What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I talk about flying carpets, glass heels, mermaids, blue genies and young lion cubs. If you were lucky enough to spend your childhood watching great animated movies, then you’d instantly know these are Disney classics.
The Lion King teaser was released a few months back and those 40 seconds managed to take my breath away. I can’t really speak on if the film will be successful or not, but it will undoubtedly be one of the most visually appealing films this year. The beautiful African plains, the drama, the songs, almost everything in that movie has the recipe to be a great film.
So, as soon as I heard the Aladdin teaser is out, I loaded it up, hoping for it to be just as good as The Lion King. Because why not? After all, it is a Disney film that I absolutely adore and just like The Lion King, it does seem to have all the right ingredients for a great Disney remake. But you know how sometimes when you make a dish and you follow the recipe step by step, measuring each cup and counting each molecule of salt you put in and the dish somehow ends up tasting like dog food? Aladdin was just like that. Because after watching the whole video, I was thoroughly disappointed. But I didn’t lose hope because maybe the trailer would change my mind, right?
Wrong again.
The trailer dropped yesterday, but it failed to change my mind and actually made me hate Will Smith for accepting this role. I was equally surprised and disappointed watching Will Smith portray a well-toned blue genie, just as I was watching Jared Leto taint the character of the Joker.
For some reason, Disney decided to make Genie a blue wish-master who apparently has a state-of-the-art built-in gym inside his lamp because that body definitely wouldn’t be there if you’re just sitting around for hundreds of years just waiting to be touched and rubbed. It sounds sexual but hey, I don’t make the rules.
The most loved part about Aladdin was Genie and Robin Williams’ voice. What pissed me off the most after watching the trailer is Will Smith’s misplaced American-gangster accent and over-the-top antics, which was clearly an unsuccessful attempt of desperately trying to live up to Robin Williams.
The problem isn’t with Disney doing live-action films, but with how they’re doing it. I cannot wait to watch the new live-action remake of The Lion King because I already know that a film like that would look beautiful if executed well. But I did have my hesitations about a film like Aladdin and those hesitations unfortunately proved to be completely justified. Because films like Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Hercules and Mulan don’t need live-action films. Leave them untouched Disney. Let them always be remembered as a great Disney animated film and not another failed live-action attempt.
