Aladdin (2019)
A live-action remake with remarkable fidelity to the famous animated version (starring Robin Williams). It's fun, it has lots of effects, and it depends to a remarkable and surprising degree on the earlier version for its structure, song, plot, and even attitude. It has to be said from the start: the first 1991 version is better in every way.
Every way except one, that is. This 2019 update makes a really good attempt to be politically and socially astute. So the actors are largely more "authentic" than the earlier version, which got slammed in some quarters for insensitivity. But to be clear, the leading characters are still completely "Western" at their root. The genie is Will Smith (from Philadelphia). The title character is Egyptian (raised in Canada) and the love-interest princess is Indian (raised in England). But this begins to correct some of the criticisms of the Robin Williams version (which has moments of real, rare genius, and this newer one does not).
Will Smith does what he can to be the charming, outrageous, funny genie that became the Robin Williams hallmark. But the bar is high, and though he does a credible job, he's hampered by some larger decisions about how to present him-special effects are especially capricious, not always lifting the performance.
The crushing problem in the film is that it's not actually very well "made" in the simple sense of direction and cinematography. So there is a stiffness to scenes that are clearly expensive with many characters and a mis-en-scene extravagance. The camerawork is especially constricting-it tends to be serviceable, but this kind of movie requires something aesthetic, inventive, or just simply dramatic...and I mean the photography has to be dramatic, not just the subject. Why they handed this big big job to the inexperienced Alan Stewart is a mystery.
The director, Guy Ritchie, who has a couple of strong movies under his belt ("Snatch" is a favorite and he's done the recent Sherlock movies), doesn't seem to feel the material. Except, importantly, for the two leads in their more normal moments. Aladdin and Jasmine are both made to be real, sympathetic, and with good chemistry (as far as that is taken). They really make the movie, and must be the reason for its huge commercial success.
A live-action remake with remarkable fidelity to the famous animated version (starring Robin Williams). It's fun, it has lots of effects, and it depends to a remarkable and surprising degree on the earlier version for its structure, song, plot, and even attitude. It has to be said from the start: the first 1991 version is better in every way.
Every way except one, that is. This 2019 update makes a really good attempt to be politically and socially astute. So the actors are largely more "authentic" than the earlier version, which got slammed in some quarters for insensitivity. But to be clear, the leading characters are still completely "Western" at their root. The genie is Will Smith (from Philadelphia). The title character is Egyptian (raised in Canada) and the love-interest princess is Indian (raised in England). But this begins to correct some of the criticisms of the Robin Williams version (which has moments of real, rare genius, and this newer one does not).
Will Smith does what he can to be the charming, outrageous, funny genie that became the Robin Williams hallmark. But the bar is high, and though he does a credible job, he's hampered by some larger decisions about how to present him-special effects are especially capricious, not always lifting the performance.
The crushing problem in the film is that it's not actually very well "made" in the simple sense of direction and cinematography. So there is a stiffness to scenes that are clearly expensive with many characters and a mis-en-scene extravagance. The camerawork is especially constricting-it tends to be serviceable, but this kind of movie requires something aesthetic, inventive, or just simply dramatic...and I mean the photography has to be dramatic, not just the subject. Why they handed this big big job to the inexperienced Alan Stewart is a mystery.
The director, Guy Ritchie, who has a couple of strong movies under his belt ("Snatch" is a favorite and he's done the recent Sherlock movies), doesn't seem to feel the material. Except, importantly, for the two leads in their more normal moments. Aladdin and Jasmine are both made to be real, sympathetic, and with good chemistry (as far as that is taken). They really make the movie, and must be the reason for its huge commercial success.