Action Hero MoviesI’m not a fan of musicals but this movie is an exception. It gets off to an efficient start, with plenty of fun, music and action in the first quarter an hour, while also managing to squeeze in some vital character building. Already it’s comfortably Above Average.
The original animated Aladdin movie was probably the best animated movie Disney’s made, not least thanks to its catchy theme songs backed by a rich exotic narrative; and this movie is no different – its main strength is pretty similar, and as a bonus, it’s not a cartoon animation.
By half an hour in, the agenda becomes clearer — they’re promoting the concept of a rebellious woman who doesn’t want to be modest inline with traditional custom. We also get the odd line of good humour, as we meet Jafar’s talking parrot.
By the 1 hour mark, the music has been regular and diverse, and the scenes have been quite fun to the point this movie looks set for a Decent rating if it continues at this pace & quality.
After 90 minutes, the fun has died down a bit, and the movie has taken a turn for the worse. But fortunately, the dark patches don’t last long. By the end it’s even better than it previously seemed. I’m going to rate it Pretty Good, which is quite unusual for a Disney movie, but I think it deserves it, mainly on the merit of its atmosphere that mostly carries over from the original cartoon — there’s rarely a dull or unpleasant patch for long. The cast here aren’t bad either, although it’s hard to look at Will Smith the same since Orlando Brown’s allegations against him.
Generally, Will Smith is a bit of a clown here — sometimes his acting is strong but sometimes it’s a bit too weird. Mena Massoud is generally high calibre as Aladdin. He’s a real star of the show, alongside Will Smith. Naomi Scott is bang average herself as Princess Jasmine, and Marwan Kenzari makes an excellent Jafar — he’s possibly the best actor in the movie but has a bit of a dark role of course. That’s all the core cast members, aside from the monkey, the parrot and the flying carpet who are all pretty good too.