In some far away kingdom in the Middle East, Aladdin and his little monkey Apu live as small-time thieves to survive. The evil sorcerer Jafar, an advisor to the Sultan, persuades Aladdin to go into a dangerous cave to get him a mysterious lamp. The cave collapses, but Aladdin finds out the lamp is able to summon a blue Genie who can grant him three wishes. Escaping from the cave, Aladdin wants Princess Jasmine to fall in love with him, so he presents himself as a rich Prince Ali, thanks to the Genie. Jafar gets the lamp, topples the Sultan and intends to invade other countries. Luckily, Aladdin tricks Jafar into transforming into a Genie, thereby capturing the villain in a lamp. For his last wish, Aladdin sets the blue Genie free.
This live action remake of one of the most popular animated films from the Walt Disney studios of the 90s, "Aladdin", pretty much follows the well established "remake label" of the film critics: it is almost the same as the original, just worse. Directed by Guy Ritchie without any vision, creativity, ingenuity or passion, this film is just a mechanical "fast-food" product in the long assembly line of live action adaptations of their animated classics, their only point being, it seems, to recycle their profits twice. Everything here is boringly predictable, with little to no energy or wit that would engage the viewers familiar with the better original, with awkward and heavy-handed musical and dance sequences. One of the rare new jokes is the little scene where Princess Jasmine accosts Aladdin, posing as a Prince of a fictional kingdom of Ababwa, and demands of him to show her the location of his country on the map. Aladdin points at a blank spot, but the Genie just quickly draws a fake kingdom on the map, thereby appeasing Jasmine. Unfortunately, mostly due to the narrow writing, Will Smith is largely anemic as the blue Genie, and is not even able to hold a candle to the comedy genius of R. Williams from the original. It is ironic, and indicative at the same time, that one of the best moments in the film—Jasmine and Aladdin flying on a magic carpet while singing the enchanting song "A Whole New World"—is precisely that because it is almost a scene for scene copy of the identical sequence from the original, done 24 years ago. It shows that the original film should thus be given praise, and not this one.
Grade:+
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