I watched the new Aladdin movie and I have to say, it’s tacky beyond expectations but not as disturbing as other animation classics that Disney have resuscitated in the form of live action CGI.
The film is held together by the Genie character, most of the time a stocky mesh of Will Smith, who we see in ‘person’ only in the few scenes where he turns into a human. All the other members of the cast are pretty much unknown and not memorable at all. You get the impression that they could have just landed from a random 5pm Disneyland street parade.
The CGI is spectacular in rendering all sorts of magic effects and visual stuff. Throughout the movie the Genie has some funny campy moments (like in the cartoon version) but in the end, when he is finally set free as a human, he opts for a heteronormative lifestyle. This ending is probably intended to reassure the audience that, even 30 years after the fist Aladdin movie, the Genie (a.k.a. “the most powerful being in the universe”) would still choose a suburban life with wife and kids above all else. I think this is depressing.
