Great genie, but no great genius
Aladdin (PG) Verdict: Princess Jasmine steals the show ★★★✩✩
Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin turns out to be an all-you-can-eat international buffet of a film, with Will smith’s engaging blue genie topping a diverse singing, rapping, and occasionally Bollywood-dancing cast.
The traditional Middle-eastern tale of a ruffian, a princess, a magic lamp and the struggle for social mobility is mashed up into a garish theme park fantasy in this family-friendly spectacular, but the surprise star here is British actress naomi scott as a feisty Princess Jasmine.
Playing opposite Mena Massoud’s Aladdin, scott steals the show, her beautiful voice soaring in the film’s classic numbers like A Whole new World, as the two lovers fly to freedom on the magic carpet.
While Massoud just scrapes by musically, his youthful enthusiasm, floppy hair and gleaming gnashers almost precisely mirror the character in Disney’s 1992 cartoon, and he dances like a madman. The princess and Aladdin have great chemistry, although they often talk in 21st century psychobabble: ‘it’s a little sad having a monkey as the only parental authority in my life,’ moans Aladdin, with the cute CGI-ASSISTED Abu gibbering on his shoulder.
scott’s best moment comes with a belter of a song, speechless, specially written by the original composer Alan Menken. ‘i won’t be silent, you can’t keep me quiet,’ Jasmine roars as she not only demands to choose her own suitor, but to rule over her people as sultan. (Or more correctly, sultana.) expect speechless to take on power ballad fame among small girls, rather like Frozen’s Let it Go!
While the late Robin Williams was celebrated for voicing the genie in the cartoon like a manic American chat show host, smith gives a more relaxed and funny performance.
We mostly see his giant muscled torso, with a tornado of blue smoke following behind as he emerges from the lamp. He advises Aladdin on passion and fashion, possibly channelling Queer eye For The straight Guy, as the urchin gears up to become Prince Ali.
The only disappointment is Jafar, the palace vizier intent on usurping the sultan and marrying Jasmine. Despite the villain’s hissy fits, cobra wand and dark magic, even the toddlers at the family premiere seemed unperturbed.
Jafar is played by Marwan Kenzari, who is Dutch-Tunisian, while Massoud is egyptian- Canadian, and scott’s father is english and her mother is of Gujarati indian descent. Although not exactly clinging to Aladdin’s Arabian roots, there can be no accusations of old-fashioned ‘whitewashing’ with faketanned actors, and the cast will have worldwide box-office appeal.
There’s plenty of action too, with a parkour- style sequence as Aladdin escapes from guards in the streets of Agrabah, and a volcanic meltdown in the Cave of Wonders in the desert after he tries to escape with the lamp.
Directed by Guy Ritchie, Aladdin feels overly baggy compared to the slick cartoon. And what’s with the Bollywood finale? yet the updating of Jasmine’s character is welcome, and clearly scott — who played the Pink Power Ranger and appears later this year in Charlie’s Angels — is one to watch.