Aladdin is a Fun Ride on this Magic Carpet Ride.

I grew up watching Aladdin in Spanish and didn’t see the original in English until years later. I knew who was Robin Williams courtesy of Flubber which served as my introduction to the late comedic genius along with Ferngully: The Last Rainforest. When a live-action Aladdin movie was announced I was intrigued and a little excited on thinking who could don the role of Williams' eponymous Genie. The one detail that was perplexing was the selection of Guy Ritchie as director; not exactly known for kid-friendly work and his last movie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword didn’t fare well to say the least. Does the movie succeed on being a diamond in the rough or a filthy street rat?  

Aladdin (Mena Massoud) is a young peasant living on the streets of Agrabah who falls in love with Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) who wishes to explore outside the palace walls. After being tricked by the royal vizier Jafar (Marwan Kenzari), Aladdin comes across a magic lamp that unleashes the wise-cracking and wish-fulfilling Genie (Will Smith).

Being fans of the original, I took the whole family to see this new iteration and we enjoyed it. The story, songs, and characters are for the most part intact with little to no changes. Legendary voice actor Frank Welker is the only cast member to reprise his role as the Cave of Wonders.

Of the few revisions include making the Sultan (Navid Negahban) more benevolent and less bumbling, Iago is a regular parrot whose occasional squawks are provided by Alan Tudyk, a new character named Dalia (Nasim Pedrad) as Jasmine’s handmaiden, Jasmine injected with Belle’s love of books along with her own song, a brief explanation on Aladdin’s parents and Jasmine’s mother and Jafar being a bit more younger and given a little back-story.  

Like the Beauty and the Beast remake there’s something magical on seeing these memorable characters come to life like a child seeing their favorite Disney character at Disneyland. The cast do a good job on translating their animated counterparts into live-action including Will Smith as the Genie. True the CGI can be distracting at times and gives more reason on why some things work better in animation among other scenes, but when Smith is being his fresh-prince self, he makes the role his own.

Alan Menken returns as composer reusing the original songs written by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice; Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (music writers on La La Land and The Greatest Showman) help add in new music material. By itself the songs are a nice listen but onscreen, lack that extra dazzle that made them energetic in the original; "One Jump Ahead" comes close and "A Whole New World" had me in tears (I blame nostalgia).

The final battle is given the biggest change that makes sense in terms of being live-action but like in the 101 Dalmatians remake, its fine but I prefer the climax of the original.

Is it better than the original, not by a long shot but Ritchie and his crew have fun with what they can do. On the live-action retelling scale, its right in the middle; above 101 Dalmatians and just below Christopher Robin.   

I doubt The Return of Jafar and The King of Thieves will be adapted but if it does here’s my suggestion. Add Disney’s Hercules to the list. Cast Zac Efron in the titular role (though I am open to other suggestions), have Danny DeVito be the one returning cast member, then then crossover into Aladdin’s world and PRESTO! You have the next highly anticipated crossover event!

Final Verdict: B+