All right, let's get one thing out of the way here. This movie is based on an animated feature released in the 90's. The basic events of the film have been common knowledge pretty much everywhere since then. So I will go ahead and leave what'll pass as a spoiler warning right here at the top, and dispense with any concern that I'll somehow spoil this movie by talking about the ending in some detail.
We all good? Cool. Now, let's talk about how this soulless rip-off of a childhood classic from my own personal past is nothing more than a shameless cash-grab from an entertainment company who wants to print as much money as they can without even trying to do something original. Because everything in that sentence is true. But I'm gonna let you in on a secret. Ready?
The studio execs who greenlight all these soulless cash-grabs? They don't actually make the movies.
I know, I know. And I'm not saying that obvious cash-grabs like the remake of Aladdin shouldn't be approached with a healthy dose of skepticism. But I am saying you shouldn't dismiss the thing out-of-hand. Did the original Aladdin have a lot going for it? Absolutely. The best songs of any Disney musical from the 90's. Hands-down the best Disney princess at the time. Robin Williams. Those are really big shoes for a remake to fill.
But I'll tell you right now that the entire production of the 2019 remake knew that going in. All they wanted to do was tell their best version of the story, in the best way they knew how, and go figure, these people make movies for a living. Turns out their best is pretty darn good.
The format of A.Din v. 2019 is subtly different from the OG. Some things happen at different times than the original, some of the songs are longer, some of the songs are new, others are altered, and obviously many of the lines are just completely different. There were characters that got added, other's that were slimmed down or removed, and just all around while the story will be immediately familiar to anyone who's seen the original, the movie still has plenty of new stuff to see.
Let's run through the ways it feels like the original. The music is phenomenal. Alan Menkin is back to orchestrate and score everything, and it's all superb. Jasmine is still a fantastic Disney princess, possibly the best now but more on that later. So of the things that really made the original amazing, the biggest glaring omission from this new version really is the late Robin Williams. So I suppose let's start right there with the ways this new movie is different.
Will Smith's Genie is not Robin Williams' Genie, and (everybody take a deep breath) that's okay. Will Smith is a fabulously charismatic and naturally entertaining person, and he brings all of that ability to bear in his take on the character. He's got a lot in common with Williams' Genie; they're both hilarious. They're both sarcastic. They're both driven by the same basic motivations to be free and help Aladdin. But where Williams' Genie was very specifically silly, and relied on lots of various impersonations, Smith's Genie is more ambiguously silly, and relies on a quick wit and sharp tongue. They both work fine. Smith leans into his background in hip-hop in his musical performances, and that also works just fine. Both performances are different, both are good, and frankly I'm happy to have both.
How about the rest of the film? At first I wasn't sold on Jafar, he didn't feel... mustache twirly enough to be truly frightening in the climax of the film. And actually, that turned out to be kinda true. But he's also not obviously evil, which helps raise my opinion of the obviously oblivious Sultan in the remake, and he does a decent job of feeling vaguely slimy. They actually give Jafar a bit of backstory too, and then apply that backstory in his eventual seizure of the lamp, in fact, which was a nice little broadening of his character.
Aladdin himself isn't too different, though mad props to whoever it was (Mena Massoud or a stunt double) who was in charge of his parkour. He's handsome, externally confident but internally doubtful, and can sing. Also interacts pretty well with obviously CG characters like the carpet and Abu. He does a good job at taking over for... whoever voiced the original Aladdin.
Honestly, for being named after the guy, neither version of the film really did a great job at making me interested in the character of Aladdin. Probably got the Genie to blame for that. In both versions.
The Sultan is less obnoxious in the new one, which is a plus. One of his guards gets a name and a bit of an arc, and Jasmine gets a handmaid who has a little arc of her own. They're all fine, no complaints. But perhaps the most interesting change is to Jasmine herself.
See, the original Jasmine was notable for Disney at the time just because she was willing to question authority figures. Bold steps for Disney in their slow march toward sanity (alongside releases like Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, and Mulan). But she was still... problematic. She was raging against the machine simply for the sake of raging. She didn't have goals or plans aside from "I don't want to marry someone I'm not in love with" which, I mean, is good, but... still kinda suggests that her whole deal in life is just to get married. This new Jasmine isn't out in the city (when Aladdin helps her at the top of the film) because she just wants to get out of the palace, she's out there because she wants to see how her people live. Because she wants it to be a good life. Because she wants to be a good leader.
Because she wants to be sultan.
And at the end of the movie she becomes sultan. Not the uneducated ignorant lout fresh off the streets, but the princess who, you know... actually has a clue when it comes to politics. It works. It's a great improvement to her character, and that achievement gets about as much attention and validity as the whole romance thing. Well done... whoever made that change. I'm not gonna give credit to Disney as a whole, because like I said, "soulless cash-grab". Even if the movie was good, I'm still a little upset about that.
One last thing before you see it; there is some definite Bollywood influence on display here. Some of the action sequences, definitely the dance sequences, all pull on roots from stuff like Broadway and Bollywood. Personally it's fantastic. They probably did it to make the movie perform better overseas, but honestly I love the style. I think it's super entertaining. So I was definitely pleased.
So there you go. Honestly the movie is good. I'll probably show it to my kids at some point (they've already seen the original). While I don't exactly approve of Disney's decision to just remake all of their old properties, I also appreciate that they're getting passionate people into the right places to do them justice.
We all good? Cool. Now, let's talk about how this soulless rip-off of a childhood classic from my own personal past is nothing more than a shameless cash-grab from an entertainment company who wants to print as much money as they can without even trying to do something original. Because everything in that sentence is true. But I'm gonna let you in on a secret. Ready?
The studio execs who greenlight all these soulless cash-grabs? They don't actually make the movies.
I know, I know. And I'm not saying that obvious cash-grabs like the remake of Aladdin shouldn't be approached with a healthy dose of skepticism. But I am saying you shouldn't dismiss the thing out-of-hand. Did the original Aladdin have a lot going for it? Absolutely. The best songs of any Disney musical from the 90's. Hands-down the best Disney princess at the time. Robin Williams. Those are really big shoes for a remake to fill.
But I'll tell you right now that the entire production of the 2019 remake knew that going in. All they wanted to do was tell their best version of the story, in the best way they knew how, and go figure, these people make movies for a living. Turns out their best is pretty darn good.
The format of A.Din v. 2019 is subtly different from the OG. Some things happen at different times than the original, some of the songs are longer, some of the songs are new, others are altered, and obviously many of the lines are just completely different. There were characters that got added, other's that were slimmed down or removed, and just all around while the story will be immediately familiar to anyone who's seen the original, the movie still has plenty of new stuff to see.
Let's run through the ways it feels like the original. The music is phenomenal. Alan Menkin is back to orchestrate and score everything, and it's all superb. Jasmine is still a fantastic Disney princess, possibly the best now but more on that later. So of the things that really made the original amazing, the biggest glaring omission from this new version really is the late Robin Williams. So I suppose let's start right there with the ways this new movie is different.
Will Smith's Genie is not Robin Williams' Genie, and (everybody take a deep breath) that's okay. Will Smith is a fabulously charismatic and naturally entertaining person, and he brings all of that ability to bear in his take on the character. He's got a lot in common with Williams' Genie; they're both hilarious. They're both sarcastic. They're both driven by the same basic motivations to be free and help Aladdin. But where Williams' Genie was very specifically silly, and relied on lots of various impersonations, Smith's Genie is more ambiguously silly, and relies on a quick wit and sharp tongue. They both work fine. Smith leans into his background in hip-hop in his musical performances, and that also works just fine. Both performances are different, both are good, and frankly I'm happy to have both.
How about the rest of the film? At first I wasn't sold on Jafar, he didn't feel... mustache twirly enough to be truly frightening in the climax of the film. And actually, that turned out to be kinda true. But he's also not obviously evil, which helps raise my opinion of the obviously oblivious Sultan in the remake, and he does a decent job of feeling vaguely slimy. They actually give Jafar a bit of backstory too, and then apply that backstory in his eventual seizure of the lamp, in fact, which was a nice little broadening of his character.
Aladdin himself isn't too different, though mad props to whoever it was (Mena Massoud or a stunt double) who was in charge of his parkour. He's handsome, externally confident but internally doubtful, and can sing. Also interacts pretty well with obviously CG characters like the carpet and Abu. He does a good job at taking over for... whoever voiced the original Aladdin.
Honestly, for being named after the guy, neither version of the film really did a great job at making me interested in the character of Aladdin. Probably got the Genie to blame for that. In both versions.
The Sultan is less obnoxious in the new one, which is a plus. One of his guards gets a name and a bit of an arc, and Jasmine gets a handmaid who has a little arc of her own. They're all fine, no complaints. But perhaps the most interesting change is to Jasmine herself.
See, the original Jasmine was notable for Disney at the time just because she was willing to question authority figures. Bold steps for Disney in their slow march toward sanity (alongside releases like Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, and Mulan). But she was still... problematic. She was raging against the machine simply for the sake of raging. She didn't have goals or plans aside from "I don't want to marry someone I'm not in love with" which, I mean, is good, but... still kinda suggests that her whole deal in life is just to get married. This new Jasmine isn't out in the city (when Aladdin helps her at the top of the film) because she just wants to get out of the palace, she's out there because she wants to see how her people live. Because she wants it to be a good life. Because she wants to be a good leader.
Because she wants to be sultan.
And at the end of the movie she becomes sultan. Not the uneducated ignorant lout fresh off the streets, but the princess who, you know... actually has a clue when it comes to politics. It works. It's a great improvement to her character, and that achievement gets about as much attention and validity as the whole romance thing. Well done... whoever made that change. I'm not gonna give credit to Disney as a whole, because like I said, "soulless cash-grab". Even if the movie was good, I'm still a little upset about that.
One last thing before you see it; there is some definite Bollywood influence on display here. Some of the action sequences, definitely the dance sequences, all pull on roots from stuff like Broadway and Bollywood. Personally it's fantastic. They probably did it to make the movie perform better overseas, but honestly I love the style. I think it's super entertaining. So I was definitely pleased.
So there you go. Honestly the movie is good. I'll probably show it to my kids at some point (they've already seen the original). While I don't exactly approve of Disney's decision to just remake all of their old properties, I also appreciate that they're getting passionate people into the right places to do them justice.
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