If anything, it’s the stage Genie whose influence comes through, for it was on Broadway that the Genie was first played so flamboyantly (James Monroe Iglehart earned a Tony for that fresh interpretation). His infectious personality shines throughout, and he even manages to infuse his martini-swilling Genie with moving emotional moments. Smith, faced with the impossible task of living up to Robin Williams’ iconic voice performance, easily makes the role his own. “A lot of people talk a lot of trash about this movie, and after watching it for myself tonight: You owe Will Smith an apology.”Īnd Smith himself succeeds at making the Genie his own whenever he’s allowed to play the character as, well, Will Smith in a top-knot and turban. (Photo by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures) While early looks at the film - especially scenes that focused on Smith turning on the bravado with a vibrant song-and-dance - were received badly enough that both Ritchie and Smith were asked to respond to the critical jabs, within the context of Ritchie’s warmly silly film, they work. Here’s what critics are saying about Aladdin:Ĭall it “Aladdin and the Fresh Prince of Ababwa” - which could well have been Ritchie’s pitch for a still largely stereotype-driven project that seems to work best when it’s not directly emulating the cartoon that came before. But according to the critics, fears about the Smith Genie are misplaced – he makes it his own – and there is plenty of magic still to be found in Agrabah and the story of its parkour-loving street rat and independent-minded princess. Not everyone is enamored with this 2019 Aladdin, which infuses a hip-hop sensibility into some of the musical numbers and gives Jasmine a stronger arc, and there are signs of live-action-Disney-remake fatigue. Could the team possibly pull off a live-action version of a tale that got so much of its verve from the possibilities of animation – and the performance of the late Robin Williams? The first word in from critics is that they have – mostly. His scenes with Massoud have a scrappy charge that lift the mood when the plot mechanics get heavy.Disney’s latest remake, Aladdin (2019) 57%, arrives in theaters on Friday riding a lava wave of hot-takes and head-scratching curiosity: the first images of Will Smith as a “blue genie” left some fans skeptical, and the choice of British director, Guy Ritchie, who got his start making kinetic gangster flicks, seemed either odd or inspired, depending on your bent. Putting his own spin on Genie’s big song, “Friend Like Me,” Smith is a comic blast. He brings a Fresh Prince sass to the role and wisely never tries to imitate the inimitable Williams. Smith, however is the movie’s best special effect. And Ritchie pulls out all the stops in “Prince Ali,” a circus-like production number. For starters, Aladdin wishes to be a prince worthy of wooing Jasmine. Genie has only three wishes to grant, and you can’t wish for more wishes. Smith plays him human-sized and later as the CG-enhanced marvel that pops out of a lamp when Aladdin gives it a rub. How do these two opposites come together? The Genie, of course. She even gets a new song, “Speechless,” with lyrics from La La Land Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. She no longer dreams only of love she’d like to succeed her father the sultan (Navid Negahban) and make decisions for her country. You won’t recognize Jasmine from her cartoon origins. Aladdin does have a problem: He yearns for Jasmine, a princess far beyond his pay grade. His “One Jump Ahead” has a swirling energy you won’t find in the musical version currently on Broadway. Massoud, so good on TV’s Jack Ryan, is a live-wire as Aladdin, who swings through the streets of Agrabah like an acrobat while singing the Alan Menken/Howard Ashman-Tim Rice score. That’s mostly a losing battle, but the impulse is solid. But he does give the story a kineticism that helps when you’re trying to match what animation can do. Ritchie, best known for action pulverizers like RocknRolla and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, doesn’t pull out the heavy ammo in this family-friendly, PG enterprise. That the movie itself is a treat, beyond its good intentions, is icing on the cake, though clichés and ethnic stereotyping still sneak in. An Arabian nights fantasy filled with brown-skinned actors? Will wonders never cease? And Marwan Kenzari, as villainous Jafar, is partly Tunisian. Nasim Pedrad, as her handmaiden, Dalia, was born in Iran. Naomi Scott, who plays Princess Jasmine, is of Indian descent. Mena Massoud who plays Aladdin, has roots in Egypt. That’s Will Smith as the Genie, embodying the character Robin Williams brought to hilarious vocal life in 1992 and doing the role proud. It’s an inspired choice to cast Guy Ritchie’s live-action version of Disney’s 1992 animated hit with persons of color. Did Aladdin just get woke? Looks like it.
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