Aladdin 2019 REVIEW

Aladdin 2019
Directed by: Guy Ritchie


Aladdin 2019 REVIEW

Written by Matthew Rutherford

When Disney announced that they were remaking the 1992 classic Aladdin there were a lot of worries ahead had it only been a few years since the late Robin Williams had passed a way.

How would the fans judge the film as a whole been a remake of a classic film?

EARLY SPOILERS ONLY

For the 2019 version of the classic it has problems from the start and all the way to the end, as it was announced as a remake and adapting the 1992 animated film it only shares certain elements of that original.

The film has many problems to being with for start how the film opens it is not introduced with the mysterious shop keeper, it opens with Will Smith's genie on a ship telling two children the story Aladdin, then goes into Arabian nights then begins with the Cave of Wonders Lion seeking the diamond in the rough with Frank Welker reprising his roles from the 1992 original , with a generic henchman and Jafar watching, they also turned Iago the parrot into a generic parrot voiced by Alan Tudyk which confuses me why the did not contact Gilbert Gottfried to return when Frank Welker was already on board. They also changed removed key parts such as Jasmine sneaking out of the palace and looking round Agrabah in fact the first twenty minutes Aladdin and Jasmine have met and running from the guards. There is also a new subplot which did not need to be in the film with Jafar trying to start a war with another country and Jasmine been ignored which introduces a new song for her. Afterwards it changes Aladdin looses a bracelet belongs to Jasmine and finds it later and sneaks to the palace to return it and then later is arrested by Jafar. Which then leads to the Cave of Wonders. Afterwards this is where the film changes completely with the inclusion of new characters such as a hand maiden. and a romance for the Genie.

Frank Welker reprises the roles of Abu and the Cave of Wonders

The acting and actors play there parts very well, Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott have a believable relationship of thief and Princess allowing for more belief that they are. Now for the Genie it would impossible to compare Will Smith to Robin WIlliams, to Smith's acting he played the Genie the best way he could and made the character his own and not trying to copy Williams past performance there are similar nuances that both actors shared in their portrayal but enough to be classed as a reference and or homage, they also developed the genie with a slight mentor role for Aladdin which was welcomed. Is it a safe saying that Smith was the best thing out of the film? No the dynamics between Mena Massoud and Will Smith were natural not pushed. In fact the dynamics between each characters felt natural even in the cringy parts Jafar as a character was character from the original been cunning, manipulative and pure evil in this version he feel those elements are hardly there without going into spoilers his genie segment was rushed. To me he was the biggest problem with the film a good film cannot have a good finale without a villain.

Listen to the audio at this scene?

There are some good elements of Aladdin 2019 for starters Alan Menken returned to update and compose new music while adding new thematic pieces to the films soundtrack which feel like they all fit into Aladdin sound board with more emphasis of Arabian type music which is welcome thanks to the bigger budget. However there was a scene which sounded like the audio was literally ripped from the 1992 original and placed over which seems very lazy if this was the case. The overall film makes Agrabah feel like a real place in the Arabian but also makes it feel mysterious at the same time the spectacle of the dessert and other landmarks are a visual for the eye the locations used in a way to make the watcher of the film go wow on what they can visually see.

There also seems to be some continuity problems with the flow

My final verdict is had the film been more faithful to the original script and had a little longer to time in development it could have been one of the top remakes Disney has produced with a director like Guy Ritchie known for making films based on other properties adapted to film it would have you it would have been a good fit. The film feels rushed in the two final acts of the film had it had a little longer in production.

Pros
- Top cast
- Great seeing familiar characters again in action
- Classic lines from the film used
- The singing top notch for the actors and felt natural for the actors
- More depth for the Sultan (NO SPOILERS)

Cons
- Adding new characters
- Continuity errors
- Rush uses of Jafar and Iago
- Inconsistent reprise of roles
- Bad characterisation not found in original 1992 film
- Inconsistent role reprisals

Final Verdict - 6.5/10

It is very mixed on opinion but if your curious go see the film at least once to see. Aladdin 2019 feels like an old friend has come for a visit and you dont know when you are going to see him again/