Aladdin (2019)

[Bartmanhomer]

Ok today I went to see the movie Aladdin and this is what I think about the movie:

Spoiler: My Thoughts About Aladdin

Show

The live-action version is decent with some potential. If you see the cartoon version of Aladdin you probably have an idea of what the movie is about. There were some inaccuracies from the Live action movie compared to the cartoon version. At the beginning of the movie that was a ship which included two children and a man. He told his two kids the story of Aladdin. There was never a ship in the cartoon version. Another inaccuracy was that Jafar cast a spell on his parrot Diego which transforms him into a giant monstrous parrot and he was flying after Aladdin and Jasmine while on the flying carpet. The special effects was too flashy. The song and dance moves was decent. There was an emotional part that the Genie was free. In all honesty I rather watch the cartoon version anyday. I'll givr theis movie 3.5 out of 5 stars.

[Aluminum Man]

Spoiler: My Thoughts About Aladdin

Show

There were some inaccuracies from the Live action movie compared to the cartoon version.

Inaccuracies? Do you mean differences?

Spoiler: My Thoughts About Aladdin

Show

At the beginning of the movie that was a ship which included two children and a man. He told his two kids the story of Aladdin. There was never a ship in the cartoon version.

Well they have to find like 40 minutes of filler.

Spoiler: My Thoughts About Aladdin

Show

Another inaccuracy was that Jafar cast a spell on his parrot Diego which transforms him into a giant monstrous parrot and he was flying after Aladdin and Jasmine while on the flying carpet.

I'm pretty sure there's a trailer that shows that.

Spoiler: My Thoughts About Aladdin

Show

In all honesty I rather watch the cartoon version anyday.

I'm pretty sure that's the opinion of quite literally everyone on the planet.

[The Glyphstone]

I'm pretty sure that's the opinion of quite literally everyone on the planet.

It's pulling a 90% on RT right now among audiences - 93% if you filter only for the new 'verified viewer' thing they're doing, with a 4.43 average rating. So it's looking fairly popular among people who bothered to see it in the first place. Finance-wise it's a solid success as well, beating its budget in the opening weekend, though critics aren't too enamored by it (58%).

[Talakeal]

Aladdin is my favorite of all the animated Disney movies, so I couldn't help but see the remake on opening day.

The good: The new scenes were pretty good, it allowed the actors to take the characters in new directions, and it gave a lot more depth and motivation to the secondary characters.

The bad: It felt small and cheap, almost like someone filmed a stage play. I am told this was intentional, they were going for an almost Bollywood style, but its odd that a modern big budget remake has significantly less visual spectacle than the original.

The Ugly: Iago, what did they do to you? My favorite character from the original has been replaced with a generic animal that might not even be sapient.

The new Aladdin and Jafar were forgettable. I like most of the supporting cast better than the original, especially Jasmine, who is a much more fleshed out character (and absolutely gorgeous) and Will Smith was pretty good when he was doing his own take on the character, but when he was doing Robin Williams he was obviously a pale imitation that was literally painful to watch.

Overall its a fine movie and I don't regret seeing it, but I will never watch it again. If I get the urge to watch Aladdin, there is no way in heck I will put this on instead of the original.


Edit: Also, while I am not normally one of those "PC culture run amok grrr!" types, I found they went a little too far in sanitizing this movie, removing almost any trace of sex or violence that was in the original as well as removing anything that could possibly be interpreted as critical of Middle Eastern culture. The original was already a PG kids movie, so feeling the need to sanitize it so heavily left it a little too bland for my taste.

[Aluminum Man]

It's pulling a 90% on RT right now among audiences - 93% if you filter only for the new 'verified viewer' thing they're doing, with a 4.43 average rating. So it's looking fairly popular among people who bothered to see it in the first place. Finance-wise it's a solid success as well, beating its budget in the opening weekend, though critics aren't too enamored by it (58%).

I still think most people would prefer the original. Not saying the remake is bad. You can enjoy both. It's the inverse of the lesser of two evils. The remake might be the greater of two goods.

[AvatarVecna]

I wasn't particularly impressed with this movie, particularly the "big" musical numbers that are trying to be Bollywood and but end up being just a bit off. Truthfully, the movie's fairly competent - I mean, it's Disney doing another live-action shot-for-shot remake of an amazing Disney original - but the original Aladdin is sitting pretty at 94% critics/92% audience, while the new one is 58% critics/93% audience. Is this movie just better received by overall audiences than the original?

My guess, although I have no idea how to go about testing this, is that while this has enough effort and talent involved for a high score, the lesser Bollywood quality that's turning me off of it is actually a plus for Indian views, who probably outnumber folks like me. Again, it's a decent remake even if I feel that the big music numbers aren't the kinda "epic magic on display" that I would've figured, and it deserves a high score. I just think that if RT was set up so you could see how movies scored from people in your region, there'd be a good bit of variety.

[Aluminum Man]

So does the parrot talk in this film? Is it wise cracking?

[The Glyphstone]

I still think most people would prefer the original. Not saying the remake is bad. You can enjoy both. It's the inverse of the lesser of two evils. The remake might be the greater of two goods.

That's true. It's not as good as the original, but as far as live-action remakes of Disney Classics go it's probably the best one yet.

[Liquor Box]

I thought it was pretty good. The singing and dancing were good, and I liked Will Smith as the genie. Jasmine's costumes weren't as good as in the cartoon though.

[Talakeal]

So does the parrot talk in this film? Is it wise cracking?

No more so than a real life parrot.

[Aluminum Man]

That's true. It's not as good as the original, but as far as live-action remakes of Disney Classics go it's probably the best one yet.

The actors who play both Aladdin and Jasmine can sing right? That's my biggest problem I have with live-action Beauty & the Beast. They try to compensate for that with auto-tune so the music in that movie is terrible.

[The Glyphstone]

The actors who play both Aladdin and Jasmine can sing right? That's my biggest problem I have with live-action Beauty & the Beast. They try to compensate for that with auto-tune so the music in that movie is terrible.

Jasmine and Aladdin can apparently sing decently. Will Smith not so much.

[Aluminum Man]

Jasmine and Aladdin can apparently sing decently. Will Smith not so much.

Really? Didn't he become famous through acting and singing? Is it his musical strengths didn't suit the songs in the film? Because that's one of the reservations I have about seeing it.

[The Glyphstone]

Really? Didn't he become famous through acting and singing? Is it his musical strengths didn't suit the songs in the film? Because that's one of the reservations I have about seeing it.

That 's the opinion of the critics I've read. I haven't see it myself so I can't comment first-hand, but his attempts at Genie Rap seem to fall flat for them.

[The Jack]

Really? Didn't he become famous through acting and singing?

Man's an ultra-corny rap legend specialised in quaint, not a singer.

[Dienekes]

Really? Didn't he become famous through acting and singing? Is it his musical strengths didn't suit the songs in the film? Because that's one of the reservations I have about seeing it.

Different kind of singing. Like how Russel Crowe is actually a pretty serviceable singer, but he's a country singer. So he just sounded wrong playing Javert.

[Aluminum Man]

Man's an ultra-corny rap legend specialised in quaint, not a singer.

Are you implying the rap number he did for Wild, Wild West was corny? The very thought!

[weckar]

As a skeptic of many modern movies, I liked it well enough. Aladdin himself is clearly the weakest point. The guy can not smoothly start a song to save his life.
I think the plot changes were mostly for the better. Agrabah being coastal felt a little weird, but I will let them have that one.

As for Mr Smith - I think it is a good thing he did not try to emulate Robin Williams. He makes it his own comedy vehicle, and it works.

[Dr.Samurai]

Was not a fan of the movie from the start. They did some strange things with the first musical number (the one where he's being chased by guards). They did some strange slow-mo stuff, then some strange speed-ups of the scenes. It was jarring. Also, that style of singing where they're like... speaking/singing does not sound good. Jasmin sounded the best because she was free to actually just sing her songs.

The movie was saved with the introduction of the Genie. Will Smith did very well as Genie and livened the movie up and added some humor.

Didn't care too much for Aladdin or Jafar or the Handmaiden. Jasmine and the Genie were good. Overall, the movie was pretty mediocre. I was not interested in finishing it until the Genie pops out in the Cave of Wonders. Then I got a second wind :).

I enjoyed the live action Beauty and the Beast over this one.

[Kato]

So does the parrot talk in this film? Is it wise cracking?

It has very limited dialogue which is a shame not only because I liked Iago in the original (and the series) but also because he is voiced by Alan GODDAMMIT I WILL MAKE AN IMPACT BY VOICING A CHICKEN Tudyk. I mean, the man knows how to get a paycheck.


Overall, I liked the movie well enough. It certainly wasn't perfect and I guess I'd give the original a slight edge but only because Mr Williams is a treasure and can not be replaced. And I'm a bit surprised they went for Watts as the female lead, not because she was bad, just because everyone else was more... colorful. She and her kinda pale handmaiden just stood out a bit to me.
(also my goodness, I would say Disney can't resist sneaking subtle political commentary into their kids movies but that speech Jasmine gave was as subtle as a chainsaw. Or I might be reading too much into things)

Anyway, I liked it well enough, especially for a kids movie. While I admire works like Hunchback I don't think every story has to or lends itself to being dark and gritty. And while there might have been some wasted potential, I think it's perfectly fine to watch.

[comicshorse]

Was not a fan of the movie from the start. They did some strange things with the first musical number (the one where he's being chased by guards). They did some strange slow-mo stuff, then some strange speed-ups of the scenes. It was jarring.

Yeah I noticed that and again over the song at the end. It was.......very strange

[RossN]

It was... okay, I guess. Definitely far inferior to the original but not a terrible film merely a forgettable one. I am mystified by the ultra-enthusiastic audience share.

The Bollywood-lite elements didn't really appeal to me much, but I get that's personal taste rather than an actual flaw with the film; I'm just not a fan of the Bollywood aesthetic.

Jafar was an example of a good idea ('he's an ex-street thief just like Aladdin') that the film did very little with. In fact Jafar generally is a big misfire for me; the animated version was witty and stylish, second only to the Genie as the most 'fun' character onscreen while the 2019 version is humourless, charmless and seems to be constantly seething with barely suppressed rage. This might have worked if the film as a whole was very gritty, but it isn't and the result is a very boring villain.

[Strigon]

On the whole, I quite liked it. There are definitely some gripes I have about it - in fact, almost everything before the Cave of Wonder I wasn't keen on - but I felt the bad outweighed the good.
It's interesting that the part I was most concerned about - Will Smith as the genie - ended up being pretty much my favourite part.

It's also interesting how, in sanitizing the movie, they also made it slightly more horrifying in a fridge horror kind of way. The genie only has three rules in this film, and not killing people isn't one of them.

I have a lot more to say on the movie, but what stands out to me right now is that they were kind of weird in what things they would and wouldn't change. Some of the lines that worked well for over-the-top cartoonish characters just sound awkward in real life, but they kept them anyway. Then, even though they basically removed him as a character, they decided Iago still had to get locked up with Jafar for... reasons? It made sense in the cartoon, where he was a sentient sidekick to Jafar with his own personal agenda, but in this movie Jafar's getting locked in the lamp and he literally reaches out and goes "You're coming with me, parrot!"
... Why? It just feels so weird.

PS, why did people in the movie keep pronouncing his name as "Yago", when it's very clearly "Iago"? That would be like if they released a Whinny the Pooh movie where they kept calling the donkey "Yore"!

[Mordar]

The actors who play both Aladdin and Jasmine can sing right? That's my biggest problem I have with live-action Beauty & the Beast. They try to compensate for that with auto-tune so the music in that movie is terrible.

Jasmine and Aladdin can apparently sing decently. Will Smith not so much.

Jasmine kills. Aladdin is serviceable (but it looks like he is good at parkour, so that helps). Genie is fine, but will always kind of shade towards the lyrical speaking over singing.

Loved the movie overall. Whole audience (mixed - kids, young adults, adults, seniors) seemed to enjoy and theater was packed.

Will Smith never tries to replace Robin Williams. I liked the prologue and epilogue.

Reminded me a lot of the Disney stage presentation but on the big screen, so I think Talakeal is right on that note, and similarly I think it may have been intentional. That stage show ran for ages and was always packed.

- M