Review: ALADDIN Actually Turned Out to Be a Lot of Fun
One of the main reasons why I was interested in seeing Disney's live-action Aladdin movie was to see how director Guy Ritchie would handle the story and see what he would do with it visually. I was hoping to see the classic Guy Ritchie filmmaking style, but this film felt nothing like a Guy Ritchie movie. There were a few stylistic choices that had the the filmmaker’s feel, but he never fully committed to those stylistic choices. So if you were hoping to see a Guy Ritchie-style Aladdin movie, it didn’t really happen.
But! That doesn't mean the movie was bad! I actually liked the movie and thought it was a lot of fun and filled with some adventurous entertainment. The hard thing about these live-action Disney movies is that you can't watch them and not compare them to the original animated film. If you grew up with these animated films like Aladdin, how can you not compare this to that!?
Having grown up with the animated version of Aladdin, I will say that this new live-action movie isn't as good. Will Smith never really reaches the energy or entertainment level of Robin Williams, but he brought Genie to life in his own way and it worked for this movie. It's a little jarring at first because it's so different, but as the movie goes on you get used to his Genie style. All in all, he was fine.
As far as Mena Massoud as Aladdin and Naomi Scott as Jasmine goes, they both gave fantastic performances. I really enjoyed them in their roles and they were perfect choices to play them. They were actually the best part of the movie for me. I just enjoyed watching them bring these characters to life.
When it comes to the story, it's the exact same story as the original movie. There are a few differences in the dialogue, some new jokes, and a few additional scenes added to flush the story out, but for the most part it's the same story, with the same music. There were a couple of new songs for Jasmine added, and one of those new songs called "Speechless" was really freakin' good. It was so good in fact that it had my 11-year-old daughter in tears.
Speaking of my daughter, she absolutely loved the movie! She laughed, she cried, she felt the excitement as the story played out. She was completely into it, and as I watched her watch the movie, I realized that this movie was for her and for all the the kids! They are going to love this film, and I think a lot of the parents who take their kids to the movie will be pleasantly surprised by how it turned out.
It’s an enjoyable movie and there are really no faults. It’s just that it’s already been done, and for any of us that are fans of the original, we are just cursed with automatically wanting to compare it to the original. Now, while I liked the animated film more, my daughter liked the live-action film more. And just because I didn’t like this movie more than the original doesn’t mean I didn’t like the new version because I did.
Like all movies, not everyone is going to like Aladdin. It's just not going to click for some people, and there are those that will go into the film looking for faults, and if they do, they are going to find them. But in the end, I had a great time watching the movie. It exceeded my expectations, and I thought is was a charming and entertaining movie.
