Theatrical Review: Aladdin

Date: Saturday, June 1 2019
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Time: 1pm
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Director: Guy Ritchie (from the RDJudsie Sherlock franchise)
Writers: John August and Guy Ritchie
Composer: Alan Menken

Cast:
The Genie- Will Smith
Aladdin- Mena Massoud
Jasmine- Naomi Scott
Jafar- Marwan Kenzari
Iago- Alan Turdyk
The Sultan- Navid Negahban
Dalia- Nasim Pedrad
Hakim- Numan Acar
Prince Anders- Billy Magnussen

Duration: 128 minutes (+7 trailers) 

Write-up:

Opening Comments

So this is kind of a trip... my first very trip to the movies was "Aladdin" way back in 1992. I even double checked to see if they came out around the same time... nope, Aladdin came out originally on Veteran's Day. I was 6 at the time. I don't remember much about it beside maybe the scene where Jafar throws him into the ocean. That was kinda traumatic and hard to watch. But little else comes to mind.

It was weird going to the theater for this one because they had assigned seating. That's never happened before. Why didn't they have this during the Avengers movie? We got in the back and that made for good seats for sure. I gotta say, though, the theater had a lot of people... it was a tough crowd. Nobody was laughing. Nobody was cheering after certain musical numbers. I wanted to, but I would have felt weird doing it if nobody else was going to join in. 

What I will say for it in general... the original will still stand as a classic. Nothing will touch it. I will commend this movie for sticking to the script and not varying too far away from it and adding too much. It never felt overlong for me at any point. 
But my main issue with it-- as much as they stuck to the script in a lot of places, it almost felt forced. Like they had to follow the original dialogue verbatim and it's like they were robotic about it. 
The acting choices for Aladdin and Jasmine were very on point. In fact, I really liked Mena Massoud as Aladdin. I could see why Jasmine fell in love with him with his street smarts and cool attitude. As Prince Ali, he was a bit of a push-over and very inept in attempting to woo her and then around the time where he and Genie have that fight, he became unlikable. That scene in the original was kinda tough because they had a big following out. Here, the fight didn't feel genuine to me. Again, doing it for the sake of the storyline, but I didn't find it believable. 

Anyway, just a preview before getting entrenched in....

Coming Attractions

None of these were for the Lion King, which I found odd because that's another upcoming live remake getting a lot of anticipation. 

The Secret Life of Pets 2- I finally saw the original. It was a cute concept, but after seeing Zootopia (I know they're not exactly the same idea, but close enough), it fell a little short. Plus I saw it with commercials, which slowed things down considerably. It's an interesting concept here where Max gets mentored by this imposing dog he meets on a farm in the middle of nowhere. I found out later he's voiced by Harrison Ford... bad-ass. 

The Art of Racing in the Rain- do we really need another talking dog movie? We already got A Dog's Journey Home with the shelter dog Bella. Then we had another one with Dennis Quaid where Bailey goes through several reincarnations. Now this... and the "human" protagonist is Milo Ventimiglia from "This is Us" who marries Amanda Seyfried and they have various difficulties and their dog is played by Kevin Costner... never mind if the dog dies, if something happens to Milo, it'd be a tough watch for me. There was one cute scene where Amanda's lying on the couch with this big round belly and the dog says "I would have hoped it looks just like me"

The Addams Family- I saw the movie poster for this going into the theater. It's an animated version, but it looks funny as hell. Oscar Isaac is somewhere in the cast, another attention grabber for me :P and one funny scene where Wednesday bemoans nothing exciting is happening and her brother falls out of a 2 story window and she says "thanks for trying"

Blinded by the Light- we're just in love with music fantasy movies lately, aren't we? Unlike Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, this isn't a bio pic. Instead, it's closer to the Yesterday movie where music from a certain artist is changing someone's life. This case- Bruce Springsteen. This Indian 20-something lives in a traditional Indian household and finds his voice in Bruce's musice. To the point he gets a plane ticket to the US to see him in concert.
Now I'm not a huge fan of his... my folks grew up in New Jersey and he was played in the car a lot when I was a kid. But I don't get him that same way. In fact, I'd say I like his lesser known singles better-- Tunnel of Love and Hungry Heart are more of my speed.  As an artist, I do respect him so I think I'd really enjoy this movie. (His autobiography I've always wanted to read too)

Spider-Man: Far From Home-- after the last Avengers movie, I'm not sure how much of a mood I'll be in for these movies anymore... if this gets rave reviews, I might reconsider. But for now, I'm just not ready. 

Maleficent- Mistress of Evil-- I'm not sure what to make of this one. They already did the movie, rewrote her backstory where she's a fairy that gets her wings cut off by her lover, she's the one who kisses Sleeping Beauty awake and King Stephen is the bad guy. Are they completely rewriting that movie and trying something closer to the original Disney movie? According to IMDB, Aurora is becoming Queen... I like the idea of the back story they rewrote for this infamous Disney baddie, but it was just way too much of a re-imagining for my tastes. 

Toy Story 4- it's nice to finally get a proper trailer for this one. I'd seen a lot of teasers. Supposedly Bonnie's new toy Forky wants to run away because it wants to be in soup and be thrown away. So it's up to everyone to get it back. Then Woody meets up with Bo Peep again. Not only is she a strong feminist character, but she seems like an antagonist, trying to convince Woody there's more to a toy than just being a plaything for a child. I'm not sure how I feel about that. 

The Main Attraction 

I more or less am writing this as a fan of the original movie and talking how they adapted this from the original... therefore there will be a bunch of story spoilers, but I'm not giving everything away... at least I don't think so... 

One thing I will say to preface everything-- I don't know this movie line for line like I do "The Lion King," but I was following the script in my head for the first half of the movie... then by the second half, I just threw the book out the window and just went with the flow because it clearly wasn't going to be identical. 

First off-- Agrabah looks totally different. It's a port city instead of being in the middle of the desert. Jasmine is in the marketplace at the start, suggesting she sneaks out occasionally because she's caged in the palace all the time. She and Aladdin meet in the same manner, but it leads into his song "One Step Ahead" where he's dodging the guards.
The choreography for that scene is AMAZING. I loved how they had him going through the streets, knowing every corner like the back of his hand. But I was thinking-- why the hell is Jasmine part of all that? I felt very strange about it. 
Follow that up-- he asks who she is, but she gives a false name. The name is of her handmaiden, a completely new character invented for this movie. 
On the one hand, Dalia adds to the Genie's character arc, so that change I liked a lot. But the "false name" charade lasted way too long and it felt so forced. Plus, Dalia is played by an actress from the recent SNL cast. I found that distracting immediately because a lot of these SNL people try way too hard to be funny and it feels off. It was like having a correspondant from the Daily Show playing the Fire Lord from the live Avatar: The Last Airbender movie... one of MANY things that failed about that movie. 

Then there's the whole #GirlPower thing. It's great that they made Jasmine a strong character and she even gets her own song, "Speechless." That's kinda cool. But the need of adding another female character to this movie (which only had Jasmine in the original) and pushing the feminist agenda, it just comes off incredibly forced. As a female, I'm all for it, but don't overplay that hand. 
It's great that Jasmine cares for her people and wants to do right by them, but the whole idea of her wanting to be Sultan. I mean, her character was very critical about the princes sent her way for an arranged marriage, but she wanted to fall in love with her suitor instead of it being a forced marriage for the sake of the kingdom. (I think the original just had her bound by law to be married by her next birthday, which was impending...) 

The guy playing Jafar... yeah, he's a bit of a creep. So he nailed that, but I'm not sure if I got the whole "evil" vibe from him. What I liked that they added-- he had this weird pet peeve about being labeled "second best"-- keep an eye out for that. It's a hint for when he really goes ballistic. 
Iago, he sounds more like a parrot than Gilbert Gottefried ever did. But it was weird hearing someone else play him. I dont know if he wasn't asked because of the whole scandal that got him fired by AFLAC or they wanted to be more authentic. But I kinda missed having him in the movie. 

One change that was kinda nice. They gave a character with minimal screen time in the original movie a bigger and more impactful role. In the original, Hakim was Jafar's first sacrifice to the Cave of Wonders because he thought he'd be worthy to find the lamp. Here, he's one of the palace guards and what he winds up contributing to the movie, that was a great rewrite. I'll say that much. 

Back to the storyline-- Jasmine isn't told that Aladdin was beheaded for being accused of kidnapping her. He just agrees to meet her and he's caught by Jafar before he can. Fair enough. 
The Cave of Wonder is AMAZING... one of many great set pieces in this movie. 

Will Smith as The Genie is definitely a big talking point about this movie. He said he wanted to pay homage to Robin Williams with his performance, but also wanted to do his own twist on it. Some of the jokes were kinda lame, admittedly... need we talk about the jams (and I'm not talking about music here... bringing this up once was one thing, but multiple times in a span of 10 minutes... yikes)...
Anyway, he was a smooth customer and was a major highlight of the movie. It feels like forever since I'd seen Will Smith in anything. Since the 90's, he'd been doing a lot of serious roles in the types of movies I don't really get into. It's nice to see him in a comedic role again. 
The IMDb trivia mentioned his work in "Hitch" where he helps hapless men land hot women.... this was a very similiar dynamic.
It worked, but it also didn't. 

Aladdin was super confident in the animated version and even if he didn't really know what was what as far as being a prince, he certainly wasn't a bumbling idiot. In this version, I can understand why he'd had a difficult time adjusting to the Prince Ali character, but it's like he lost everything that made him appealing in the first place. 
They had a cool dance scene, but it was a little odd to watch with the Genie kinda pulling puppet strings to make him a sick dancer. 

The musical numbers from the movie were all hits and massive productions. Definitely well done and it helped sell the movie. The little moments in between, hit and miss. 

Quick note about the Sultan- he wasn't as dim-witted and lovable in this version, but he still had a bit of a weak mind that Jafar could control 

The scene where Jafar tries to kill Aladdin and the Genie has to save his life- I liked how they rewrote that so the high after "A Whole New World" isn't completely ruined... 
then how Jafar got the lamp back from Aladdin went back to his roots-- pay attention to the dialogue, that was a clever move.

Then when Jafar gets the lamp and starts making wishes... the storyboard by this point gets really choppy. 
It gives some big moments to other characters that didn't really get to show their strength. But how Jafar goes from Sultan to Sorcerer... it just felt weak... like he just realized nobody was going to take him seriously- some 15 minutes later- and then he makes that second wish. 

Then how the movie ends... it's a good overall ending and everyone has that happily ever after. That was great. 

Grade: B+ 

Summertime: Independence Day (1996)

Director: Roland Emmerich
Composer: David Arnold (damn his manipulative score!)

Notable Cast:
Captain Steven Hiller- Will Smith
President Whitmore- Bill Pullman
Jasmine- Vivica A. Fox
David- Jeff Goldblum
David's father- Judd Hirsch
Jimmy- Harry Connick, Jr.
Russell Casse- Randy Quaid
Defense Secretary- James Rebhorn (died in 2014)
President's daughter- Mae Whitman
Marty- Harvey Fierstein

Notable Awards and Nominations:
OSCAR- Best Visual Effects
nomination- OSCAR- Best Sound
Grammy- Best Instrumental Composition written for TV/Movie- David Arnold

Write-up:

Opening Remarks
It's hard to believe this movie turns 20 next year... makes me feel old :P
I remember when it first came out and what a huge blockbuster it was. I saw it on DVD a couple times, but don't think I really appreciated it until I got older and was able to understand more of the dialogue. Back then, the only thing I really got out of it was the epic presidential speech, the special effects and Will Smith being hilarious.

Oh those days when Will Smith was awesome...

I never thought this was the best movie in the world, but I wasn't aware it was considering "bad" in a lot of circles :P It's not super believable and thrives on special effects more than the things that really matter to a movie- a strong storyline and characters able to support it.

Unlike "Jaws," I don't mind so much seeing this year after year... but I do mind watching it when we have company over and they spend a good chunk of the movie talking about how this president is so much better than ours... that Obama never would have taken the offensive against the aliens, wouldn't have gotten directly involved with the final assault because he has no military experience, etc, etc.
I get that he isn't well liked among my family and their friends, but I don't need the political commentary every goddam time we watch this movie.

Although in truth, I only had to endure that commentary once or twice in the years we'd watched the movie.
I have my grievances with the Defense Secretary character, but beyond that, I just want to enjoy the movie- not relate it to real life and how our country has gone to hell over the past several years.
On that particular note, it's absolutely ridiculous how politically correct we've gotten lately so we don't offend every American.

Plot, Characters and Additional Commentary

Basic set-up: aliens are coming to Earth to annihilate the human race.

We have multiple storylines unfolding at once and like any good soap opera, all these characters come together in one way or another and contribute to the destruction of the aliens or helping out their fellow man.

The movie actually starts on July 2nd (54 minutes) and takes place between it, July 3rd (48 minutes) and July 4th (40 minutes).
Within the first day, Washington D.C., L.A. and New York are decimated.

Will Smith plays a pilot with aspirations to become an astronaut, but for whatever reason, NASA keeps rejecting him (can't imagine why... maybe he's too much of a maverick for their tastes?). He's on vacation, but upon this alien invasion, he gets called into work, leaving behind his stripper girlfriend (who he has yet to commit to) and her 5? year old son.
Not many people would find Jasmine's demeanor believable, but I commend her for it. In a later scene, she comes forward about her profession and says "it's good money... and my baby's worth it." There's such a stigma surrounding strippers and adult entertainers, so I personally find it refreshing that she owns up to it for these reasons.
[But maybe that's just me being biased because I'm currently writing about some characters who adult entertain for varying reasons].

Like I said before, these were the good old days when Will Smith was cool. I never watched "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and I got rid of his album after finding out I only liked 2 songs on it (the rest of was rap... excuse me for not knowing that in advance! We didn't have Internet back then).
But between "Independence Day" and "Men In Black," he was a huge star and one of the funniest actors on the planet... then he got serious with a bunch of dramatic films, dropped a few bombs (the latest being "After Earth," which nearly ruined his son, Jaden's, career... unfortunately not enough to ensure they stopped making "Karate Kid" movies... I still haven't gotten over the fact they did that remake, which out of love for the original, I am refusing to see EVER).

And the latest word is that Will Smith won't even be in the supposed sequel they've been planning for this movie... in that case, it's going to suck big time...
I enjoy a lot about Jeff Goldblum's performance in this movie, but that isn't enough to keep me engaged in this movie. Will Smith is responsible for so many laughs (many are real Laugh Out Loud moments) that keeps us going through the tragedy of it... and just might have made it bearable for a lot of people who find fault in the believability, the excessive special effects and the overbearing score.

Speaking of that score, it is freaking manipulative. When people die or we see destruction everywhere, it is so loud and overbearing that you are coerced into feeling depressed or devastated or (in the case of one death) cry your eyes out.

The Defense Secretary is played by the late James Rebhorn... not one of his finer moments. He annoyed me a bit in "My Cousin Vinny" because he was the expert witness that almost got the defendants thrown in jail for something they didn't do, but when Marisa Tomei's character gave her testimony, he conceded to her points and agreed he might have made a mistake.
He has no silver lining in this movie... except for admitting that Area 51 really exists. If not for that, the aliens would've won. Otherwise, though, he's practically gutless, insisting on taking the easy way out rather than reassuring that the American public is taken care of. He also happened to be the one person against trying out David (Jeff Goldblum)'s idea that gave us the ultimate victory.

Maybe it's because the only Jeff Goldblum movies I've seen were this one and the Jurassic Park movies... but I'm in the minority of the movie-viewing public. I really do like him a lot. Sure, his character is a little lame about his whole "I want to save the Earth" thing and he gets drunk when the military launches an unsuccessful nuclear strike (if I were to get that drunk during an alien invasion, it'd be over more important things... not that I'm belittling nuclear attacks... they still scare the crap out of me)

I seriously do enjoy him in these movies... not so much the Jurassic Park sequel where everything kinda suffers... but in these other two. And nobody could have played this particular character better than him.

The president Bill Pullman plays isn't exactly in the best part of his presidency when this crisis happens. The flurry of negative press is delivered by his press secretary at such a rushed pace that I cannot remember any of it.
But it's times like these that really define a presidency- how you react under pressure amidst circumstances such as this.

Randy Quaid plays a drunken inept crop duster who once, get this, got abducted and probed by aliens. Most people would look at that biography and laugh their asses off because it falls in line too perfectly with this movie... but it's great that he gets to get involved and winds up playing a heroic role in our overall victory.
It comes a little too late, but his stepkids get to remember him as a hero and less for his lack of parenting skills.
I do find it a little ridiculous that his daughter's one bit of characterization is that she doesn't want to die a virgin and keeps making eyes at the young guys she comes across.
Lisa Jakub had much more going for her in "Mrs. Doubtfire."

He doesn't have much screentime, but Harvey Fierstein (also from "Mrs. Doubtfire") is there as well. Again, one of my favorite voices EVER among actors :P
Watching the movie this time around was the first time I really watched him in this movie, rather than just listening to him... I then recollected how he had a boyfriend/partner in "Mrs. Doubtfire" and looked him up. For whatever reason, it took me this long to kinda realize that he's gay :shrug: that would explain all the hand movements and the whine in his voice when he was stressing about calling his mom about the invasion.
...yeah, my gay-dar has never been the sharpest, but so what? And apparently, according to some IMDB messageboards, he really is a nice guy in real life. Not that I ever had any doubts about that.

As far as aliens go, they may not look like much when they're in suspended animation... but in action, they're pretty terrifying. Also infuriating when it comes to the impenetrable shields on their ships. If the aliens in our own world are that much more advanced than us... we're pretty much screwed.

Even more so now that Will Smith won't be in the sequel. He was the only pilot skilled enough to outmaneuver an alien and the only person brave enough to talk smack to their faces.
The entire time he's out on the salt flats either confronting the alien or dragging its ass across the desert... best part of the entire movie :P


"And what the hell is that smell?!" [totally improvised- more to the salt flats than the alien itself- then he proceeds to kick its ass even more]

Final Comment

Gotta love the parody of this in the 2nd Austin Powers movie when they demonstrate the power of the "laser" on the White House.

"That was just footage from the movie 'Independence Day' but the real laser would be a lot like that... yeah."

But it terrifies the president [this is back in 1969] so much he gives in and pays the ransom... but almost blows up the moon:

The President: Jiminy Jumpin' Jesus, I can't believe we're gonna pay that madman. I got nukes out the ying-yang. Just let me launch one, for God's sake.
Commander Gilmour: Sir. Are you suggesting that we blow up the moon?
The President: Would you miss it?
[looks around the table]
The President: Would you miss it?