Full 'Aladdin' Trailer Shows It's a Whole New World for Disney Remakes
Don’t you dare close your eyes: The trailer for Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin is here. And to nearly everyone’s surprise, it’s actually more beautiful than all of the treasures in Agrabah. Loaded with all the nostalgic hits millennials care about (including the pop ballad “A Whole New World”), the trailer presents a surprisingly gritty, fun fantasy adventure that looks far less gaudy than Disney’s previous live-action efforts.
On Tuesday, Disney released the trailer for Aladdin, in theaters on May 24, which is a more meaty, story-centric follow-up to the teaser that premiered in December, and also the one that weirded out the internet in February.
In this new trailer, Aladdin (Mena Massoud) parkours through Agrabah like a “street rat” until he meets the beautiful Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) Power Rangers). From there, he also meets the Genie (Will Smith), who grants him his wish to become the charming “Prince Ali” while evading the powerful and sinister Jafar (Marwan Kenzari).
Peppered with all the familiar karaoke faves, Aladdin looks to be a beat-for-beat recreation of the 1992 animated original, which won two Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. (Fun fact: There wasn’t a Best Animated Feature Oscar until 2001. The first movie to win it? Shrek.)
What makes Aladdin really pop off is that it’s probably the most visually beautiful and consistent of all the live-action Disney remakes to date. Though we’ve still yet to see the whole film, not once in the trailer did I see anything off-putting or eerie like I did watching the moving clocks and candles in the trailers for 2017’s Beauty and the Beast.
Instead, I remain impressed by how textured and alive Agrabah looks. I’m amazed by the costumes, which is where the film’s Bollywood influences really shine. I’m most impressed by how good blue Will Smith looks in motion.
Since 2010, when Disney first ushered in its live-action remake efforts with the billion-dollar smash Alice in Wonderland, the aesthetics for the live-action films have either been a big hit (2015’s Cinderella, 2016’s The Jungle Book) or a massive miss (2014’s Maleficent, 2017’s Beast).
There’s no in-between with them. You either get a gorgeous work of art, or a poorly rendered PlayStation 3 game blown up into IMAX. (Oddly enough, some of Aladdin’s parkour running feels especially like Assassin’s Creed.) While the initial promotional materials for Aladdin put the film in the latter category, there’s something about this new trailer that makes me confident it could be the former. Though, honestly, it might just be the music.
Disney’s Aladdin will carpet ride into theaters on May 24.
