Disney has released an exclusive clip from the upcoming live-action/CGI Aladdin movie that is the beginning of the iconic sequence A Whole New World. We don’t get the actual song itself, but the exposition is there, and it’s … um … let’s just say Will Smith will be carrying a lot of scenes in this movie. “There’s a whole world outside of books and maps?” Really Aladdin? How would you know that?
What do we want from these live-action Disney movies? Clearly, they’re going to keep existing as long as they make money, so what is it that we want them to be? Should they be as close to possible as the original, “correct” things, or be their own stories? There is no one-size-fits-Al, because what made all these movies work is unique to each one. I enjoyed Malfeicent, while some people dislike it for not having Mal go all Mistress of all Evil. I enjoyed The Jungle Book because it felt different enough from the original, and I disliked both Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast because those are just not movies you can remake without doing a full overhaul of the source material.
Aladdin just looks really kinda fake and low-budget when considering Guy Riche’s last project, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, cost $175 million. I’m sure they payed a pretty penny to get Will Smith and … Will Smith in this movie. I wish we got a better look at Jasmine in these clips because, let’s be real, she is the only other MVP of the Aladdin-verse besides Genie. Naomi Scott looks beautiful and we know she can sing, but it’s like, if there is any character you want more of in an Aladdin movie, it’s Jasmine.
I’m glad we know she reads now.
This is just what happens in the Disney cog machine. Remember in the 2000s, when all they would put out were these direct-to-DVD sequels and midquels of great movies? Yes, we got Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride out of it, but at what cost? People are going to see Aladdin, and kids are going to want to see Aladdin, and they should. I am as old as the original Aladdin movie, so I can accept that this adaptation will not do for me what it may do for other kids, but there is no denying that this movie will want people my age and older to see it because we did grow up with these films. Being easy money for Disney is why these remakes have been allowed to be kind of mediocre.
Every time I see the trailer for The Lion King, all I can notice is how uninteresting the color palette is. Everything looks like burnt sienna, and Scar, the campy, fabulous Scar, looks so basic. Yet, I know people are already preparing to see it because this was their childhood. For me, I recently watching The Lion King, and there isn’t anything this CGI movie can do that will ever hold a candle to that film. Does the new trailer still give me nostalgia? Yeah, at first, but then you look closer and realize that the thing that made The Lion King special lives in us, and that can’t be recreated just with really good voice actors.
We will see what happens when Aladdin hits theaters May 24.
Anyway, that’s my millennial yelling at the iCloud take. What do you think of the clip?
(image: Disney)
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