Once films were produced in an animated form are now being rebooted in a live-action version. Disney seems to be capitalizing on this concept, especially since we've seen "Jungle Book" '16 and the soon to be released "Lion King". So, since they are in that way of thinking, why not just throw in a live version of "Aladdin" while they are at it? And, while I'd love to see errors in these films since Disney, the mega-production company has produced them, this film, as with "The Jungle Book", simply rocks in how it totally entertains.
Aladdin (Mena Massoud) is a lovable street urchin who meets Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott), the beautiful daughter of the sultan of Agrabah (Navid Negahban). After Jafar (Marwan Kenzari), the sultan's general, arrests Aladdin for breaking into the palace, he decides to tell him to get the lamp that is in a certain cave in order to be released. Upon finding the lamp, he only realizes that he has unleashed a powerful, wisecracking, larger-than-life genie. As Aladdin and the Genie (Will Smith) start to become friends, they soon realize that they must embark on a dangerous mission to stop Jafar, who happens to be the evil sorcerer, from overthrowing young Jasmine and the sultan's kingdom.
Others to round out the cast are Nasim Pedrad as Dalia, Billy Rasmussen as Prince Anders, Jordan Nash as Omar, Taliyah Blair as Lian, Audrey Lin as Omi, Amir Boutrous as Jamal and Numan Acar as Hakim.
This was effortlessly directed by veteran Guy Ritchie ("Lock. Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" '98, "Snatch" 2000, "Swept Away" '02, "Revolver" '05, "Suspect" (TV movie) '07, "Rocknrolla" '08, "Sherlock Holmes" '09, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" '11, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." '15, "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" '17) plus shorts and videos. The way that Ritchie was able to showcase the appropriate emotions from these actors was near perfection. How could any filmmaker breathe new life into a production already directed well back almost 30 years ago? Not many directors could, but Ritchie was able to this in spades. If you like his brand of directing, his "The Gentlemen" is in post-production for a 2020 release date. It was brilliantly written by John August ("Go" '99, "Titan A.E." 2000, "Charlie's Angels" 2000, "Big Fish" '03, "Alaska" (TV movie) '03, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" '05, "Corpse Bride" '05, "The Nines" '07, "Frankenweenie" '12) plus TV and Ritchie (Same films he directed). Talk about breathing new life into a production--these veteran writers not only breathed new life into this story, but exemplified the story so well that I almost didn't realize that this was based on the 1992 Disney animated version. As with the 1992 version, the music was brilliantly created by Alan Menken and the lyrics by Tim Rice and the late, great Howard Ashman. And while these great musicians would have been enough to make this production come alive, both Benji Pasek and Justin Paul came aboard and created some new songs to even enhance the story that much more, if that was possible. And what can I say about Smith? He was brilliant as the genie. He wasn't Robin Williams--who brilliantly voiced the genie in the animated 1992 version, but even he said that he couldn't do Williams performance justice. Instead he took on his own approach and he scored well. Even Massoud as Aladdin was wonderful as inexperienced as he is. And the visual effects designed predominantly by ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic) were seamless and only enhanced the story effortlessly.
This is a film for all to see--replete with adventure, action, romance, humor, heart and redemption. The production values including the costumes, photography and the music and lyrics were absolutely wonderful. This is why we go to the movies! To be entertained and this in its IMAX and 4DX versions will do just that!
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: PG 128mins.
No comments:
Post a Comment