Aladdin (Live-Action)

[Sotiris]

A couple of animators try to explain why the genie doesn't look good.

Matt Jones: OK, watched this too many times; can’t even tell if the body is CG or really Will Smith? Does the clip feel weird cause Smith was walking in the shot but they made him float? So there’s muscle adjustments in the torso that now look unnatural? OR is it CG body with weird gestures?

Craig Good: Looks absolutely like CG animation to me. Rather disappointing animation, even if the mass of the character is supposed to be floating. Maybe mocap was involved and not well edited.

Source: https://twitter.com/Jonezee99/status/10 ... 8921540608


Skyler Shuler claims the VFX is still being worked on.

Aladdin is still in post-production, VFX are NOT finished yet, and the film is still over 3 months out. Calm yourselves.

Source: https://twitter.com/Skylerhxc/status/10 ... 5241221121

[Sotiris]

Did they cut one of the songs? In a new interview, the film's producer mentions the film only having one song.

Q: Now, I got to ask you about Aladdin. What does Will Smith look like when he's blue?

Dan Lin: He's a big, blue genie. He's got a great tail...He's really bulky but he's really funny. He brings his own style and hip-hop flavor to it.

Q: There are at least two new songs in Aladdin. Tell me about the songs.

Dan Lin: We have one new song right now. It's almost an anthem for Jasmine. I want you to see it. It's really about her strength and independence. She really wants to be Sultan.

Q: Why is it important to have a song about female empowerment in Aladdin?

Dan Lin: In the first movie, we felt she didn't have enough goals other than just to meet a guy. Here she wants to do more. She wants to save her world, Agrabah. She wants to play her part in leading her kingdom.

Q: How many Aladdins are you going to do?

Dan Lin: Don't know yet. Just focusing on one movie at a time.

Source: https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1091780746421796864

[Mooky]

Dan Lin: In the first movie, we felt she didn't have enough goals other than just to meet a guy.

*insert "Wat" meme*

What is it with people Disney is hiring for these remakes? They completely misread the original films and come up with these inane interpretations. Sure, Jasmine's agency leaves a lot to be desired, but like, has this guy even seen the same film as everyone else? She only wants to meet a guy?!? But why am I surprised, this is coming from the same studio who brought us a misunderstood Maleficent and an extra-feminist Belle.

[ChrisLyne]

I can't believe they'd cut the new Aladdin/Jasmine duet! Then again, I'm still surprised they didn't give Genie a new number written for Will Smith.

Could simply be a mistake on the producer's part. Could be to do with pacing, could be to do with test audiences (like how POYW was almost cut from TLM). My worst fear is this could be due to Mena's singing, since he said he was learning to sing for the film. Truly hope that's not the case. Just dub his singing voice if you need to.

My biggest issue with that interview is this; "we felt she didn't have enough goals other than just to meet a guy"
Did I watch the same Aladdin as this guy? Jasmine's goal was never to "meet a guy". She ran away because she was being forced to "meet a guy". And Jasmine's act of running away drives the whole narrative of the movie forward from that point. If she didn't run away and meet Aladdin then he loses his main motivation to go to the cave with Jafar (ok, I'm sure money would still motivate him as it promises a better life, but that wasn't his motivation in the film). Her decision changes everything.

[disneyprincess11]

In the first movie, we felt she didn't have enough goals other than just to meet a guy. Here she wants to do more.

Did they even watch the movie?!?!?! Or is Disney trying to brainwash the public with the live action movies are better than the “lame kids’ 2D version.@

Good lord

[ChrisLyne]

Another quick thought - Jasmine wants to be Sultan in this version. How does this square with her running away? Or perhaps this Jasmine isn't running away, just out in disguise to be amongst her people?

[Sotiris]

I can't believe they'd cut the new Aladdin/Jasmine duet! Then again, I'm still surprised they didn't give Genie a new number written for Will Smith. Could simply be a mistake on the producer's part. Could be to do with pacing, could be to do with test audiences (like how POYW was almost cut from TLM).

I sincerely hope the producer simply misspoke. I was really looking forward to their new duet.

[Vlad]

I love it. I agree, Jafar's delivery of the lines was very robotic in the trailer, but I'm sure it will be a lot better in the finished film. But visually, it looks amazing.

[robster16]

What I like the least is the implication of this trailer that Aladdin is taken to the cave of wonders by Jafar, who is NOT in disguise. Which would imply that Aladdin from the get go will know Jafar is a crook. It's much more powerful when nobody knows and then it is revealed to them as a plot twist type of thing. Why does Disney continue to want to keep changing the flow of the plot's of the animated originals when there is absolutely no need to do so... It's just... annoying!

[Sotiris]

What is it with people Disney is hiring for these remakes? They completely misread the original films and come up with these inane interpretations. Sure, Jasmine's agency leaves a lot to be desired, but like, has this guy even seen the same film as everyone else? She only wants to meet a guy?!? But why am I surprised, this is coming from the same studio who brought us a misunderstood Maleficent and an extra-feminist Belle.

Disney is simply reacting to decades-worth of incessant criticism and derision of their female heroines. Of course, they're going to try to appease the critics to avoid further backlash with the remakes. If you're going blame someone here, blame social media that have given a powerful platform to these people and have made them much more difficult to ignore.

[Mooky]

I agree, social media (Twitter in particular) bears a lot of blame, but instances like the one above show it also has a lot to do with incompetent and/or entitled creative personnel they hire, who are allowed to spread these misconceptions about films they're supposedly fans of. It's not something exclusive to live-action remakes, comments from people like Rich Moore about princesses show this is a company-wide problem. It's like they're both clueless about and ashamed of their own legacy.

[ChrisLyne]

What I like the least is the implication of this trailer that Aladdin is taken to the cave of wonders by Jafar, who is NOT in disguise. Which would imply that Aladdin from the get go will know Jafar is a crook. It's much more powerful when nobody knows and then it is revealed to them as a plot twist type of thing. Why does Disney continue to want to keep changing the flow of the plot's of the animated originals when there is absolutely no need to do so... It's just... annoying!

They did something similar with the Broadway show and it worked fine. Jafar (disguised as Al's uncle) saves him from the guards, takes of his disguise and offers him riches enough to impress Jasmine if he'll fetch the lamp for him. Al gets the lamp but touches the treasure (there's no Abu) and the cave collapses. So it misses out the "eternal reward dialogue". There is some threatening dialogue as they travel to the cave but it's played as comedy so it doesn't really come up later as Aladdin knowing Jafar is a villain. He knows he wanted the lamp and there's a funny, "you don't recognize me?" bit when he gets to the palace as Ali and realizes Jafar is the royal vizier. I could see them doing something similar here, which would also explain why Jafar's dialogue in the trailer isn't threatening or sinister.

I'm intrigued to see how they play Jasmine running away, them being capture by the guards and Aladdin going to the cave. It seems like the story beats will be there but will play differently, perhaps very differently, to the original.

[thedisneyspirit]

Honestly the whole dismissal of their old female characters isn't new, this has been going on since the inception of these movies. New Cinderella is smart and brave and "not a damsel unlike the old doormat", Belle is an inventor and challenges the town much better than "that old Stockholm syndrome captive", and even new Alice was praised at first for being a girl who fights rather than "a moron who gets lost in another world due to her own stupidity".

Kinda funny too it's always men the ones who give these comments. You'd think a woman's perspective on these characters that isn't parroting of what Emma Watson or Kristen Bell said to carry some interesting ideas to the discussion, but nope, Disney still thinks Shrek's opinion of their movies is relevant.

[nomad2010]

I’ve got a couple thoughts about this Jasmine role reversal. First, the whole point of Jasmine was she didn’t want to meet a guy. She wanted to escape and see the world and find love on her time if she so happens to. So changing her to wanting to be sultan makes little no sense and contradicts her entire arc.

However, I do think if they handle it the way I’m hoping they do that it could be a good thing. My only problem with the original Aladdin was the insinuation that he’d eventually be sultan. Sure, he’s proven himself a good hearted person who could feasibly lead, but it always felt weird to me. If they change it to where Jasmine can be sultan, then I actually think it leads more toward better development for both of them. But it can’t be that she from the get go wants to lead her people. That makes no sense. Now if she realizes she needs to when she is in the marketplace, I can deal with. And then Aladdin’s supposed death becomes the catalyst for her change, I think it could work. Hopefully they went that route.

[Sotiris]

^Agreed. It wouldn't make sense for her to want to lead from the get-go when she's been pampered and coddled her whole life and never allowed to go outside. It would come off as her just being power-hungry or simply filling a role she's expected to. It would only work after she's been exposed to the cruel, unjust life outside the palace walls. That should be what drives her to become sultan. Her desire to help her people.

[thedisneyspirit]

No Jafar villain song? Again?

[Disney's Divinity]

I like the producer's description of Jasmine's song, that she realizes she'll only be able to really change Agrabah's ways when she is Sultana herself. I don't think it's a misconception to say that Jasmine in the original film is a poor example, even in comparison to the other heroines of her day like Ariel, Belle, Pocahontas, and so on.

Tbh, I don't know why people still check for the re-makes when you already know from the past releases that you're going to hate them sight unseen.

Kinda funny too it's always men the ones who give these comments. You'd think a woman's perspective on these characters that isn't parroting of what Emma Watson or Kristen Bell said to carry some interesting ideas to the discussion, but nope, Disney still thinks Shrek's opinion of their movies is relevant.

Yes, let's listen to a woman's perspective, too. Oh, except the ones I disagree with (the dreaded, evuhl feminists!!).

[MrXemnas1992]

dear lord, i've never seen a disney movie trailer get 32k down votes vs 27k upvotes [currently]

hides in the bomb shelter

so much for investing in disney stock shares this year.

[JeanGreyForever]

I think out of all the live-action films so far, this one has been getting the most negativity. I wonder if this will get Disney to rethink how they market their other ones.

The change in Jasmine's motivations actually aren't that groundbreaking because OUAT did the same exact thing. She meets Aladdin after she goes to the market to find help to overthrow Jafar. If I'm correct, these were originally Jasmine's motivations in an unused draft for Aladdin. It was changed to running away to escape marriage later on.

No Jafar villain song? Again?

I was upset about this too but if Jafar in the movie is anything like what we've seen from the sneak peek, maybe that's a blessing.

[MrXemnas1992]

Am i just being neurotic or is anyone else unnerved by all the intense backlash this is getting?

Like Beauty and the Beast or Maleficent never received so much vitriol.