Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Aladdin (2019)

Well, here we go again, back to the sands of Agrabah for our look at the 2019 remake of Aladdin. There are days where I’m honestly astounded how far I’ve come since this project started way back in February. Hell, I’m still astounded I didn’t throw in the towel half-way through Peter Pan. Truth be told, I’ve already spoken at length about Aladdin in the original article and I gave you my whole spiel about how I feel about Disney remakes back when we covered the remake of Beauty & The Beast, so I don’t really have that much of an introduction for this one. It’s just yet another live action Disney remake that I feel has been judged unfairly. I’ll say this though, I absolutely love this movie unironically, and this is coming from someone with a lot of love for the original. Don’t forget, the 1992 animated Aladdin was the first film I remember seeing in theaters. Nothing will ever take its place in my heart. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that this movie is inferior. In fact, I actually find myself re-watching this movie far more often than the original. While, the remake of Beauty & The Beast was good, it had to work very hard just to be almost as good as the original. With Aladdin, helmed by one of my favorite Directors, Guy Ritchie, there are aspects of the remake that I feel are genuine improvements over the original. It’s not a total improvement across the board and this is definitely a movie that has its fair share of issues, but honestly, I’m genuinely impressed by how great this turned out, especially considering the other remake that came out that year. (I seriously hope I never end up having to cover the Lion King remake, I don’t have the strength). Anywho, let’s get into it as we dive into a whole new whole new world with Disney’s remake of Aladdin.

Main Character:

We have our first major change already as I feel that Aladdin and Jasmine in this movie share the title of main character in equal measure. However, since he is still the title character, let’s start with Aladdin himself. Aladdin in this movie is played by an Egyptian-born Canadian actor named Mena Massoud. I haven’t really seen him in anything outside of this film, but I do hope to see him get more roles in the future because he is very charming and he captures Aladdin perfectly. I mean it, Massoud nails Aladdin’s charm, cocky attitude and vulnerable moments brilliantly. It’s like the original character walked right out of the screen and into our world. Hell, Massoud even looks like the original character. And as an added bonus, Massoud apparently did all his own stunts, including a neat little dance sequence in the middle of the film. ThatsSaid, Aladdin is very much still the same fun character he was in the original, so there’s not too much else to say.

Jasmine is still a lovable character and man is Naomi Scott a beautiful and talented actress. This time around, they give Jasmine a lot more to do. She’s not just all about wanting to marry for love and feeling trapped within the palace walls. All that is still there, but with the added dimension of Jasmine wanting to be Sultan, feeling that no foreign prince that she might marry could ever love the people of Agrabah as she does and wants to accept responsibility for her kingdom instead of just being seen and not heard her whole life. I actually like that toward the end when Jafar becomes Sultan, she gets the guards to rally to her side by appealing to their sense of honor, showing true leadership in the process. Great stuff. Naomi Scott and Mena Massoud have great chemistry with one another and get more than one meeting with one another to build their relationship before Prince Ali and The Genie come into play, so that’s cool. All things considered, these two are an excellent credit to the characters they’re portraying.

Villain:

Well, I said at the top that this movie wasn’t perfect, and now the time has come to talk about its most glaring flaw. Now, I’m sure that Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari is a perfectly skilled actor who did his absolute best and I don’t wish to put this movie's failings squarely on his shoulders, but whether it was his fault, the fault of the director, the screenwriters or whatever the case may be, I’m sorry, but this Jafar SUCKS! He gets exactly one kind of cool scene in the movie and we’ll talk about it later, but every other moment he’s on screen he’s just so painfully wooden he gives me splinters. The original Jafar may have been over-the-top and silly at times, but that was part of the fun. The character was expressive, menacing, slimy and evil to the core. You hated him, but also enjoyed seeing him on screen. This lame copy is none of those things. There’s no passion in his delivery, at least not when compared to the stellar performance of the great Jonathan Freeman. Hell, Freeman was already playing Jafar in live action on Broadway at the time, why not get him to reprise his role. It certainly couldn’t have made things any worse. I do appreciate that they made some kind of effort to give Jafar a backstory, but it doesn’t really save the performance nor does it really amount to much in the overall scheme of things. Another bit of wasted potential is Iago, who’s way more subdued in this version. Honestly, I really wish they could have brought back Gilbert Gottfried, maybe then Jafar may have at least had a fun personality to bounce off of. As it stands, Jafar is the main thing that keeps this movie from being on par with the original.

Side Characters:

A lot of the side characters like Abu, Magic Carpet and Raja are pretty much the same as they were in the original, so we’ll skip them.

I actually like what this movie does with the Sultan. While the original Sultan was a kind-hearted and well-meaning man, he was also an idiotic man-child who basically let Jafar have free reign over the kingdom while he played with his toys all day. This guy is still clearly a kind and benevolent ruler, but he’s not afraid to law down the law and put Jafar in his place. They also state that his wife was killed by an assassin in this version, explaining why he’s so overprotective of Jasmine. Sure, he upholds a sexist law that states Jasmine cannot be Sultan because she’s a woman, but he doesn’t exactly do it for sexist reasons. See, he feels that the people would not accept a female Sultan and does not want to put his daughter in that position. He’s misguided yes, but like his animated counterpart, he does what he does out of love.

The film adds a new character, Jasmine’s handmaiden and best friend, Dalia. I actually really liked Dalia. Not only does she add another much-needed female presence in the story, she’s actually a really fun character and I love how she and Jasmine play off one another. She also acts as a love interest for The Genie, and the two are really cute together so yeah, Dalia is a most welcome addition to the cast.

But, that brings me to many people’s biggest gripe with the film, Will Smith as The Genie. Now let me make this perfectly clear. There is absolutely no one who could ever hope to fill the shoes of Robin Williams, but since bringing the man himself back to the role would have been quite impossible at this point, Will Smith was a perfectly fine choice to play the Genie. People forget that Will Smith is a really funny guy in his own right. We have six seasons of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as proof of that. Smith walks the line of paying homage to Williams iconic performance while still making the character his own, and for my money, it works. I actually think he handles some of the more serious scenes even better than Williams. There’s this great moment where Genie sees Aladdin starting to go down a bad path by lying to Jasmine and he says that he no longer cares about being set free, he just doesn’t want to see what he’s seen happen to countless other masters he’s had over the millennia happen to the first one he’s been able to call friend. Is Smith as great as Robin Williams, definitely not, but I think he does a fine job nonetheless.

Songs:

All of your favorite songs from the original are back and just as they were great in the original, they’re great here too. I actually have to give Will Smith props for doing a lot of the heavy lifting on the soundtrack, performing three of the film’s big numbers, Arabian Nights, Friend Like Me and Prince Ali, doing an excellent job with all three of them.

I actually prefer the remake’s version of One Jump Ahead. It has a lot more energy to it and the fact that the song sequence now involves both Aladdin and Jasmine evading the guards is a very nice touch.

A Whole New World is also great in this movie. While Mena Massoud doesn’t quite have the power in his voice for this song, Naomi Scott carries him through nicely and the song comes through alright, albeit not quite as great as the original.

However, let’s talk about Speechless, the only original song added for the film and Jasmine’s only solo number in either version. It’s all about how Jasmine hates being told that she should be seen and not heard and how she wishes to be more than just arm candy for some foreigner who would rule the kingdom by marrying her. The song is absolutely beautiful and an excellent showcase for Naomi Scott who puts so much passion into belting this one out. Plus, it’s just nice that Jasmine finally has a song to call her own.

Memorable Scenes:

Alright, I did say that Jafar had one kind of cool scene, but before we talk about it, I feel that I must address a major plot hole from the original film. Why did Jafar bother with the old man disguise? He had all the power in that moment, why didn’t he just go up to Aladdin and say something to the effect of “Do this task for me and you’ll be free to go and well compensated for your efforts.” Aladdin may not have trusted Jafar but when the only other options were execution or lifelong imprisonment, he wasn’t exactly in a position to refuse. Here, that plot hole is fixed and it leads to a pretty interesting scene between Jafar and Aladdin. Jafar explains that he was once a street thief just like Aladdin and clawed his way up from the gutter to the position of royal vizier. He even demonstrates this by showing that he is just as adept at sleight of hand as Aladdin when he effortlessly steals the piece of jewelry Aladdin took from Jasmine in order to give himself an excuse to see her again. He also goes into his backstory of how he spent years in a Sherabad jail, explaining why he’s so gung-ho about invading the former Queen of Agrabah’s kingdom of origin. We get a sense that Aladdin could have ended up just like Jafar had he been more selfish and more ambitious and the threat of Aladdin going down that path persists throughout the film. It’s the one time that the Jafar of this movie truly feels like a great character in his own right instead of a pale imitation of the original.

Story:

The original themes of the film remain intact here, particularly that of recognizing one’s own worth. Like in the original, the only time Aladdin is ever able to win over Jasmine is when he uses his own natural charm instead of what The Genie gave him. As The Genie says, Prince Ali got him to the door, but Aladdin has to open it. I also like that this applies to Jasmine to a certain extent as well. Jasmine does recognize her own worth, but her problem is getting others to see it. I think that’s why she’s drawn to Aladdin. Aladdin recognizes Jasmine’s true worth and believes that she would make a great ruler of Agrabah, while any other potential suitor would likely see her relegated to a submissive role. It’s a great message that was presented well in both versions of the film.

The Dark Disney Factor:

I’m sorry to say that this film takes it very light on the Dark Disney Factor. Anything that was dark or disturbing in the original has been greatly toned down or removed completely. Hell, we don’t even get the giant cobra for the climax. Instead, Jafar turns Iago into an enormous dire parrot who chases Aladdin and Jasmine through the Market Place. It’s kind of cool, but it’s just not the same.

Final Thoughts: Call me crazy if you must, but I love this movie. It's a perfect example of a Disney remake that actually works and it's a worthy tribute to its animated classic predecessor. Is it perfect, no, but neither was the original and I feel that there's more than enough room for both versions in my heart. Next time, we tackle yet another sequel because I guess originality just wasn't Disney's thing in the late 2010's. Keep an eye out for my next article where we discuss Toy Story 4.