Review: “Aladdin” is all flash, no magic
What a way to revive this site after London and my recent zine project left me too busy to keep up with reviews. I always steer clear of reviews and Rotten Tomatoes scores until I’ve covered a movie for myself, but who knows, maybe seeing one or two would have saved two hours of my life for something better. That is, if the reviewers I follow saw what I saw.
I tend to be optimistic toward Disney’s live-action remakes, though I’m fully aware that the vast majority of them are unnecessary and only exist to make money and extend copyrights. Most of them I’ve enjoyed well enough despite some major flaws, and after seeing Guy Ritchie’s entry into this catalog, I find myself longing for the days of Emma Watson’s mediocre vocal performances in Beauty and the Beast and the insufferably dimwitted fairies of Maleficent.
Nearly everything about this movie is half-assed, but it does at least have a few things going for it. At least one musical number manages to be somewhat upbeat and entertaining, though of course that’s not enough to support a two-hour musical. There’s a legitimate attempt in some regards to improve on the animated film’s rather uncomfortable representation of the Middle East, with more accurate casting and some timely political commentary. But even then, Jasmine is played by an Indian actress rather than a Middle Eastern one, Disney admitted to putting background extras in brownface, and the commentary, though I agree with it on principle, does little to enhance the plot or tell us anything about the characters as people. There are some scenes that boast beautifully bright colors and costumes, but just as many where it’s too dark with too little contrast to even clearly see what’s happening — and unfortunately, the introduction to the magic carpet and the “Whole New World” sequence fall under the latter category.
The main cast of 1992’s Aladdin is one of the film’s biggest strengths, and although I’ve tried to keep the original out of my head as much as possible in judging this attempt, there’s been a glaring downgrade. I’m sure the cast tried their best with what they were given, but much of the acting is stale and thoroughly non-engaging. I don’t fault Will Smith for simply not being Robin Williams, and I’m glad he didn’t try to imitate him, but it’s hard to get into his performance when the animated Genie had one of the most iconic voice performances and energetic animation of at least the last fifty years. The emotional investment in his friendship with the title character and his yearning for freedom is missing, and to top it off he has an unnecessary love interest in Nasim Pedrad’s new character Dahlia, who also doesn’t have much of a dynamic with Jasmine.
Speaking of which, Naomi Scott gives probably the best performance in this movie, and the character is thankfully less sexualized and is given a bit of a stronger motivation. Now, rather than simply not wanting to be forced into marriage (which is still a fair obstacle to push against), she also wants to inherit the title of Sultan in her own right, having seen the suffering of her people and wanting to make changes. But no one’s motivations are made interesting enough to even warrant this movie’s existence as it is, and Jasmine is hardly an exception. Her relationship with her father is pretty much gone, as the Sultan character hardly has a presence or personality in this version, and we don’t see much of the two interacting. They try to make her more active in the action scenes, but again, it doesn’t add much.
As if the comparatively bland Genie wasn’t bad enough, Aladdin himself has essentially had his personality stripped away and replaced with lifeless clichés, making for a confused and uninteresting character arc. You know how “One Jump Ahead” acts as his introduction as a clever rogue who thinks on his feet in every Disney adaptation, including this one? It pretty much directly contradicts who he is as a character in Guy Ritchie’s interpretation. He’s no longer quick-thinking, nor is he charming. He now has no clue what he’s doing as Prince Ali and rather than leaning into the persona of a confident and dashing prince, he instead spends an excruciatingly long time awkwardly describing the gifts he’s offering to the Sultan. Mena Massoud unfortunately doesn’t help, with a performance more in line with a high school play than a big budget fantasy film.
Marwan Kenzari gives undoubtedly the worst performance of the main cast as the formerly deliciously evil Jafar. I don’t know if it was a choice on his part or poor direction from Ritchie, but he delivers 99% of his lines with a lethargic monotone, only occasionally trying to make a scene entertaining or interesting by yelling at people. Even when he’s carrying out a malicious scheme and gloating to his victim, it’s like he’s too tired to care about anything that’s happening. And don’t get your hopes up for even a mildly funny back-and-forth between him and Iago, because the latter isn’t even a character. He’s there, he exists, but he’s basically been reduced to the “dumb bird” cover he put on to fool the Sultan in the animated film and might as well have been cut out entirely. Jafar’s overarching plan isn’t even well thought out, but that seems to be a trend for every character in this movie.
Of course, the other most iconic aspect of the original Aladdin is the music and accompanying visual sequences, which are also done a massive disservice in this adaptation. “One Jump Ahead” is full of bizarre editing choices and unengaged ensemble members, “Prince Ali” has a nice-looking color palette as its only redeeming quality, “A Whole New World” is rushed with forgettable visuals and landscapes, and Jasmine’s new solo “Speechless” is jarringly out of place among the Alan Menken score; it would fit better in Descendants than a classic-style Disney musical. “Friend Like Me” is actually fairly decent, but still can’t compare to the animated sequence or the Broadway arrangement.
As underwhelming as the music and acting are, the editing, cinematography, and pacing rival those aspects in their shoddy execution. Shots will suddenly go into slow or fast motion with no rhyme or reason, the script will cut back and forth between scenes in a weirdly disconnected manner, and the shots and angles have little variety beyond wide shots showing off desert and city landscapes and medium shots to show a character looking wistfully off into the distance or just standing and talking.
A fair amount of the people involved in this movie may have been putting in some legitimate effort, and there were one or two welcome new concepts, but overall, Aladdin represents the most cynical criticisms directed toward the Disney remakes. Guy Ritchie’s Agrabah is a world of boring visuals, bland characters, and musical sequences that just couldn’t translate to live-action, at least not with him at the helm. I spent the majority of this movie impatiently waiting for it to be over, and a movie hasn’t put me in such a bad mood since I had to revisit Home on the Range last year. There’s little to nothing about it that justifies its existence to me, and frankly, I’d take a flawed but heartfelt fairy tale over a lifeless rehash that tries to fix the former’s shortcomings and turns out a jumbled mess.
Originally published at http://miseensense.wordpress.com on May 25, 2019.
