After the last remake that I looked at, I said that I needed something that didn't anger me. And that is what I found with the remake of Aladdin. It doesn't anger like the Beauty and the Beast remake did. It's rather inoffensive. And I think that is the biggest issue with this remake, it's lifeless when compared to other versions of the story. Note, that I said other versions and not the original movie. That's because besides seeing the animated movies multiple times, I also saw the stage adaption last year.
Having seen both the Broadway show and the remake in the same year, I can tell you that the stage adaption does more new things than the remake. Part of that is how it incorporates elements that were originally cut back into the story or is willing to accommodate the story for a new medium.
This is perhaps not fair to compare as film and stage are two different mediums but these both tell the same story. Moving away from comparing it to the stage show, does the remake work as a movie?
It's not bad and there are good elements but for a movie starring a Genie, there is nary a spark of magic to be found. Let's get into the details and look at what's the same and what's different.
Before I do go on, there was a story early in the year where the film's lead actor Mena Massoud mentioned that he hadn't been getting any auditions since the film came out last year.
“I’m kind of tired of staying quiet about it … I want people to know that it’s not always dandelions and roses when you’re doing something like Aladdin. ‘He must have made millions. He must be getting all these offers.’ It’s none of those things. I haven’t had a single audition since Aladdin came out.”
So, this remake does have that baggage attached to it. Oh and the plans to give the non-important White character in this film, a Disney+ spinoff.
Even if you argue that Prince Anders is a character that audiences might watch (on a streaming service), it’s still part of a grim pattern whereby the successes of female-led and/or minority-led movies result in star vehicles for the (usually white) guys
This is just a bad look especially when the lead actor hadn't been getting calls. And also Prince Anders is the least important/least memorable character in the remake. You could watch the whole movie and forget that he's even in it. I believe that this sums it up.
Now, that we've unpacked the baggage, let's look at the movie itself.
What's the Same
The core idea remains the same with this remake as with the original. It's still about a poor street urchin trying to win over the heart of the princess of his land. There's still a Genie and a Cave of Wonders. And Frank Welker was brought back to voice both Abu and the Cave of Wonders. The story still is technically told in a wraparound fashion. However, that is handled differently.
And the classic musical numbers are kept, even though while the singing is good, some of them don't have the spark.
The things that kept are handled rather well and seem respectable to the original without trying to be the original like The Lion King remake.
What's Different
Several differences are interesting such as how there are some minor lyric changes that I believe were done more to align with the culture of the story such as seen with this change in Prince Ali.
This line was changed as Friday is the Islamic holy day. And I didn't realize this until looking it up but this song also omits the line about Ali having slaves. Prince Ali is also handled in a different fashion as he now has to convince Jasmine where the kingdom is and that is done in a cute moment with a map that references the original Genie's design.
Jasmine is also handled differently as she is more into politics and wanting to become the sultan, which she does. This is done in a way of protecting her mother's kingdom, which Jafar hopes to invade. We will get to Jafar but he is the biggest disappointment in this movie. Jasmine is also given a new song titled Speechless that I've noticed has gotten mixed reactions.
This song was written by the songwriting team Pasek & Paul, which you might know from La La Land or if you read my Dear Evan Hansen blogs last year. Honestly, while I enjoy this song, what this reminds me of more is when movie adaptions of stage musicals put a song into the movie in the hopes of getting a Best Original Song Oscar nomination.
In that, the songs usually aren't bad but they usually end up being the least memorable song in the film. Adding songs is not inherently a bad thing as I mentioned that the stage adaption and that added in songs and if they hadn't done that, my favorite Disney song would've been lost to all time.
I am bummed that Disney didn't include it in the remake but get it because of the stupid Proud Boys movement that stole this song and twisted it's meaning to cater to their fascist beliefs.
We'll just ignore that the song that they stole this title from was written by a Gay man intended to be a character of color about he's not good enough to live up to the ideals of his parents. These people.
Moving beyond this, I mentioned that the story is still told in a wraparound fashion. That much is true, however this time it is Genie telling the story to his children. Yes, Genie has kids in this remake and I'm okay with that. And that came about because when Genie was freed, he became human.
The Genie was able to have kids because he now has a love interest, Jasmine's handmaiden, Dalia. And honestly, the relationship between Genie and Dalia is really cute.
Oh, I guess I should talk about Genie's design.
It's a little offputting at first as this isn't something that you'd want to see in live-action but thankfully after they escape from the Cave of Wonders, we don't have to deal with blue Will Smith throughout the rest of the movie. As The Genie just ends up becoming Will Smith in Agrabah and that works a lot better.
I do enjoy the relationship between these two. I already mentioned Prince Anders and he was the replacement for Prince Achmed.
Which like I said, this character is so forgettable. There are more changes that I could go into but I want to focus on the villains. The sass and comedy were all but stripped from Jafar and Iago. This film casts Alan Tudyk to voice Iago and just has Tudyk play him as a bird. That's wasting Tudyk, especially when he has played a comedic bird before.
Different types of characters I know but if you're going to cast Tudyk, give him something to do and don't just waste him, when any other voice actor could have played this lifeless version of Iago. Also, Jafar buddy what happened?
This character is supposed to be the same as this character.
I don't see it. There's no bite, there's no menace here. Jafar was built on sass in the original, he had a dry wit that came across as him thinking that he was the smartest one in the room and would put people down in great moments. Remake Jafar is played straight and had all the comedy sucked out of him. He doesn't even revel when he reveals that Ali is Aladdin.
That's such a classic moment but here it almost comes across again as an actor going through the motions of doing this. Jafar is so boring in this remake. They try to go for the idea that he and Aladdin aren't that dissimilar because Jafar also steals to get what he wants but no, that feels forced.
The handling of Jafar is perhaps my biggest disappointment with the movie itself considering that Jafar is my favorite Disney villain and this film squandered Jafar. And we've seen better looking live-action Jafar's that still had menace. A perfect example is Naveen Andrews' Jafar in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, there wasn't much a hint of sass but there was some and Andrews' Jafar could still be frightening, unlike this Jafar.
Jafar can be handled well in live-action but this movie didn't do that and that's a shame considering Jafar in my eyes is easily in the top 3 of greatest Disney villains.
Is This A Good Remake?
While this film does have baggage attached to it, I think that if you can look past that, I think you'll find a movie that at best is inoffensive with some enjoyable parts. It does fall flat in it's handling of its villain and that is disappointing but I think that you could much worse this particular remake. Join me next time as I look at a remake that I've been avoiding since it was released as I look at the remake of...
What's the Same
The core idea remains the same with this remake as with the original. It's still about a poor street urchin trying to win over the heart of the princess of his land. There's still a Genie and a Cave of Wonders. And Frank Welker was brought back to voice both Abu and the Cave of Wonders. The story still is technically told in a wraparound fashion. However, that is handled differently.
And the classic musical numbers are kept, even though while the singing is good, some of them don't have the spark.
The things that kept are handled rather well and seem respectable to the original without trying to be the original like The Lion King remake.
What's Different
Several differences are interesting such as how there are some minor lyric changes that I believe were done more to align with the culture of the story such as seen with this change in Prince Ali.
Brush up your Friday salaam
This line was changed as Friday is the Islamic holy day. And I didn't realize this until looking it up but this song also omits the line about Ali having slaves. Prince Ali is also handled in a different fashion as he now has to convince Jasmine where the kingdom is and that is done in a cute moment with a map that references the original Genie's design.
Jasmine is also handled differently as she is more into politics and wanting to become the sultan, which she does. This is done in a way of protecting her mother's kingdom, which Jafar hopes to invade. We will get to Jafar but he is the biggest disappointment in this movie. Jasmine is also given a new song titled Speechless that I've noticed has gotten mixed reactions.
This song was written by the songwriting team Pasek & Paul, which you might know from La La Land or if you read my Dear Evan Hansen blogs last year. Honestly, while I enjoy this song, what this reminds me of more is when movie adaptions of stage musicals put a song into the movie in the hopes of getting a Best Original Song Oscar nomination.
In that, the songs usually aren't bad but they usually end up being the least memorable song in the film. Adding songs is not inherently a bad thing as I mentioned that the stage adaption and that added in songs and if they hadn't done that, my favorite Disney song would've been lost to all time.
I am bummed that Disney didn't include it in the remake but get it because of the stupid Proud Boys movement that stole this song and twisted it's meaning to cater to their fascist beliefs.
The group believes men—especially white men—and Western culture are under siege; their views have elements of white genocide conspiracy theory.[22][23][24] While the group claims it does not support white supremacist views, its members often participate in racist rallies, events, and organizations.[25] The organization glorifies violence,[26][27][28][29] and members engage in violence at events it attends; the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has called it an "alt-right fight club"
We'll just ignore that the song that they stole this title from was written by a Gay man intended to be a character of color about he's not good enough to live up to the ideals of his parents. These people.
Moving beyond this, I mentioned that the story is still told in a wraparound fashion. That much is true, however this time it is Genie telling the story to his children. Yes, Genie has kids in this remake and I'm okay with that. And that came about because when Genie was freed, he became human.
The Genie was able to have kids because he now has a love interest, Jasmine's handmaiden, Dalia. And honestly, the relationship between Genie and Dalia is really cute.
Oh, I guess I should talk about Genie's design.
It's a little offputting at first as this isn't something that you'd want to see in live-action but thankfully after they escape from the Cave of Wonders, we don't have to deal with blue Will Smith throughout the rest of the movie. As The Genie just ends up becoming Will Smith in Agrabah and that works a lot better.
I do enjoy the relationship between these two. I already mentioned Prince Anders and he was the replacement for Prince Achmed.
Which like I said, this character is so forgettable. There are more changes that I could go into but I want to focus on the villains. The sass and comedy were all but stripped from Jafar and Iago. This film casts Alan Tudyk to voice Iago and just has Tudyk play him as a bird. That's wasting Tudyk, especially when he has played a comedic bird before.
Different types of characters I know but if you're going to cast Tudyk, give him something to do and don't just waste him, when any other voice actor could have played this lifeless version of Iago. Also, Jafar buddy what happened?
This character is supposed to be the same as this character.
I don't see it. There's no bite, there's no menace here. Jafar was built on sass in the original, he had a dry wit that came across as him thinking that he was the smartest one in the room and would put people down in great moments. Remake Jafar is played straight and had all the comedy sucked out of him. He doesn't even revel when he reveals that Ali is Aladdin.
That's such a classic moment but here it almost comes across again as an actor going through the motions of doing this. Jafar is so boring in this remake. They try to go for the idea that he and Aladdin aren't that dissimilar because Jafar also steals to get what he wants but no, that feels forced.
The handling of Jafar is perhaps my biggest disappointment with the movie itself considering that Jafar is my favorite Disney villain and this film squandered Jafar. And we've seen better looking live-action Jafar's that still had menace. A perfect example is Naveen Andrews' Jafar in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, there wasn't much a hint of sass but there was some and Andrews' Jafar could still be frightening, unlike this Jafar.
Jafar can be handled well in live-action but this movie didn't do that and that's a shame considering Jafar in my eyes is easily in the top 3 of greatest Disney villains.
Is This A Good Remake?
While this film does have baggage attached to it, I think that if you can look past that, I think you'll find a movie that at best is inoffensive with some enjoyable parts. It does fall flat in it's handling of its villain and that is disappointing but I think that you could much worse this particular remake. Join me next time as I look at a remake that I've been avoiding since it was released as I look at the remake of...
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