Aladdin

Guy Ritchie’s 2019 film hands Jasmine a new objective without wiring it into the plot. Her wish to rule resolves in one song and one speech; she does not win the throne, the sultan grants it. The added material sits beside the old story rather than altering it. The Genie gets a romance of his own with Dalia, so a story built for one couple must feed three relationships inside 127 minutes, and Aladdin and Jasmine’s scenes are what lose out. A third strain is in the cutting: Ritchie’s speed changes and impact cuts collide with musical staging, so “Prince Ali” is chopped like an action sequence instead of held whole, and full-body choreography is rarely visible. More than two thousand performers auditioned; the producers’ difficulty was finding a male lead in his twenties, of Middle Eastern or Indian descent, who could act and sing. Agrabah’s streets were built at Longcross Studios in Surrey, and the desert passages shot at Wadi Rum in Jordan. Jasmine’s new song “Speechless” was written by Alan Menken, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and sung by Naomi Scott. The film passed a billion dollars worldwide. Go in if the material added to Jasmine’s line is worth the ticket alone. Avoid it if the Genie and Dalia eating into the main couple’s time will bother you.