![]() ![]() Ironically, it’s only in the musical reprise during the end credits that a genuine sense of joy is transmitted onscreen. There’s also an entirely new number, “Speechless,” featuring music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul ( Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land), that feels all too calculated but probably necessary as a feminist anthem for a character who at one point is told, “It’s better for you to be seen and not heard.” The showstopping “Prince Ali” gets the most elaborate treatment, with a lavish production number that pours on the spectacle but never really catches fire. Some lyrics have been changed, and the arrangements are modernized with the occasional hip-hop influence. The classic songs (“A Whole New World,” “Friend Like Me,” etc.) are all here, albeit in slightly altered form. You can tell his heart is more in the elaborate chase sequences and pyrotechnics than the musical numbers, which, as is so often the case these days, are so frenetically assembled that they seem to have been edited in a Cuisinart. Indeed, the director responsible for such films as Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels provides an undertone of grittiness here that feels misplaced. Sherlock Holmes movies and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Ritchie wouldn’t seem an obvious choice for this material. In the course of carrying out the mission, Aladdin rubs the lamp and frees the Genie (Smith, in bright blue CGI form), who fulfills Aladdin’s wish to be made a prince so he can be worthy of marrying Jasmine and, well, you know the rest.ĭespite having helmed some relatively family-friendly entertainments as the Robert Downey Jr. He forcibly enlists Aladdin to enter a magical cave and procure a lamp containing a Genie with the power to grant three wishes. Not long afterward, Aladdin is chased through the teeming streets by the Sultan’s men, in the process demonstrating an uncanny ability for singing and performing amazing feats of parkour simultaneously.įollowing Jasmine back to the palace, Aladdin encounters Jafar (Marwan Kenzari), the Sultan’s trusted adviser who’s secretly planning to take control of the kingdom. ![]() It’s on one of these excursions that she meets the roguishly charming Aladdin and his monkey partner-in-crime, Abu. Jasmine, who chafes at living behind the palace walls, frequently ventures out into the city streets dressed as a commoner so she can better understand the people. The only thing that seems to have been left out is the magic, which is a bit of a problem considering that one of the main characters is a genie. The combination of diverse casting and female empowerment themes results in a perfectly politically correct Aladdin for these times. That approach obviously wouldn’t go over well these days, so the ensemble in this version, directed by Guy Ritchie, features lead performers of Egyptian, South Asian, Dutch-Tunisian, Iranian and African American descent. Decades ago, this film musical probably would have featured white actors like Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood wearing heavy dark makeup. Disney has certainly covered all the bases with the live-action remake of its 1992 animated classic. ![]()
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