Well, they’ve done it. It was only a matter of time before Disney showed us just what Will Smith’s Genie looks like in the live-action Aladdin remake—not the Entertainment Weekly cover, but Genie in all his blue glory. But rather than remind us of Robin Williams’ take on the classic character, Smith’s got much more of a Tobias Fünke vibe. It’s… something.
Agrabah looks epic; the “Prince Ali” number looks delightful; but when it comes to the characters, the jury’s still out. Also, what is up with Jafar’s line reading—where’s the campiness? Rub the lamp and watch the teaser for yourself:
The official synopsis, from Walt Disney Studios:
A thrilling and vibrant live-action adaptation of Disney’s animated classic, Aladdin is the exciting tale of the charming street rat Aladdin, the courageous and self-determined Princess Jasmine and the Genie who may be the key to their future. Directed by Guy Ritchie, who brings his singular flair for fast-paced, visceral action to the fictitious port city of Agrabah, Aladdin is written by John August and Ritchie based on Disney’s Aladdin. The film stars Will Smith as the Genie; Mena Massoud as Aladdin; Naomi Scott as Jasmine; Marwan Kenzari as Jafar; Navid Negahban as the Sultan; Nasim Pedrad as Dalia; Billy Magnussen as Prince Anders; and Numan Acar as Hakim.
Aladdin comes to theaters May 24.
oh god why
no no no no no no no no
I will never touch a lamp again
I don’t understand why they’re remaking all these animated movies in live action.
@2 Because they can’t keep re-selling the animated films they’re “releasing from the Disney vault.”
Lenny Henry did it better already, and without the blue body paint (and with Rowan Atkinson as the baddie) too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8qwZcycfoI
@2 They are doing it because they don’t have to pay the writers anything.
@@@@@ 3 & 4, Of course. Money, dear boy.
@2: The short answer is: basically for the same reason they are recycling and remaking everything these days.
The past couple of decades have seen every possible kind of rehashing –from the back-to-back, endless Spiderman reboots (done as soon as the previous actor starts growing body hair) to all the prequels (and mostly meh-quels) of everything under the sun. Instead of venturing into new, potentially unsafe territory, the studios are trying to stay where the money is (or arguably was) and squeeze every bit of their older property dry.
@3: Every time I hear that phrase about “the Disney Vault,” I think of Walt’s allegedly frozen corpse and shudder.
What would it take to hire a gang of professional safe crackers to break into the Disney Vault so this can stop happening?
@7
More than you can imagine. Walt had that vault built better than Fort Knox. Alligators in the moat, witches inside, fairies patrolling above and Uncle Scrooge as last ditch defense in the vault proper.
#8
Seriously though, I wanna see THAT movie! A team of criminals who break into the Vault to steal the cinematic treasures of Disney… and have to settle for a copy of Treasure Planet.
Aladdin is probably my favorite of all the ‘renaiisance’ erra movies and…honestly, it’s a little hard for me to get behind this. On the other hand, I’ll still probably rent it just to see what they do with it.