Aladdin (2019)
Directed by Guy Ritchie
A kindhearted street urchin named Aladdin embarks on a magical adventure after finding a lamp that releases a wisecracking genie while a power-hungry Grand Vizier vies for the same lamp that has the power to make their deepest wishes come true.
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55 films that influenced Aladdin
What critics say influenced Aladdin
Guy Ritchie, he of the fast-talking cockney crime films, would seem an inspired (if, on the surface, unconventional) choice to helm Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin , its beloved 1992 animated fable based on One Thousand and One Nights ’ Aladdin and the Magic Lamp .
It would be too easy to compare Will Smith’s casting of the Genie to the legendary portrayal by Robin Williams in the 1992 animated Aladdin .
There is a lot of Aladdin that flounders on its own, and even more so when inevitably compared to the 1992 animated version.
The cartoon Aladdin (1992), directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, owed a great deal to Alexander Korda’s version of The Thief of Bagdad (1940), to the extent of borrowing its villain (Conrad Veidt’s sorcerer Jafar) and replacing the ‘new lamps for old’ business with special-effects sorcery.
Some character choices feel distracting more than inspired, but that could be said about a lot of "Aladdin."
After The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991) resurrected Broadway showstoppers, Aladdin appended to its Alan Menken tunes a fast-moving plot, top-notch comedy, and even some scares.
The songwriting team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken did memorable music for “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast.”
Ashman wrote the music for "Aladdin," "Beauty and the Beast," and "The Little Mermaid" before his death in 1991 at the age of 40.
Movie fans will recall Rex Ingram’s magisterial genie in The Thief of Bagdad (1940).
I can’t swear that no one involved in Aladdin cracked a copy of One Thousand and One Nights — or for that matter took a second look at the 1940 The Thief of Bagdad , a major influence on the 1992 Aladdin — but what would be the point?
One of the pleasures of this Aladdin , though, is the way it also invokes memories of classic old Hollywood and British fantasies like the Douglas Fairbanks and Alexander Korda versions of The Thief of Bagdad .
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).
Watch both versions of The Jungle Book and compare the Baloos (Bill Murray vs. the inimitable Phil Harris) or the Bagheeras (Ben Kingsley, no slouch certainly, vs. Sebastian Cabot, with his rich, gravelly line readings).
Critical and fan drubbings haven’t yet dried up the box office to a point of non-profit, and when they can get Jon Favreau on board ( The Jungle Book , The Lion King ), they have a shot at pleasing everyone.
2016’s The Jungle Book was a strong hit for the studio, playing with fidelity to the memories of those who wanted to relive the old effort with new eyes, while also providing an entre for a younger audience who may never have come into contact with the original.
After Cinderella (2015), The Jungle Book (2016), and Beauty and the Beast (2017) successively pounced on the box office like Shere Khan on poor little Mowgli, Disney executives are now rolling out remakes of their classic animated films nearly once a quarter, to varying results.
Though there might be some sort of artistry going on there — just look at what Jon Favreau’s done with The Jungle Book and the upcoming Lion King remake — there’s a profit-based incentive in keeping things close to the original.
With that in mind, the least the film division can do is not rely too heavily on the nostalgia tied to these well-loved tales, a reliance that leads to products such as the 2017 live-action “Beauty and the Beast,” an eyesore and weak echo of its animated self, rather than a “Cinderella” – which fine-tuned the magic of the 2D 1950s classic with some 2015 character adjustments to help modernize it for new viewers.
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May his daring at least get Disney’s closed minds to rerelease Song of the South.
Compare Luke Evans’ Gaston to opera singer Richard White in the original Beauty and the Beast .
After The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991) resurrected Broadway showstoppers, Aladdin appended to its Alan Menken tunes a fast-moving plot, top-notch comedy, and even some scares.
Ashman wrote the music for "Aladdin," "Beauty and the Beast," and "The Little Mermaid" before his death in 1991 at the age of 40.
The 1992 Aladdin, a delightful mix of the song-and-dance numbers that proved successful in The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast with a bravura voice performance by Robin Williams, clocked in at a svelte 90 minutes.
There's a reason Disney has tapped James Earl Jones to reprise the role of Mufasa in its forthcoming "The Lion King" remake; who else could thrive in the shadow of that voice?
Smith’s Genie, always reliable for a wisecrack, harkens back to previous anthropomorphic depictions of social subservience and alter-ego psyche — from Mark Twain’s Nigger Jim to Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio and the black crows in Dumbo to Eddie Murphy voicing the serpent in Mulan and the donkey in Shrek, all products of the American romantic imagination.
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Of the few new songs that accompany Alan Menken’s catchy originals, it’s Jasmine’s “Speechless” (penned by Menken, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul) that serves the greatest function, casting her (as did Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella with its own icon) as an empowered feminist.
The film would have been better had Ritchie followed Kenneth Branagh’s lead for Cinderella and ditched them entirely, though of course that wasn’t his call to make.
[READ MORE: Our review of Disney’s rather charming ‘ Cinderella ‘ starring Lily James]…
Anyone who’s seen Aladdin and the direct-to-video 1994 sequel The Return of Jafar knows how much Robin Williams owned that role.