Aladdin

This is a lovely film, colourful and full of life. I enjoyed the animated one and I equally love this one. You don't need to compare live to animation, just enjoy the ride.

Well worth watching.

I know everyone wants to compare this to the Animated version, but don't. Take it as it comes and you will thoroughly enjoy it. It does stay pretty faithful to the animated version I think. Will Smith as the genie could never be the Robyn Williams genie, but I don't think he tries to. He does fantastically well in his own right. Absolutely loved the Prince Ali song where Aladdin enters the city as the prince. Brilliantly colorful spectacle captured really well. Jafar missed a little for me as had lost the smarmy-ness of the animated version. The songs were great and the Aladdin and Jasmine characterization was pretty spot on. I think kids would love this and I would definitely recommend it.

I listened to people and didn't watch this when it first came out. I'm so glad I decided to turn this on when I got Disney+. What a fun movie! My niece loves all the colors, dances, and Will Smith's updated take on the genie!!!

When it comes to visuals, through out the movie was just... beautiful- the clothes, culture and architecture. Will Smith's Genie was unexpectedly good and created his OWN version which is great! As for the rest of the major characters? Well...

Jaafar was a bit of a let down from the beginning. Not menacing enough on the outside. Yet still cunning in some ways. Can't say much about his parrot... Jasmine's dad was disappointingly boring (prefer the bubbly albeit blur cartoony-version). Jasmine herself was alright (neither great nor terrible). The "feminist" like scenes were like an unecessary extra and a bit annoying to watch (don't ask me why). Abu (monkey) was cute. He was captured nicely. And lastly Aladdin? For a break through actor, he actually did a good job portraying Aladdin. EXCEPT his relationship with Jasmine...

..And THAT'S where the "magic" is missing. The core lovey-dovey magic thats hard to explain except through emotions. I feel it's one of the major things that makes Disney's Aladdin.. "ALADDIN"! But I felt nothing from the "Whole New World" scene. No chemistry between the two "lovers". Even in other scenes... This is similarly felt between Aladdin & Genie. Particularly towards the end. The lack of that "core" emotion is so disappointing that I couldn't enjoy the movie as a whole. It just felt more on how it looked rather how it SHOULD feel. I mean this is Aladdin! Where's the magic?

Although this remake might seem less accomplished than the eponymous cartoon Aladdin (1992), the film is objectively well done. The actors, the songs, the sets, the costumes, the Computer-Generated Imagery (tiger, monkey, flying carpet, genie), ... everything is excellent!