Aladdin-Nostalgic, Charming, Confusing and Long

**Spoiler Alert**

It was wonderful to hear Will Smith sing again (haven't heard his vocals in ages) and doubly wonderful to see Apu, Aladdin, and Jasmine finally come alive on the big screen, but the "Disneymagic" either used the wrong spell or was used sparingly.

It's hard to say anything bad about Disney films because they hold so much sentiment for billions -which is exactly why the lack of sentiment in the Aladdin 2019 remake is so hard to explain.

While there are truly exciting moments, the slow pacing of the film made the most memorable scenes (i.e. marketplace chase, Genie's big number, magic carpet ride) drag on.

Truthfully, if I hadn't seen the original, I would have been very confused by some of the scenes, like how Princess Jasmine escaped from the palace and why Jafar and Aladdin took so long to recognize one another. I would actually recommend that you see the original BEFORE seeing this reinterpretation to pre-emptively clear up any ambiguity.

Maybe Disney didn't want the remake to outshine the original, which would explain the underwhelming CGI. Disney practically invented special FX and yet I barely found my eyes widen in amazement at the visuals. Even the over-the-top "Prince Ali" entry into Agrabah lacked a "wow" factor (come on guys, a parade float??) And no, it's not because of my exposure to Marvel's excessive use of VFX - the effort to make this a true spectacle seemed to lag.

Genie (Will Smith) is quite funny and his vocals are decent, but the CGI made the blue Genie speak and move robotically. However, Smith holds his own, adding his own rap flavor to Robin William's incomparable origination so you won't be disappointed. But Genie's original wild ad-libbing was missed.

The most emotional character is Jafar, whose hissing and hatred kept my interest more than anything else. He even had an amazing backstory! But the performances of the other fine actors appeared neutralized so a sense of "do a good job but not toooo good a job" was prevalent and palpable.

Aladdin and Jasmine delivered Broadway style performances without too much deviation from the original but they seemed to just like each other - not be head over heels in love - despite having over 2 hours to develop their relationship!

This is a very long movie - overly long. The mix of Princess Jasmine's modern "girl power" pop songs didn't work and weren't needed because the original Princess Jasmine was very independent. The sound was garbled at times and if I didn't already know the lyrics would not have been able to tell what was being sung during several songs. The wardrobe looked a little cheap as well - considering the main characters are rich Arabian royalty; some of Princess Jasmine's robes and jewels had that 80's sequin look going. The Palace interior looked like a set as did most of the other key locations.

So, is Aladdin 2019 worth the watch? Of course, if only for the sheer fun of it. But if I had three wishes, I wouldn't use of them to wish to watch it again.