Mark Reviews Movies: ALADDIN (2019)

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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 23, 2019

Here might be the most useless of the recent (and continuing) deluge of live-action remakes of Disney animated films. Aladdin does nothing that the 1992 animated feature didn't do already, and in transforming the magical world of the previous film into something more realistic and literal, this adaptation loses, well, the magic of the story.

The better of these remakes either focus on some core element of their predecessors or change the material in such significant ways that they feel new. This one definitely doesn't go with the second option, and it completely misses what's almost universally considered to be the single, most noteworthy element of the animated forebear.

That, of course, is the depiction of the all-powerful genie, trapped in an oil lamp for many millennia and coming out into the world with a constant release of that pent-up energy. The marriage of Robin Williams' dynamic vocal performance and the fluid animation of the character was unexpected, hilarious, and perfectly executed. Like the rest of the story in this version, though, even the genie is portrayed in a more down-to-earth fashion. To remove that character's essence is to miss the essence and the energy of the original film.

This is to say that an attempt to replicate the animated film as a live-action adaptation is, perhaps, inevitably futile. It certainly doesn't work in director Guy Ritchie's attempt.

The tale of Aladdin and the magic lamp is an old one, but the 1992 film is unique telling of that story. One can do the folktale or some variation of it, but to do a new version of the Disney film means recapturing the spirit of the story, the characters, the free sense of motion, and everything else about it. The argument could be made that the previous film's version of the story could only be done by way of animation, and this remake certainly provides plenty of evidence to support that notion.

In the ancient city of Agrabah, Aladdin (Mena Massoud) is a homeless orphan, stealing to survive. In the market one day, he meets Jasmine (Naomi Scott, a notable standout in an otherwise underwhelming cast), the daughter of the city's sultan (Navid Negahban) in disguise, and immediately falls for her.

Eventually, the sultan's closest advisor and not-so-secret villain Jafar (Marwan Kenzari) abducts Aladdin and sends him into a mystical cave to find a magical lamp. Betrayed by the evil guy, Aladdin is trapped in the cave with his trusty money Abu, a flying carpet, and the lamp, which houses the all-powerful Genie (Will Smith).

Genie is probably the best place to start here, especially since the rest of the story plays out as it did in the animated film—only with an additional song for Jasmine, a couple of additional comedic bits, a love interest for the magical entity, and a lot of computer-generated spectacle. The character himself is computer-generated, or at least it certainly appears that way. Smith has the unenviable task of following up William's creation, and to his credit, the actor doesn't try to replicate the original character, instead going for a charming brand of sarcasm.

Whatever Smith might be doing, there's a strange stiffness to the way Genie moves, with his blue torso hovering above a swirling vortex. This is entirely an issue of visual effects, which, because the movie has decided to stay as "realistic" as possible, don't even dare to test the waters of the freedom of and imagination that comes with an all-powerful entity (He somewhat transforms, although with the apparent necessity that—unlike a completely animated creation based on an actor's voice—we have to recognize Smith in every shot of Genie). Everything about the character, starting with Genie's clunky motions as a CG creation, seems far too limited.

A lot here is limited. Massoud comes across hollow as Aladdin, until he's given the chance to do some comedic material later (An awkward proposal in the palace is a highlight). Jafar is given a political motivation for his evil deeds, which makes him as bland as Kenzari's performance. The quirky supporting characters—from Abu, to the carpet, and to Jafar's sycophantic parrot Iago (voice of Alan Tudyk)—have been neutered of personality.

The musical numbers are big, but Ritchie keeps his camera placed to observe the accompanying spectacle, not the actual performances. Jasmine's new desire to become the next sultan gives the character more to do, but her big number, a power pop ballad, seems out of place with the other tunes, which have been transformed into percussion-heavy shadows of their former selves.

Aladdin is primarily a failure of imagination. It lacks the imagination to do anything different, and it neglects the imagination that defined its precursor.

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