Aladdin

Cert: PG; Now showing When Will Smith decided to take on the role of the genie in the live action remake of the 1992 cartoon Aladdin, he wanted to walk a fine line. His aim was to make the role his own but also to pay homage to Robin Williams who had voiced the animated genie.

The end result feels a bit like the joyous Queer Eye cast: flamboyant fixers who deliver so much more than your wish for better hair. And for me this worked. Aladdin is great fun.

Aladdin (Mena Massoud) is a pickpocket in Agrabah when he falls in love with the undercover Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott).

He is bemoaning the circumstances that keep them apart when scheming Grand Vizier Jafar (Marwan Kenzari) kidnaps him to retrieve the magic lamp from a cave. And in that lamp he discovers the musclebound blueness that is the genie (Smith).

The romantic leads are great but the show is Smith’s. Although Kenzari’s understatedly intense baddie proves sneakily memorable.

Guy Ritchie directs and co-writes this allsinging, all-dancing Disney spectacular and if not terribly deep on emotion, it is great fun.