Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) is rather feistier and more assertive than in the animation, oft-bemoaning her place as an object to be fawned over, and decrying a grossly patriarchal kingdom which can’t even entertain the possibility of her inheriting the title of Sultan from her father. There is one major commendable amendment to the source material, however, and that’s the film’s notable female empowerment tenor. ![]() Little effort is made to expand the story or characters in a meaningful way for the live-action medium, and so its runtime simply feels unnecessarily distended. ![]() These droning, overbaked dialogues are largely responsible for Aladdin running past the two-hour mark, clocking almost 40 minutes longer than the original and outstaying its welcome for most of those minutes. While Ritchie and August ensure to cover the expected beats of the source material, the dialogue is almost exclusively comprised of clumsy exposition, denying viewers the opportunity to glean plot, subtext or characterisation through more subtle, visual means everything is lit up in neon for the most base of audience members. You can perhaps acquiesce that Ritchie might be able to pen some witty rat-a-tat verbiage for the titular hero, but bringing clarity to all manner of fantasy nonsense? That’s not Ritchie’s bag at all, and he clearly struggles – even with the aid of Tim Burton’s regular scribe John August ( Dark Shadows, Frankenweenie).Īnd honestly, it’s the script which fails both audiences and the game cast the most. And on a broader level, there isn’t a single image in this movie which doesn’t feel like it was storyboarded by a committee of execs long before Ritchie even came aboard.īut don’t feel too bad for the filmmaker, as he not only helmed the joint but also served as its co-writer, a further baffling appointment and one he seems even less qualified for. Shots are crudely chopped together without much consideration for the basic grammar of action direction, making it tough to savour the hero effortlessly outwitting his pursuers. Right from an opening sequence where Aladdin (Mena Massoud) cheekily robs a street vendor and acrobatically traverses Agrabah’s streets, Ritchie feels thoroughly out of his depth. And with little shock at all, Ritchie’s distinctive filmmaking personality is almost entirely swallowed up here by the demands of the tentpole sausage factory. Hot off the critical and commercial dud King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, it’s tough to imagine what Disney saw in Ritchie which indicated him qualified to helm a mega-budget live-action translation of a cherished animated film. Ritchie, better known for his lower-budget, verbose, blokey-bloke crime capers, is far from a natural fit for material like this, especially compared to the fairly inspired roster of filmmakers the Mouse House has recruited for the likes of Cinderella (Kenneth Branagh), The Jungle Book (Jon Favreau) and even Dumbo (Tim Burton). ![]() Unsurprising to few who engaged with its marketing, this live-action re-do of the beloved 1992 animated hit Aladdin is a fascinatingly wonky concoction, as cobbled together with indifferent graft by Guy Ritchie. ![]() Whether fans like it or not, Disney is seeking to remake their animated classics one nostalgia trip at a time – with an industrious efficiency which, unsurprisingly, has precluded much artistic triumph to date. Starring Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Will Smith, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad, Billy Magnussen, Alan Tudyk, and Frank Welker.Ī kindhearted street urchin and a power-hungry Grand Vizier vie for a magic lamp that has the power to make their deepest wishes come true.
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