The most substantial difference from the animated original is the effort made to beef up Jasmine’s role. Aside from a few extra-athletic swings through the streets of the fictional sultanate of Agrabah, this new Aladdin (played by Mena Massoud) is a bland facsimile of his two-dimensional forebear, a charming thief who dreams of a better life after he falls for the beautiful Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott). But Ritchie doesn’t have much more to offer than some occasional slow-motion shots. The hiring of Ritchie, who has directed British gangster thrillers such as Snatch and old-timey epics such as Sherlock Holmes and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, suggested at least the potential for a more bare-knuckle take on Aladdin’s streetwise scoundrel hero. The best Disney live-action remakes have distinguished themselves by departing from their source material, as Tim Burton’s Dumbo and David Lowery’s Pete’s Dragon did. The only participant really trying to energize the project is Smith, who-poor man-has to spend much of his screen time transformed into a rubbery CGI monstrosity who’s impossible to take seriously. The film is entirely devoted to the property it’s adapting, but its mimicry underlines just how pale an imitation it is. It’s a garish, special-effects-laden extravaganza that still manages to feel tossed-off and half-hearted. Guy Ritchie’s live-action remake of Aladdin, the latest in a long line of Disney revivals of its own greatest works, exists in the same nostalgic sphere as recent hits such as Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book. Technological progress has clearly gone too far. For years, animation was the only way such a fantastic character could exist on-screen, but in 2019, visual effects have advanced enough that audiences can see a gigantic blue version of Will Smith try to give the same performance. As voiced by Robin Williams and rendered in two dimensions, he’s a slapstick genius who can conjure anything, appear in any shape or size, and gleefully defy the laws of physics. Disney’s 1992 classic Aladdin is one of the greatest cinematic arguments for the storytelling potential of animation, which is perfectly expressed through the character of Genie.
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