IGN shows off an atrocious sneak peek of the new Aladdin movie on Twitter (about a minute of the Prince Ali song)

Triggerhappytel · May 15, 2019

It looks like a charmless recreation of a really fun and energetic cartoon. I do think Will Smith was a good choice to cast as Genie, but he doesn't sound good in this clip.

Aldi said:
I don't mind it. My kids will probably love this movie.

Yeah, my 9 year old daughter is looking forward to this a lot. She likes the cartoon too and I think she's just happy to see something she's already familiar with presented in a new a different way.

She liked Beauty and the Beast too, so I guess she's the exact target audience.

cj_iwakura · May 15, 2019

I was fine until the CGI ostriches, good lord. But yeah, it's just like every live action remake after Maleficient: 1:1 remake, why bother doing anything else?

Deleted member 47700 · May 15, 2019

muteKi said:
It's a fucking remake of a movie that people generally consider to be Disney at its peak. "Pretty inoffensive" goes beyond damning it with faint praise to revealing the film to be a milquetoast cash grab by a company that seeks to own literally all the creative works in the world for the sake of reselling them for greater profits.

Yep, I'd almost prefer if it was shockingly or amusingly bad. To me almost the worst thing a movie can be is flat, pointless and boring.

The Adder · May 15, 2019

thecouncil said:
What specifically was bad about that?

It's static as hell and possesses none of the magic of the original.

And I don't mean 'magic' as some intangible positive quality. I mean it literally has none of the magic Genie was using during the performance to spice up an already overblown affair.

Vincent Alexander · May 15, 2019

The Adder said:
It's static as hell and possesses none of the magic of the original.

And I don't mean 'magic' as some intangible positive quality. I mean it literally has none of the magic Genie was using during the performance to spice up an already overblown affair.

And this was the same issue as Beauty in the Beast, in terms of static shots. Not a lot of movement, which kills the energy and fun of a scene. Guston's song being a prime example.

Masterspeed · May 15, 2019

There needs to be way more enthusiasm around that singing.

caliph95 · May 15, 2019

Friend like me from the TV spot at least looks like it's going to have energy and magic in it so there's hope

jett · May 15, 2019

Fatoy said:
I never thought I'd say this, but stick some auto-tune on the guy, for god's sake. He cannot sing a note.

lol this clip is already autotuned to hell. His Ali Ababwas are basically sung by a robot.

Badcoo · May 15, 2019

wow, that set looks terrible.

Bus-TEE · May 15, 2019

I quite like the Bollywood vibe but I have no idea what Disney were thinking with this from hiring Guy Ritchie to direct all the way to..., well, all of it.

And I'm speaking as someone who quite likes Guy Ritchie's output for the most part. Both Sherlock Holmes films are top notch.

Fatoy · May 15, 2019

jett said:
lol this clip is already autotuned to hell. His Ali Ababwas are basically sung by a robot.

"The last time I saw my grandmother, she asked was I still a praying man? I said 'yeah'. She said, 'well pray harder, boy, 'cause it ain't working."

There's a dubious award for Will Smith: a singer so bad that autotune can't rescue him.

jett · May 15, 2019

Bus-TEE said:
I quite like the Bollywood vibe but I have no idea what Disney were thinking with this from hiring Guy Ritchie to direct all the way to..., well, all of it.

And I'm speaking as someone who quite likes Guy Ritchie's output for the most part. Both Sherlock Holmes films are top notch.

It doesn't even look like Guy Ritchie directed any part of this movie frankly (now, it could be argued this is a positive). It looks like most live action films Disney puts outs: generic, personality-free fluff. I thought King Arthur was pretty terrible, but it is stylish and Ritchie's touch is all over that shit. Everything about Aladdin looks absurdly restrained by Richie's standards. It's kinda weird to be honest. It makes hiring him seem even more pointless.

XenodudeX · May 15, 2019

He doesn't have the monkeys. :(
I don't see the monkeys. :*(

VideogameVices · May 15, 2019

Dumbo bombed. I wonder if this will bomb

Vinci · May 15, 2019

Okay. Disney, here's what you should have done: Go back to the animated Aladdin, take the Genie, and make him CGI. Use all of Robin Williams lines and singing, and leverage the billions of hours of sound bytes he likely left in his brilliant attempt to fuel us all on his words to manage lines he never recorded.

Re-shoot around those sequences from the original and match them as closely as possible.

Why the hell you wanted a live-action Genie, I'll never know. He's a Genie. He can be fully animated while everything else is live action.

Ramala · May 15, 2019

If the original didn't exist I'd probably think it was ok. But it does so it's not.

CitizenVectron · May 15, 2019

Vinci said:
Okay. Disney, here's what you should have done: Go back to the animated Aladdin, take the Genie, and make him CGI. Use all of Robin Williams lines and singing, and leverage the billions of hours of sound bytes he likely left in his brilliant attempt to fuel us all on his words to manage lines he never recorded.

Re-shoot around those sequences from the original and match them as closely as possible.

Why the hell you wanted a live-action Genie, I'll never know. He's a Genie. He can be fully animated while everything else is live action.

Yeah this would have been okay to do. I don't even mind a live-action genie for the parts where he needs to pretend to be human...but for the parts where CGI is needed, just go full ham!

Bus-TEE · May 15, 2019

jett said:
It doesn't even look like Guy Ritchie directed any part of this movie frankly (now, it could be argued this is a positive). It looks like most live action films Disney puts outs: generic, personality-free fluff. I thought King Arthur was pretty terrible, but it is stylish and Ritchie's touch is all over that shit. Everything about Aladdin looks absurdly restrained by Richie's standards. It's kinda weird to be honest. It makes hiring him seem even more pointless.

True. If I hadn't known that Ritchie has directed this before hand I'd have had no idea from what I've seen of it thus far because, as you say, it does look like everything else Disney's live action division.

In saying that Ritchie has always been a studio 'helmer for hire' type of guy so maybe this is the next evolution of this. But it's not surprise that he already has his next stylish, gangland crime caper lined up for release later this year before this hits the cinemas and does untold 'damage'.

XenodudeX said:
He doesn't have the monkeys. :(
I don't see the monkeys. :*(

You only get the monkeys on Disney +.

Deleted member 3010 · May 15, 2019

Well I just re-watched both versions back to back.

The Genie in the live action is so...un-genie-esque...versus animated where he warps everywhere with all kind of shapes and costumes to hype people.

I know it's live-action but a lot of energy is missing because of that. A shame because I had hope with Will Smith to do a decent Fresh Prince Ali song, his voice ain't too hot either. :lol

gaogaogao · May 15, 2019

isn't this the part where you spend your cg budget to make your genie look like a genie? also will smith's tone doesn't work for this song.

Bitanator · May 15, 2019

XenodudeX said:
He doesn't have the monkeys. :(
I don't see the monkeys. :*(

TheZynster · May 15, 2019

its the autotune that really ruins it..........you can hear a lot of tuning on wills voice

A Syrian Communist · May 15, 2019

What the fuck is the point in a remake of an already still recent adaptation of a fairy tale anyway? The "original" Disney Aladdin is hardly gospel. Go back to the actual story and make a new movie out of it, I can't fathom why people who liked the original would want to see the same movie again but worse now and with 30 minutes of filler.

entrydenied · May 15, 2019

Flipyap said:
I'm calling it, the handmaiden is going to steal the show. Nasim Pedrad appears to be the only cast member with a pulse. She's so (er) animated, she steals the spotlight in every scene she shares with the leads.
Jasmine is so immobile, she looks like an extra standing next to the only person capable of conveying a bit of the energy of the original.

She also looks more like Jasmine and acted as her in an SNL skit before.

https://youtu.be/b-2fnZfK9Lg

Flipyap · May 15, 2019

entrydenied said:
She also looks more like Jasmine and acted as her in an SNL skit before.

https://youtu.be/b-2fnZfK9Lg

She totally does! It almost feels like they've split Jasmine into two characters, with the sidekick doing all the emoting for her because the lead is so lifeless, you'd think it's a prequel to Corpse Bride.

TheGummyBear · May 15, 2019

Guy Ritchie made a bad film you say?

FFNB · May 15, 2019

As a huge, huge fan of the original, I think this looked fine. Cheap, visually, and the song obviously lacks the energy of Robin Williams, but it seems fine. This film existing isn't hurting me or causing me any kind of pain, so I don't see the need for the theatrics of how "awful" it looks. If it disappoints... *shrug*. I still have the stellar original animated film to watch again for the hundredth time. I feel like kids will get a kick out of this adaptation.

Officer Big Mac · May 15, 2019

Watching it again really confirms to me this performance is worthy of a DisneyWorld street performance. Wheres all the money going because it's not showing up on the screen.

HaL64 · May 15, 2019

Nanashrew said:
It feels all over the place. And I just don't know how it got to this point considering the source material, the amazing cover songs on Disney's own We Love Disney YouTube channel, and the broadway musicals.

Also funnily, watching the video at 1.25x helps bring some energy back into the song. I don't know why they slowed the song down when it's meant to be very upbeat, festive. I mean, a prince is rolling into town looking to impress the princess of the sultan, you go big or go home. BPM is one thing though, it's still missing so much more.

You are underselling it man. 1.25 speed makes this clip 100x's better.
The tempo of the song seemed off and the key seems flat.

Plainswalker · May 15, 2019

This is...obviously a controversial position, but while Will's rap-singing is only barely passable, I REALLY don't see why people are treating Robin's sing-talking as some sort of musical masterpiece in comparison. The charm of the original was solely in the visuals and physical comedy, and certainly not in Robin's vocals.

Surfinn · May 15, 2019

Plainswalker said:
This is...obviously a controversial position, but while Will's rap-singing is only barely passable, I REALLY don't see why people are treating Robin's sing-talking as some sort of musical masterpiece in comparison. The charm of the original was solely in the visuals and physical comedy, and certainly not in Robin's vocals.

Williams didn't need to be a good singer. They utilized him in the right way, to add a particular endearing charm to genie.

Deleted member 48897 · May 15, 2019

Surfinn said:
Williams didn't need to be a good singer. They utilized him in the right way, to add a particular endearing charm to genie.

Right, a lot of the charm of the sequence comes down to his character/impression work.

The more I think about it the more I'm surprised they didn't just completely CGI the genie and have Dan Castellanata do the voice work. If they're going to try to be this close to the original, I mean, may as well use the guy they hired to replace the genie the first time around...

Plainswalker · May 15, 2019

Surfinn said:
Williams didn't need to be a good singer. They utilized him in the right way, to add a particular endearing charm to genie.

muteKi said:
Right, a lot of the charm of the sequence comes down to his character/impression work.

The more I think about it the more I'm surprised they didn't just completely CGI the genie and have Dan Castellanata do the voice work. If they're going to try to be this close to the original, I mean, may as well use the guy they hired to replace the genie the first time around...

That's totally a fair position and I agree. The biggest thing here is that this sequence in particular shows the inherent failings of a live action movie compared to the very animated (pun intended) original. This Genie shapeshifting and popping all over the place wouldn't really work in a live action sequence; it would look out of place and make everything look even cheaper. I think that's the worst part of it--the shortcomings of a live action conversion--and not nearly as much the vocals (the originals weren't the greatest) or, as some said, the anachronistic Will Smith-isms in the song (Genie? Anachronistic? Have we watched the same movie?)

TheFuzz · May 15, 2019

Plainswalker said:
This is...obviously a controversial position, but while Will's rap-singing is only barely passable, I REALLY don't see why people are treating Robin's sing-talking as some sort of musical masterpiece in comparison. The charm of the original was solely in the visuals and physical comedy, and certainly not in Robin's vocals.

Robin consistently changed his inflection and impression as he moved through the verses. The animation did wonders but Williams' manic personality helped.

TheAuldTriangle · May 15, 2019

It looks like a bit from a kids morning TV show.

HyperDimension · May 15, 2019

The scene was apparently shot with over a thousand dancers and extras, which is as grand as a live-action musical number can get. So I don't think there's any issue with the grand scale of the musical production. But the editing and CGI could've been better.

It also feels like they didn't make good use of Smith's talents. As a rapper, he should've been rapping, instead of trying to do some kind of rap-singing. They could've had backup singers doing the singing, while Smith does the rapping. They didn't really play to his strengths here.

Also, it's possible they might be aiming for more realism with the musical number, so that could be why we don't see much of the cartoony shenanigans that the original had. Remember that the director is Guy Ritchie, whose style of directing is usually grounded in realism.

Otherwise, I think it's a decent musical number overall. Not great, but still decent.

AztecComplex · May 15, 2019

Disney will regret getting Guy Ritchie for this movie.

Plainswalker · May 15, 2019

HyperDimension said:
The scene was apparently shot with over a thousand dancers and extras, which is as grand as a live-action musical number can get. So I don't think there's any issue with the grand scale of the musical production. But the editing and CGI could've been better.

It also feels like they didn't make good use of Smith's talents. As a rapper, he should've been rapping, instead of trying to do some kind of rap-singing. They could've had backup singers doing the singing, while Smith does the rapping. They didn't really play to his strengths here.

Also, it's possible they might be aiming for more realism with the musical number, so that could be why we don't see much of the cartoony shenanigans that the original had. Remember that the director is Guy Ritchie, whose style of directing is usually grounded in realism.

Otherwise, I think it's a decent musical number overall. Not great, but still decent.

Honestly based on the beat and tempo I am fully expecting a rap break in the second half of the song. I'm not sure if that'll make it better or worse. I agree that they didn't play to his strengths in the clip posted, but that's not the entire performance, so eh, we'll see.

Dyle · May 15, 2019

It definitely feels flat in comparison, the genie just looks like Aladdin's hype man and not an all powerful magical deity. Without the transforming and magic elements it also loses all the subversive mischievousness that makes the genie in the original such a good foil to Aladdin's relatively earnest, but flat personality.

Starviper · May 15, 2019

Doesn't seem *terrible* like some of you are saying but yea, there is a dampened sense of magic - some stuff just won't translate to live action, I guess.

Border · May 15, 2019

Who would have guessed that Robin Williams would turn out to be a better singer than Will Smith?

Also, why did they change "Brush up your Sunday Salaam" to "Brush up your Friday Salaam"?

HellforLeather · May 15, 2019

my god, that was awful. Will Smith cant sing

Schreckweg 5000 · May 15, 2019

Figboy said:
this looked fine.

Cheap, visually, and the song obviously lacks the energy of Robin Williams

Pick one

Oldest_Snake · May 15, 2019

Border said:
Who would have guessed that Robin Williams would turn out to be a better singer than Will Smith?

Also, why did they change "Brush up your Sunday Salaam" to "Brush up your Friday Salaam"?

Going by the comments (possibly the only instance of that actually being useful on YouTube):

A salaam is a greeting, often of reverence, in Arabic cultures. A "Sunday Salaam" calls to mind one's "Sunday best", referring to church clothes. If "Sunday Salaam" was chosen to mean that Sunday is their specific day of reverence, that would mean that Agrabah is a Christian nation, as Islam's Sabbath day is Friday, and Judaism's Sabbath day is Saturday.

Surfinn · May 15, 2019

I seriously doubt Will Smith needed that much autotune lol, his singing sounds utterly lifeless.

caliph95 · May 15, 2019

Border said:
Who would have guessed that Robin Williams would turn out to be a better singer than Will Smith?

Also, why did they change "Brush up your Sunday Salaam" to "Brush up your Friday Salaam"?

I'm not even sure if Williams was a better singer per se listening to the original his actual singing isn't that great he just adds more personality and does different voices and is generally more energetic

I wonder how much is it that Smith isn't a good singer and how much is it just bad direction

Deleted member 48897 · May 15, 2019

Border said:
Also, why did they change "Brush up your Sunday Salaam" to "Brush up your Friday Salaam"?

It was kinda weird to me too. Like, I get the whole "No, actually Friday is the Islamic holy day" argument but I feel like doing that misses the joke completely, which has a lot to do with how the genie is, y'know, both kinda culturally out-of-place and also performing a specific sort of hucksterism/promotion here.

gaogaogao · May 15, 2019

AztecComplex said:
Disney will regret getting Guy Ritchie for this movie.

Bizzare choice

FFNB · May 15, 2019

Schreckweg 5000 said:
Pick one

there's no reason to. it looks fine. but it also looks cheap. the cinematography looks cheap compared to the other live action remakes they've made. the movie itself looks fine.

HyperDimension · May 15, 2019

One thing that this new "Prince Ali" does better than the original: The new "Prince Ali" is more vibrant and colorful.

I didn't like the original's color palette much, with the drab yellows and browns. I'm glad they made it more colorful and vibrant this time around. That's how a festival should be.

In other words, I disagree with those suggesting that it's somehow much worse than the original. Yeah, it is worse in some ways, but it's also better in some ways too. At least give it some credit.

IGN shows off an atrocious sneak peek of the new Aladdin movie on Twitter (about a minute of the Prince Ali song)

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