Aladdin

Hollywood has a rich history of remaking movies.  At the top of the list has got to be “A Star is Born” with four remakes to date.  “The Italian Job”,” Ocean’s Eleven”,” Cape Fear”, “Dumbo”, “The Fly” and “Willie Wonka” have all had indiffering success at remakes too.  My question to Hollywood is —–why?  A few of these are better than the original, but most are subpar or equal in appeal.  “Aladdin” is in the category of no better or no worse than the original.  The original had the late, great Robin Williams whose manic energy would be hard for anyone to beat and its animated presentation was attractive and fitting for the story.  Will Smith as the Genie gives it a very good try, but he is merely adequate. If he hadn’t had to follow Williams, his humor and special panache would probably have resonated more.  But now, that is not good enough in my opinion.  Everyone tries very hard, and I can’t fault any of the actors. But there is too much flash, and too much divergence from the source tale.  Guy Ritchie’s direction is fine and the special effects are well-done.  I imagine children, most of whom haven’t seen the original, will love this version.  It has been updated though. There is a new feminist twist to this retelling and a few of the original lyrics have been altered to make them a little more PC.  Also, a few more songs have been added to move the new plot additions along.  The songs are still wonderful though.  I left the theatre not hating this movie, but I didn’t love it either.  In fact when I got home I went on You Tube to watch Robin Williams sing the original version of “You’ve Never had a Friend Like Me.”  Pure Heaven!!