Aladdin (2019) Review

Synopsis: A kindhearted street urchin and a power-hungry Grand Vizier vie for a magic lamp that has the power to make their deepest wishes come true.

The new live-action adaptation of the beloved Disney classic has been under fire since it has been announced a few years back and with the promotional footage of Will Smith’s lacklustered Genie CGI, but I am here to tell you that this is a faithful adaptation sprinkled with some new scenes that we never got in the original movie. “Aladdin” is a colorful and bright movie with some many colors that it brings the world to life like never before, with some really good CGI (I will get to the genie in a second) and effects.The cast was fantastic with Naomi Scott playing Princess Jasmine, Mena Massoud playing the role of Aladdin, and of course Will Smith playing the Genie. All three of them have really good chemistry with one another. I really felt the relationship and bond between Aladdin and Jasmine along with the friendship built throughout the movie with Aladdin and Genie.

I really appreciate the fact that all most everyone in this movie seems like they are having fun during their scenes. The absolute stand out is Will Smith. Will does not rehash what the amazing Robin Williams did for the role, but he made it his own and there were some scenes that I thought were really funny, because of how charismatic Will is, you can tell he wants to be different but still have the sense of Robin Williams.The Choreography and the Music were another stand out! I really enjoyed their rendition, while adding a something little special like with “Never had a friend like me” song, where they allowed Will Smith to rap, which I thought really worked.

Now, this movie is not without its flaws. Yes, the CGI for Genie did not improve, but I soon got passed it because of how good Will Smiths performance was. Another problem I had, much like “Dumbo” (2019), is they added a pretty lengthy 30-40 minutes to this movie. For this case they really did not improve on scenes they only extended scenes from the original. They could’ve given more depth to the less than stellar antagonist Jafar. By the third act it kind of felt like a chore to finish the movie because it was poorly paced, along with some questionable editing choices.

Other than those minor complaints I do think this movie is fun and you should see it in theatres. I give this movie a SOLID 7.5/10.