrabah, revealing the street-rat thief in a culturally rich city before flying up to the palace and the royal life above, was spectacular. After that scene, I was ready to admit my predictions were wrong. Then I saw the dance sequences. The choreography and skill dedicated for these scenes definitely took priority of the entire production. Even the actor that plays Aladdin, it seems, was only hired for his dancing, because those sequences were by far the best in the entire film.

Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine really elevated the performances of this film. Not only was her acting beyond every other actor on screen, but her dancing and singing completely took the spotlight away from the main story. The bad side of this is when one of her songs becomes an entire music video—with people disappearing into… dust—and although the scene is alienating and out-of-place, her voice was incredible.

Will Smith’s version of the Genie was strangely the most familiar aspect of the film. He brings his own spin on the character, which would have been enjoyable if he was given the chance to take out Robin Williams’ lines from the script. His flare and emotion was different, but the lyrics to both of the Genie’s songs were exactly the same. Will Smith has to slip his style through the cracks of the preconceptions of the Genie character in order to prove his worth, and what comes out as a result is a new look with Will Smith guiding us through it. His character is given a new subplot as a romance, but the scenes were too rare and short for the audience to care. Will Smith’s performance is dwarfed by the legendary Robin Williams’ character, but it mainly comes from how little room he had to breathe under the uncaring script.

All of the aspects mentioned above are fine, if not great. What really drags this story under the sand are the two central characters and their actors; they are the weakest links to the story. The actor that plays Aladdin seems to have little interest in performing this fantastic, big budget role that could catapult him to success. His monotone singing for “One Jump Ahead” drowns out any excitement in the scene, and for every obstacle the character comes across, he already seems to have made the choice before the camera cuts back to him. I never felt any emotion from his poverty, or his stressing over telling the truth to Jasmine, because so little time was spent on his development.

The same problems can be said for Jafar. The actor was so weak and forgettable that I was never intimidated by his threats or anger. Instead of being the slimy, controlling Jafar from the original with the dark, low voice of Jonathan Freeman, this Jafar instead seems like an impatient brat that wants to sit at the big-boy table. There is no witty banter between him and Iago, since Iago is now just a crafty parrot, not a separate villain. There is also no big, Die Hard ending, which surprised me considering the director was Guy Ritchie! The same director as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. His previous films were filled to the brim with action, explosions, sword fights, and adrenaline-pumping chase scenes. What does Aladdin have? A pterodactyl-sized parrot. I thought Jafar would be re-invigorated in this film because of the talent behind the camera, but he and the main character were discarded as second thoughts in order to fit in more dancing.

Overall, most of the acting and storytelling was weak, and the overall film seemed to be rushing through its scenes to get to somewhere… but it never finds where it wants to be. The story itself is a long story, and condensing it into a two-hour runtime was too much for this film to do well. Strangely, the central conflict seems to be what was cut out of the film, instead of the new supporting cast and the impressive dance sequences. Will Smith gives his own satisfying rendition of the Genie, and Naomi Scott shines as the true star of the story. The other actors were simply disappointing, or their characters simply did not add much to the story.

Story Rating: 5/10

Character Rating: 5/10