Aladdin review
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Aladdin
Walt Disney
PG. 128 min
How many times have I told you that what Walt Disney does when they are at the top of their game they do better than anybody else in the world. Most people know and love the animated version of ALADDIN and plenty of others love the Broadway performance as well. I saw the road company at the Fisher Theater in beautiful downtown Detroit and even rented the animated DVD to recap the music and the story beforehand. Of course there were a few differences as some of the animated characters had to be recast as singing and dancing human beings but what the heck. One big difference was a stage performance demands a singing and dancing human being adept to the Broadway stage, Major Attaway filled that role. The animated version featured one of the world’s most brilliant voice talents, the late great Robin Williams. And now without the freedom of total animation nor the restrictions of live performance we have the live action film version. Of course today computer graphics have made any films just as unlimited as standard animation did in the past so the possibilities are equally impressive. Starring as the genie Will Smith who has neither the singing and dancing ability of a Broadway performer nor the talent and charm of Williams but with the help of digital magic and Auto-Tune he’s able to make the most out of his limited abilities. Naomi Scott and Mana Massoud are perfect as princess Jasmine and “street rat" Aladdin. Really the only terrible casting decision was Marwan Kenzari as the treacherous Jafar, who came off as more of a junior high school bully than the evil Visir.
The story itself hasn’t changed very much with the exception of trimming the opening scene where the princess argues with her father because she wants to go out into the world but is forbidden. It’s then she sneaks out disguised as a commoner that she meets Aladdin. I think they trimmed the setup so they would have more room at the end to force in a politically correct song for her just before the finale. The downside is that it takes away from the story to make a speech. Too bad that’s the way things are these days. And speaking of politically correct usually if an ethic character is played by a different ethnic actor someone will pitch a bitch but thankfully no one has done so yet considering a black guy is playing the Arabian Genie. (And still nobody has the guts to set this story in its original location, Baghdad.)
The ending, which I knew and looked forward to, was handled a bit more clumsily than I’d hoped for and for that, as well as any portions of the movie that fell short of the originals, I would blame on director Guy Ritchie. His directorial resume includes a plethora of stinkers, and while I did enjoy ALADDIN I can’t help thinking how much better it could have been with a more capable director. Of course with Disney it’s like the old joke about sex and pizza. When it’s good, it’s great, but even if it isn’t it’s still pretty damn good.
I could have gone with a C+ here but I decided to overlook a couple of small flaws, none of which put a damper on my enjoyment of the flick.
B-
WSS -
Kamalarry said:
The British Magazine with the review is Hi Fi and the review was not as in depth, but he did state from the onset that the Summit X is one of the best speakers currently available.
I'm guessing this is spam.
WSS
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Kamalarry said:
The British Magazine with the review is Hi Fi and the review was not as in depth, but he did state from the onset that the Summit X is one of the best speakers currently available.
I'm guessing this is spam.
WSS
I'm guessing this is spam.
WSS
This guy has been posting non sequiter stuff all over the boards here. It might even be Ghoolie trolling.
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I'm guessing this is spam.
WSS
This guy has been posting non sequiter stuff all over the boards here. It might even be Ghoolie trolling.
This guy has been posting non sequiter stuff all over the boards here. It might even be Ghoolie trolling.
I know it's a Spam idiot
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