A kindhearted street urchin and a power-hungry Grand Vizier vie for a magic lamp that has the power to make their deepest wishes come true.
I must admit, I had a difficult time wrapping my mind around Will Smith all blued-up as a Genie. The whole wiggling out of a bottle thing seemed to take away from my idea of his masculinity, and in spite of his massive muscular build, my mind’s eye just couldn’t embrace it. It works though, and very well. With his extremely transcendent personality that exudes wit, will, and determination, Will Smith has literally come out of the bottle as an emotion-filled Genie and is single-handedly bringing attention to the downtrodden by exposing self-absorbed socialites who have their own concept of human worthiness.
Disney’s classic “Aladdin,” having debuted twenty-seven years ago as an animated film, tells the ageless story of how Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) fought a male-dominated empire and won her right to represent the citizens of Agrabah. As the story unfolds, Aladdin (Mena Massoud), a local street thief who has a sidekick in the form of a monkey named Abu, takes the heat when an unknown woman steals bread in order to feed a couple of hungry children on the street. When Aladdin refuses to mind his own business as directed and gets consumed with victory at all costs, he instantly becomes a target of Jafar (Marwan Ken Zari) and his army of followers. All out war breaks loose when a token of jewelry to even the score is redacted by a sleight of hand from Aladdin. Because Aladdin is intrigued by the woman, Princess Jasmine, and because he totally understands the plight of the children because of his own personal struggles, he refuses to give in and becomes the object of malice as he invites himself into a political storm whereby every available man in town is vying to be the object of the princess’ affection. Aladdin’s totally mundane life becomes chaotic as he must save himself from the enemy while pursuing the woman who unbeknownst to him, happens to be the most eligible bachelorette in town who is trying to escape the male-dominated politics whereby the law of the land is to marry a prince who can relieve her father, The Sultan (Navid Negahban), of the duties that have become burdensome to him.
The adventurous story of Aladdin focuses on a multitude of men who will stop at nothing to become powerful by their own terms and who will give anything to not be the person that society predisposes them to be. It also focuses on a woman who has an overwhelming amount of confidence in herself when it comes to societal matters, and an underwhelming sense of insecurity when it comes to personal matters. This remake, while infusing a great deal of the original storyline that made it a success, has also taken a huge step into layering at intervals, the progress society has made in cultural expectations as well as gender equality. Writer-Director Guy Ritchie has given the classic an epic turn as well as an upgrade that is destined to make a political statement while carefully savoring the unique qualities of the original film that make it endearing and fun to watch. The accompanying soundtrack of revised music including DJ Khaled’s “Friend Like Me” and Zayn & Zhavia’s rendition of “A Whole New World” adds a nice touch to the concept of a Hip Hop Genie who dishes out life lessons and has nothing to lose but the power to be controlled by others.
In theaters Friday, May 24th
