Disney are at it again with yet another live-action remake of their classic and timeless Animated movies this time on the chopping block is Aladdin Now if most of you think that it is unlikely The live-action remake is going to beat the original animated film then know this if I say any of these movies are tied then that is me essentially giving the live-action remake an Unbelievable amount of praise and if the live-action movie straight-out wins any of these rounds then that means the movie was able to achieve something That was miraculous and I will give the movie two extra points in my final score So with that said it's time to compare the Disney animated classic to the live-action remake let the battle commence Now I'm not going to waste time and recite the whole story for both movies everyone knows the story for Aladdin So I am just going to compare how well the live-action version? Adapts the story of the animated movie and if the changes it makes offer better or for worse So let's start with the structure now in the animated Aladdin we see a thief who has stolen a piece of treasure for Jafar Using it Jafar forms the Cave of Wonders and then you all know what happens next we cut to Aladdin who is stealing a loaf of bread and during an escape from the palace guards he sings a song explaining his life and why he steals We then see that despite how much trouble he had to go through He gives his food away to a couple of starving kids Shortly after he rescues the kids from a tempered prince and is made a mockery of then he proceeds to sing a song Explaining to us the sad side of his life the movie then cuts to Princess Jasmine and right away We discover that the law says that she has to get married to a prince She doesn't want to have an arranged marriage and instead wants to explore what goes on behind the palace walls She does just that gets herself into some trouble Aladdin gets her out of it and the to have a Conversation back at his place and they start to develop a spark Now that's a very tight and effective way of introducing these characters and their motivations, isn't it now? This is how the live-action movie tells the story We open with Aladdin who is talking to a woman whilst Abu is stealing from her the woman finds out tells one of the gods And Aladdin quietly runs away. He trades the stolen object and is given one last portion of dates He takes the dates and then gives them to a couple of starving kids and their mother We are then rather quickly taken to the market where we see Jasmine. Give a couple of kids some food Yeah, that seemed and whereas in the animated movie it took place 18 minutes into the film in the live-action version It happens in five and you know the drill she gets accused of stealing and a Leyden comes in at the last second to save her the only difference being we get a prolonged chase sequence where aladdin and Jasmine are running away from the gods and then suddenly Aladdin starts singing a song explaining his life and why he steals Yeah this song and then both him and Jasmine have a conversation at his place and right off the bat Herein, lies the problem the live-action version completely rushes and even skips the means where our characters are being developed and Then it clumsily tries to catch up by having our characters explained their whole backstory to each other in just one scene Now the benefit of the animated movie structuring the story the way it did is that we get to see the characters individually in their own separate living environments Aladdin saves Jasmine's life and they find common ground with their living conditions despite living on the opposite sides of the spectrum and the animated Movie continues with this form of storytelling from beginning to end and that's what's so great about it It structures itself in a way, which is very organized and concise it doesn't spend more time than it needs to and it gets his point across with both the characters and their Motivations and as a result you really get a feel for the situation's Dorian But you are unable to get a feel for the situations that are in in the live-action version because as well as being disorganized it Completely glosses over all of their backstory and the basic rule of storytelling is show don't tell and whereas the animated movie Follows that rule to a tee the live-action movie breaks that rule in the first 10 minutes And I don't know why it structured itself like this the benefit of staging scenes like these is that we get to see what Aladdin comes home to at the end of the day and You instantly feel an attachment to his character but the live-action Movie just expects you to know all of this stuff and to just be on board with these new versions of the characters But we needed to actually see these live-action interpretations go through all these hardships and character development in order to properly acquire an emotional connection to them, but we don't and that immediately creates a disconnect with these versions of the characters as well as a disconnect with the story and Then the story introduces plot holes that weren't there before for example Jafar is in disguise to not reveal his identity Whilst he's searching for the lamp but in the movie he reveals himself to Aladdin and tells him why he wants the lamp and in spite of this when Aladdin sees Jafar in the castle later on he doesn't tell the Sultan what Jafar's evil plans are at least in the animated version He had an excuse for not knowing Jafar was in disguise after all but in the movie he has no excuse Why didn't he tell the Sultan Jafar is your advisor? Why is he doing going rogue and looking for powerful artifacts also much like the live-action Beauty and the Beast Aladdin The transitions correctly when the animated movie transitioned from scene to scene It felt natural like the movie is telling us a story but in this movie We are thrown into the story The opening Cave of Wonders scene is just glanced over jasmine And the development she had with that dissatisfied life is completely ignored as is many of the other story elements narrative Lee It really does feel like the live-action movie is banking on the fact that you have seen the animated film in order to follow the story and this perfectly demonstrates that it sure as Hell is not able to establish and tell a coherent story itself It just takes the scenes from the original movie Mixes up their order expands the runtime and not surprisingly it doesn't connect So the movie with the superior story is the original Aladdin Alright there's a lot of characters to talk about so let's start with Aladdin now in the animated movie He is shown as this confident thief with a heart of gold at the same time however He has a no-nonsense attitude And at his core he is a very humble guy and when push comes to shove he has some serious balls in the live-action version However, they took most of Aladdin's confidence away now in the first 10 to 15 minutes of the movie He was more or less fine But after that it felt like they took his balls and gave them to Jasmine during all the more intense scenes of the movie She had far more confidence than he did even when he confronts Jafar They still for some reason reduce his Stern demeanor rather than have him grow a pair and say what he says with confidence and conviction Now this movie should have been called. Jasmine Rather than Aladdin because in pretty much every scene even the parts where Aladdin is supposed to make an entrance Jasmine is the one that does all the talking and when Aladdin does get his time to shine He doesn't illustrate the same amount of confidence that he did in the animated film and instead of looking badass During these iconic scenes such as when he breaks Jafar staff He just looked like a wimp and even the scene where he tells the genie They can't free him felt fake in the animated version You can understand what he is so worried about jasmine And her father trust him so much that they want him to be the new Sultan and you can see why that would make him Very emotional but despite having a perfect template now to do it Action version takes away the concerns of him being Sultan because the movie wants to give that title to Jasmine. Don't worry We'll talk about that. Later And as a result, it fails to convey why he is so concerned and when he lashes out with the genie He just comes off as a jerk in the animated version whether you agree with him or not He switched between a variety of different emotions and the scene is all the more tragic because the genie is so excited that he is finally going to be set free and Then when Aladdin reveals that he can't the genie understandably gets upset and you are able to understand both sides of the argument in the live-action movie, however The genie doesn't even get upset that Aladdin changes his mind and depriving the two characters of that Emotional conflict and their first falling-out really took away from what I think is one of the most heartbreaking scenes of the movie Now, is there anything good I can say about the live-action portrayal of Aladdin? Well, yes I can Throughout the movie the actor who plays him Meena Masood does a very good job of acting like the Aladdin from the cartoon He doesn't pull it off all the time But you can tell that he is trying to emulate the voice in the talking style of the original and I appreciated that I also liked the way Aladdin would pickpocket people it would make sense that a thief like him would do that and it was very Satisfying to see every time he did it but other than that the live-action version of Aladdin felt like a mess and the fact that the movie deprived him of his confidence is the biggest thing that hurt is character because there are so many times where he doesn't feel like Aladdin now in the animated movie He would get a little nervous but the majority of the time he is really owning and enjoying the fact that he is a prince but in the live-action version I Just can't help but laugh because the actor looks very awkward and uncomfortable When he's acting like a prince and some of my favorite moments that iDEN had in the animated movie It's not every day. You see a horse with two rear ends on Nowhere to be found in the live-action film Moving on the live-action film also tries to make Jasmine a more independent character And when I heard about this the question I had was wasn't she already an independent female character? She declines a bunch of marriage proposals from other princess. She escapes her home to explore the market a place She had never been to and she even denies bowing to Jafar even though he has a gigantic freakin genie on his that takes guts So I never looked at Jazmin as a character that was not independent or confident enough as she took initiative a lot in the animated Movie in the live-action film. However, she just gives tons of motivational speeches and is so forcefully independent that she just comes off as Anti-social so much so that you don't really see what I'll add in season her She's so closed off awkward and uninterested during their conversation. Is that she seems like she's incompatible with him She just comes off as too judgmental now That's fine during the early stages when they meet but as the movie goes on they're supposed to get along with each other yet She still seems quite stiff towards him and as a result the way they fall in love here is so implausible to me at least in the Animated movie they had time to talk and build a connection in this movie She thinks he stole from her and then she says to her annoying friend. I don't want to marry some prince. Although that guy I met in the market earlier is all I can think about the truth is that this Jasmine does not have as much of a Personality when compared to the animated one they needed to loosen her up a bit and make her more of a pleasant person to be around because she just seems to be Honored God the whole time even when she was being friendly She seemed too closed off and that makes their relationship just seem unbelievable and needlessly confrontational Even when a character is supposed to be frustrated like in this scene in the animated movie She's shaking and yelling at her father say what's wrong with you in the movie? she isn't the least bit rattled by it and she even sings a Completely out of left field song saying that she's not going to be silenced when a man like Jafar tells her to stay silent She even says she won't be speechless I mean seriously if you want to make her a stronger character Then don't make it So on the nose and it is really on the nose in this movie as a matter of fact This one scene that she had in the animated movie when she reveals who she is - Aladdin and the gods is far more badass And commanding than anything she does in the live-action movie. All right Now it's time to talk about the genie Now for those of you that don't know the creators of Aladdin from the ground up wrote the genie for Robin Williams So much. In fact that they said if Williams said no, then they would have been in big trouble But thankfully he said yes And we got what I think is the best comedic character out of all the Disney animated Films and we have Will Smith as the genie in the live-action film and honestly He does a very good job As a matter of fact, he was the most entertaining part of the whole movie Now the movie unfortunately doesn't have him shape-shift a lot Like he does in the animated film The furthest we get with the genies transformations is when he sings that you've never had a friend like me song Although I will admit there is one scene where the genie controls Aladdin to dance in front of jasmine And it was surprisingly kind of fun to watch And very strangely the movie takes a departure from the Arabic setting of the animated film and it goes all Bollywood during these scenes Now my only real problem with Will Smith's genie. Is that the more Emotional scenes he has with Aladdin are very poorly done I gave an example earlier. But another is when Aladdin asked the genie what he would wish for in the animated film It was a genuine moment the two had with each other between all the crazy interactions but in the movie it feels like something they just said in passing and the concept of freedom didn't sound as Sensational to Will Smith's genie as it did to Robin Williams So Will Smith's genie was good, but it's nowhere near the quality of the genie from Robin Williams And I think we all kind of expected that All right Now it's time to talk about Jafar and let me tell you if you want to watch a movie where you constantly Laugh at a character then look no further because he is not Intimidating and the boys he puts on just doesn't come across as cunning and evil even when he twists into an evil laugh He messes that up. When you animate. Jafar did it his laugh was freaky and maniacal when live-action Jafar did it? I just laughed so hard. He's also Lila Slee impulsive in the animated movie Jafar never spoke totally out of terms with the Sultan he was much smarter than that He would usually talk very calmly while simultaneously being very manipulative. Even if he didn't get what he wanted in that moment He knew he could get it later But in the live-action movie the first conversation he has with the Sultan gets very heated and that makes no sense Because he knows that he has his staff which he can use to control the Sultan So why would he get so mad during one of their? Conversations it immediately shows the lack of understanding with Jafar's character and we get plenty more examples of this as the movie goes Another one is that Jafar just randomly picks Aladdin on a whim to venture into the Cave of Wonders Now in the animated movie it actually shows us why he chooses him I don't know what this magical contraption is, but it points him in Aladdin's direction But in the new one He just randomly chooses him to go in the cave Another example of this movie's lack of understanding of Jafar is when he tries to marry Jasmine now in the animated movie he failed to get the lamp and become all-powerful So he decides to marry Jasmine as a Plan B this way He becomes the Sultan kills Jasmine and her father and then he is all strong and powerful in the live-action movie however He gets the lamp acquires all the power he could possibly want and then out of nowhere Says now the princess will marry me now in the animated movie he gets the lamp and also says he wants to marry her but this was more of a power move and a gradual progression of His hunger and greed for more control now I'm sure this guy is a fine actor but he was unforgivably miscast as Jafar his Performance goes against everything that made the character so good in the original but on top of everything I've just said This Jafar is also so much slower at executing his evil plans Jafar in the original became the Sultan an evil sorcerer exposed Aladdin and Abu and banished them all within the span of two Minutes in the live-action movie it takes him 10 minutes to do the same thing and there are plenty more examples of his slow decision-making and they don't even have the proper build-up or Motivation backing them not to mention that every time Jafar was making a wish in the animated movie You felt his power getting bigger and bigger in the live-action movie however You don't get a feel for any of it his evil acts deliver next to no impact and as for the side characters Even they get pushed off to the side the Sultan was completely forgettable and didn't have a memorable Personality like he did in the animated movie Raja had no reason to be there at all Abu felt completely pointless in the animated movie Aladdin would talk to him tell him off and even exchange some looks but in the live-action Movie they hardly interact with each other at all Abu just comes off like an afterthought the same goes for the magic carpets and even Yaga was shamelessly pushed off to the side In the original movie that hole Jafar marrying jasmine was his idea But in spite of that they just cast him aside as if he was nothing. He didn't even have a character He was just reduced to a normal talking parrot. So they pretty much bashed the side characters So overall the characters in the live-action Aladdin are completely inferior to their animated counterparts the main two leads are clearly trying their best with the material that is given to them and Will Smith is of course bringing his Own charm and spin to the role but unsurprisingly that doesn't change the fact that the movie with the far superior Characters is the animated movie The songs in the animators Aladdin are full of variety and they each provide a different yet consistent energy When you finish watching each one you feel like you have gone on a bunch of different rides each one giving you a different adrenaline rush the live-action version However just doesn't have that same kinetic energy that the cartoon had and that goes for both the actual songs as well as the visuals You see during the songs That's pretty much how I feel about all the songs in the live-action Film and that's all the more reason why I gotta give more props to the songs in the animated version They are a feast for the ears as well as the eyes and it really is amazing that 27 years later They are still so great the songs in the live-action version however already come off as dated and I know Without a shadow of a doubt that these songs are not going to hold up for 27 days Let alone 20 7 years even from a storytelling point of view these songs Don't hold the same weight and meaning as they did in the animated film The whole new world song for example is where aladdin and Jasmine are supposed to be bonding and proclaiming that they want to be together But it just feels really out of place here, especially when you take into account how uninterested and judgemental She keeps acting towards him. You don't believe that these two have fallen for each other yet And therefore it makes this classic song about wanting to be together feel Completely out of place and meaningless and the prince Holly number which is actually my favorite song of the whole movie I was just laughing throughout the whole thing and they ruined what is in my opinion the best part of this song when the parade? Bursts into the palace they screwed it up so bad Should have gotten me mad But it didn't I just started laughing so hard because Will Smith and the dancers behind him just went full-on Fresh Prince and the dancing they were doing was honestly like watching a bunch of circus freaks. That's not a term I would ever use but seriously, that's what it looked like I will say this about the production of the movie though the sets the costumes and the locations are all there But they really needed some CGI to complete it. This is where you need to throw in all the CGI you can part of the reasons the choreography of the musical numbers was so iconic in the animated movie is because of all the animals background singers and especially the Jeannie who Is shape-shifting left and right and the live-action version really is lacking with regards to that personality Not to mention that in the animated film. There is also a lot of humor going on in the songs So as well as being entertained by them, you are also laughing with them as opposed to the live-action version of the songs We are just laughing at them now It's worth pointing out that these songs are nowhere near as disappointing as they were in the live-action Beauty and the Beast they are still watchable and there is some enjoyment that you can have with them but for a modern remake with today's advanced musical talents and Technology These songs are not better nor are they even on the same level as the animated film? You think that Disney would be able to make these songs even better with all the advancements with technology and talent in the music industry But they for some reason aren't able to do it They just come off as more artificial and also tuned whereas in the animated version all the voices sounded 100% natural But in the live-action movie they sound a lot more computerized I mean just watch the Prince Ali song that I sung by Robin Williams in the original and then take a look at the one Sung by Will Smith's in the live-action remake there are times where it sounds 100% like Will Smith But then there are times where it sounds like the computer is making adjustments to his voice now the movie does some original stuff that works such as the scene where the genie uses Aladdin as a puppet now aside from Reminded me of the puppet scene from Nightmare on Elm Street 3 This was a great visual because it was something new and original and that's the sort of visual creativity that they needed to incorporate a lot more because when they didn't the songs were just visually Boring to look at and when combined with the inferior singing it really made the musical numbers come off as even more Ripoff and that pretty much sums up my overall feelings towards them even the music in the live-action version is so lame it constantly Reuses the same piece of Aladdin music over and over again to a nauseating degree so I'm sure you all saw this coming the movie with the for superior songs is the original movie Now Aladdin had a good amount of action scenes there were the chase scenes were the palace gods there was the Spectacular magic carpet escape and there was even the climactic battle with Jafar and each of these action scenes are filled with a great amount Of tension as well as some light-hearted fun when the moment called for it and these action scenes have aged Incredibly well, and if you think they are great now then you can imagine how groundbreaking they were back in 1992 They really did blow everyone away with their creative set pieces and fantastic animation So what were these action seems like in the live action movie? Well, I can sum them up with two words cheap and uninspired the action in the animated movie is so fast-paced and full of creativity and the Live-action version for some reason doesn't try to do any of those things now if there was one scene I was really interested in seeing how they would pull off in live-action It was the final climactic battle scene where Jafar transforms into a snake and fights Aladdin, but that scene wasn't in the movie instead They replaced it with a magic carpet chase sequence, which was a decent action scene But it turns into absolute shit when you realize it replaces the final battle with Jafar in the original and I don't know whose fault It is Disney for not wanting to put in the time and effort to fund a scene like this or the director who couldn't be bothered Whoever made the decision they went with a underwhelming chase scene involving a big parrot How much did you reckon that cost them a whole lot less than the original climax would have cost them? That's for sure. Even the action in the Cave of Wonders was disappointing now The Cave of Wonders was big in scale, which was good, but unlike the animated movie It didn't look visually stunning to the point that you believe that it would tempt Aladdin and a booze in agreed And do you remember the super fast-paced magic carpet chase scene, which to this day has got so much praise Well, it was treated like nothing in this movie They didn't even try it was so lame and lacked any of the creative genius that the animated film bought to it And I didn't expect the scene to be that good. But damn I didn't expect them to be this lazy with it They should have made it a creative and action-packed scene But it just ended up being nothing and it was over in like 30 seconds I honestly don't know what else to say about this the movie with the far more inspired and far more creative action is the animated Aladdin What else can I say? The original Aladdin is a classic masterpiece of a Disney movie and the live-action remake is just another live-action remake any Changes it attempts to make is essentially pointless because there is nothing to fix the story was perfect the characters were perfect The comedy was perfect. The action was perfect. The animation was perfect. Good god the songs to this day are still Mind-blowing and the live-action remake is a significantly lesser version of all those things and one of the biggest changes in the live-action Movie is that instead of Aladdin being the Sultan after he gets married to Jasmine? Jasmine becomes the Sultan and this made no sense to me now, her heart is in the right place But what does Jasmine know about running a village and making it a better place? She doesn't even know how a store works for crying out loud Aladdin on the other hand lived in the village his whole life and knows Inside out what the problems are and which ones need to be addressed the only connection that jasmine has to the village Is that our mother used to live in it? Yep and the movie uses this as a motivation for her to become the Sultan that Doesn't make her a qualified person to rule the village So that was poorly written and just comes off as forced But in the name of empowerment the movie makes her the Sultan and Aladdin the title character is just there I suppose so if that doesn't prove that the changes to this movie are nonsensical then I don't know what will is Time for the scores the animators Aladdin gets a 10 out of 10 and the live-action remake gets up three I Don't know how this movie is 35 minutes longer than the animated film and even with that extra time it still failed to flesh out The characters and story something the original did effortlessly in a much shorter span of time Also the whole do you trust me line was so impactful and meaningful In the animated movie but in the live-action film when it happened I actually had to remind myself what the line meant It didn't instantly hit me like it did in the animated movie and I was not the only one who felt this way my brother and sister are watching this movie with me and they felt the Exact same way and I also find it very hypocritical that Hollywood keep talking about diversity yet in this film They changed everyone from being Arabic to Indian It just goes to prove that diversity in Hollywood is all affront If they really believed in it, then they would have included an Arabic cast as this is an Arabic setting I mean this is about as insulting as when M night Shyamalan cast actors in the last airbender whose ethnicities did not reflect what they were in the animated source material and Tonally, would you believe that the original animated Aladdin is much darker than the live-action remake? Jafar is far more Intimidating people actually threatened with knives much more often Aladdin stabbed Jafar and we see a bit of blood and we even have Robin Williams doing an impression of Jack Nicholson someone who should never be in a kids movie and that's kind of a shame when you watch these live action remakes one thing you Would expect is for them to be a bit more adult and edgier than their cartoon counterparts that worked for The Jungle Book So you would think that Disney would try to actually modernize some of this dot material But they didn't they did the opposite and made it even more kid-friendly And if the animated movie is better in every way and is also way more adult then what the hell do we need this? live-action remake for and in answer to your question No I don't think the live-action Aladdin is worse than the live-action Beauty and the Beast and the main reason why is because whereas reviewing the Beast I was getting frustrated Whilst watching it. I never got mad at the live-action alive in I was just laughing through it the whole time It's stupidity and incompetence almost makes the movie so bad. It's good and also you don't cringe as much with Aladdin as you do with Beauty and the Beast I mean That film was so tough to sit through and if I had to sit through one of these movies again Then I would easily pick Aladdin No about it, but that's not saying Aladdin is good It still had several cringy moments to sit through and the whole identity of the original movie is completely lost in here I would say that Disney should put more work into their live-action remakes But now I know that is never going to happen My next Disney verses video will be against the remake of The Lion King and that Movie is at least being directed by Jon Favreau. The guy who made the live-action jungle book So stay tuned if you want to know if I think that film fares any better So that's it for another verses video If you guys liked it Please do give it a thumbs up as that really helps and get my videos noticed and if you're new to the channel be sure To click that subscribe button and the bell right next to it so you can stay up to date with all my future Verses videos and I will catch all of you Next time. Take care
