Weak special effects almost ruin this colourful musical
If a blue genie emerged from a magic lamp and granted me three wishes, I’d contemplate using the first to completely overhaul the unconvincing digital trickery in Guy Ritchie’s musical fantasy.
Every time the army of SFX wizards casts a spell over this live-action remake of the 1992 Disney animation, charm and believability vanish in a puff of smoke. Fantasy and reality are at loggerheads throughout Aladdin, never more so than in Will Smith’s motion-captured performance as the genie.
Street urchin Aladdin (Mena Massoud) runs amok on the streets of Agrabah with pet monkey Abu. He falls in love with Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott), who resents the rules imposed by her father, the Sultan (Navid Negahban).
Tradition dictates that Jasmine must marry a man of similar social standing.
Meanwhile, the Sultan’s chief adviser Jafar (Marwen Kenzari) plots to seize power using a magic lamp, which lies deep within a Cave Of Wonders in the desert.
Only a “diamond in the rough” can enter so Jafar dispatches a clueless Aladdin to steal the golden trinket.
Jafar double-crosses Aladdin but it is the wily “street rat” who summons the Genie (Smith) with a cheeky rub and uses the first of his three wishes to reinvent himself as a dashing prince.
The live-action Aladdin wisely pilfers the toe-tapping soundtrack from the 1992 film, updating the songbook by composer Alan Menken and writers Howard Ashman and Tim Rice with creative sparkle courtesy of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.