Aladdin (Live-Action)

[JeanGreyForever]

I know that's a bit of an apples/oranges comparison (Menken and Ashman weren't coming in an adding songs to say Bedknobs and Broomsticks) but in my opinion even the Sherman Brothers had some duds among their work. Like everyone knows A Spoonful of Sugar, and very few people know Higgitus Figitus or a Step in the Right Direction.

Good point. Although I would say that The Sword in the Stone was weak in every aspect, not just musically. And of course A Step in the Right Direction couldn't be remembered since it was ungraciously cut from the film and to this day that footage hasn't been recovered. I do believe that had the full film been screened, at least some of those songs would be better remembered, especially A Step in the Right Direction. As arguably the best song of the film, it could have been a classic.

[Sotiris]

So apparently in Disney’s live-action Aladdin, Iago doesn’t talk...but thanks to test screenings, I’ve heard that could change.

Source: https://twitter.com/Skylerhxc/status/10 ... 9822741504

[Kyle]

Why would you have a parrot that doesnt talk? that's like the main draw of them.

[Disney's Divinity]

It doesn't surprise me. They may want Jafar to be more serious, without any comic relief. They could've at least allowed the parrot to say short, cryptic sentences from time to time.

[robster16]

New behind the scenes article about Aladdin on Entertainment Weekly with plenty of visuals and video of the making of and the characters!

https://ew.com/movies/2018/12/19/aladdi ... ver-story/

It's truly impossible to post or links any images or content on this forum so go look for yourself.... trying to link images is just frustrating!

[Atlantica]

It reminds me of a panto or something ? I'm not quite sure why !

[Sotiris]

New behind the scenes article about Aladdin on Entertainment Weekly with plenty of visuals and video of the making of and the characters! https://ew.com/movies/2018/12/19/aladdi ... ver-story/

EW has released more stills from the film.

• The costumes are a letdown. While not bad per se they're not very well designed or luxurious-looking. They look a bit generic and uninspired. I expected something better when it came to costuming. The ones created for the Broadway show were much better.

• The fact Will Smith is doing a hip-hop take of "Friend Like Me" is worrisome. Did they change or add lyrics to accommodate his version? Will it sound too modern? It's hard to imagine what the end result would be like but I remain cautiously optimistic.

• Abu looks really bad. What's up with the CG? His design is unsettling.

[Pasta67]

To repeat my thoughts from Twitter...

Scott's a better fit for Jasmine than I thought she'd be, and Smith's Genie is only shocking if you've never seen nor heard of the Broadway musical. The article mentions he'll also have a "blue floating lamp form", so make of that what you will.

Still not feeling Massoud's look as Aladdin. It's the clothes.

The article itself doesn't reveal much we didn't already know. Excited for the promised "brotherly back-and forth" between Al and Genie. But man, y'all gotta stop forcing Menken to write a brand new solo song for Jasmine each and every time we revisit this story. The well's dry.

Abu looks exactly how you'd expect for this kind of thing. Call me if Frank Welker returns and I'll get excited.

Not feeling any sort of presence from Jafar. Just a dude in a costume. Subduing his imposing red color scheme and adding that same red to Aladdin's vest is a strange choice.

[Sotiris]

I'd actually prefer it if he weren't. It'll look too weird and artificial in live-action.

Relax, Everyone – Will Smith Says His ‘Aladdin’ Genie Is ‘Gonna Be Blue’
https://www.thewrap.com/aladdin-genie-w ... -cgi-hair/

[Sotiris]

Not feeling any sort of presence from Jafar. Just a dude in a costume. Subduing his imposing red color scheme and adding that same red to Aladdin's vest is a strange choice.

The costume design both in terms of pattern and color scheme is to blame here. They don't compliment or enhance the characters. They don't make them pop.

[nomad2010]

Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised but I do have a few nitpicks.

Aladdin’s double white and black stripes are a really odd choice. Naomi’s hair is just not Princess Jasmine hair. I wish they would’ve wigged her, or gave her extensions to thicken it up and give it more of the feel of the character. My biggest issue here is Jafar. I feel like they really slacked with his costume. It’s not imposing or structured. I really am bummed about that.

However, Jasmines pink dress on the stairs is incredible. Will looks just fine as the genie. About what I pictured considering the Broadway show. Though we still haven’t seen his blue form, I imagine it’ll be decently reminiscent of what we know.

Beyond that, these are more of just set photos, not shots taken directly out of the movie. So it’ll be interesting to see actual footage of all this in motion. I’m sure that’ll change some things as well. Looking forward to a new trailer in the next couple months.

[disneyprincess11]

So...where do I begin with this?

Good:

* Naomi Scott looks beautiful as Jasmine. Her salmon dress is to die for and I love the picture with her and her friend where her hair is long and she has peacock fabric. I really like her peasant wear. The style is beautiful, but something is off about it. It may look a bit too rich?

But, this pic of her is my favorite. The blue outfit looks much better here.

https://66.media.tumblr.com/666a2c7ce54 ... 68_540.jpg

* Mena Massoud and Marwan Kenzar (even if Kenzar is a bit underwhelming) look good as Aladdin and Jafar.

* Abu looks ADORABLE

Bad:

* The take of Jasmine's iconic blue outfit is a letdown. Its direction is everywhere. They don't want a midriff, which is fine. But, then they add this weird nude color element where the midriff would be. Her outfit has a new shoulder sleeve, but you can see the off-the-shoulder sleeve from the original too. And is that supposed to be a zipper in the front?
* You're telling me that they seriously didn’t find a actor for Aladdin who can sing and dance despite the THOUSANDS of musical newcomers who audition?! Mena says in the article that he had to learn to sing and dance on the set. So it’ll be another Emma Watson situation then. Yippee.
* Not only does Will Smith looks extremely underwhelming here (it looks like they took the Broadway costume), the fact that there's RAPPING in Friend Like Me and Smith's Genie being half "French Prince" confirmed what I was exactly afraid of as Smith as the Genie. How was Menken okay with this? They should have gotten James Monroe Iglehart. Period. He is honestly as close as you can get to Robin Williams. I hope Smith proves me wrong. I'm excited to see his blue self.

[JeanGreyForever]

I overall like Jasmine's look but I wish her outfit was more blue. I hate how because of the DP franchise, she's more associated with green or teal than light blue. I suppose this was to be expected since Cinderella's silver dress was blue and Belle's gold dress was yellow in their live-action films. The jewelry, similarly, could have used lapis rather than the teal gemstones used instead.

I would have liked poofier hair but I quite like her hair here as well. I don't think the poofy hair would work as well outside of animation. There's a reason it wasn't implemented in the Broadway show and in her original look at the Disney Parks, it clearly looked like a wig hence the redesign.

I'm glad that she has alternate styles of the outfit from the different pictures like having her hair open or the peacock veil which looks gorgeous. The red-pink outfit looks lovely as well! Hope to see more of that plus a doll and potentially a costume. I also really like Jasmine's street disguise outfit. It's different from the animated film but this one has a pretty design overall and I'm glad that like the original movie, she's wearing her princess outfit underneath.

Aladdin's design is okay but I don't like it as much. However, I think that's fine since he isn't supposed to "pop" out because he's a beggar in that costume. I'm more interested in seeing his prince costume. I do wish they could have retained purple as his color scheme rather than red/orange like here and in the Broadway show, but maybe they're saving purple for his prince outfit. That probably makes a lot more sense anyway.

Jafar is a bit underwhelming. He just seems to lack presence compared to his animated counterpart, however I have to remind myself that even the live-action design for Maleficent paled in comparison to the remarkable animated version of her. All the details of the flame robes and the various colors were lost, so it shouldn't be that surprising that a lot of the red elements were removed from Jafar's design. He's a vizier anyway so his robes shouldn't be too grand. I hope when he becomes a sultan and sorcerer, we see more impressive costuming for him.

I love Abu's design! He's so cute and I'll definitely be getting a plush of him like this. Want to see Iago and Rajah as well but I really hope they listen to the test screeners and make Iago talk. It's ridiculous to silence him since who will Jafar be talking to then? Not to mention, he's a parrot so he has to speak.

Genie's design works overall for me although I'm not too fond of the hip-hop style that Will Smith referred to. He said that there really isn't much hip-hop in Disney and I think that there's a solid reason for that. I hope it doesn't come off as too jarring. I am looking forward to seeing him in full genie in the lamp form with the blue skin. From what I got from the article, his skin will only be blue when he's connected to the lamp otherwise his skin tone reverts to normal when he's out of it.

Hope to see more of Agrabah and the palace. The still with the citizens of Agrabah looks promising enough. It actually feels like it could have been a fictional Middle Eastern kingdom. I like the design of Jasmine's handmaiden (Nasim Pedrad) and I really want to see the sultan and prince now as well.

Overall, there are a few things I'm nitpicky about, but I'm more pleased with these designs than I was with BATB. The designs for Belle and the Beast were very underwhelming when we first got wind of them, so my reaction here is much preferable.

[Disney Duster]

Well...I like the Genie's look. I don't like Aladdin's loss of purple. In the original film red meant evil. I like Jasmine's hair, tiara, and jewelry. I hate the part of Jasmine's costume that is supposed to resemble the midriff they got rid of. Wtf. But the rest is ok. I actually like Jafar's costume. I like the shawl around Jasmin in the market place. Overall...I really don't like the costumes but I think it's because I don't know Middle Eastern culture as much so I don't know what they "should" look like.

I agree with JeanGreyForever that Iago should talk, but I actually don't mind Jasmine being teal as it's sort of blue and it represents water which represented good in the original film.

[Disney's Divinity]

The costumes fall in line to what I've expected from the remakes. Probably a peg below the B&tB-LA costumes for me (mostly the outfits for Gaston, LeFou, the servants, etc. give it the edge for me). Will Smith is going to look so odd blue. (Now I wonder if Ursula in the TLM re-make might actually be purple then?) I like the way Aladdin looks, personally. So there aren't any reveals of the Prince Ali costume yet? That's the one I'm the most eager to see.

Not much to go on as far as the sets, but I doubt I'll like it as much as the castle interior from B&tB-LA.

[Farerb]

It looks cheap and bad but the kind of bad that it's fun to laugh at like Maleficent.

[nomad2010]

It looks cheap and bad but the kind of bad that it's fun to laugh at like Maleficent.

This is something to keep in mind everyone...

Entertainment Weekly has done these preview issues for many movies and all the photos they use look this bad. Especially the front covers. The recent Aquaman and Captain Marvel ones come to mind. And the photos from the set aren’t stills from the movie. Those are just photos by a photographer on set at similar angles as some cameras. They give us no idea of any color grading or framing from the actual movie.

When we see footage, and you see everything in motion, I guarantee it will look very different.

[Vlad]

I just saw the Entertainment Weekly pictures, and they look awesome. This is going to be such a great movie. everyone in the cast seems to be a perfect fit.

[Sotiris]

Here are all the EW articles.

A whole new world: First look at Guy Ritchie's live-action remake of Disney's magical classic Aladdin
https://ew.com/movies/2018/12/19/aladdi ... ver-story/

See exclusive first-look photos from Disney's live-action Aladdin
https://ew.com/movies/aladdin-first-look-photos/

Aladdin star Will Smith talks Robin Williams and bringing a hip-hop flavor to Genie
https://ew.com/movies/2018/12/19/aladdi ... ith-genie/

Aladdin star Mena Massoud talks Will Smith, Jasmine, and filming 'A Whole New World'
https://ew.com/movies/2018/12/21/mena-m ... y-aladdin/

Guy Ritchie on finding his blue Genie and crafting a new Aladdin
https://ew.com/movies/2018/12/21/guy-ritchie-aladdin/

How Disney handled the casting and cultural authenticity of live-action Aladdin
https://ew.com/movies/2018/12/21/disney ... henticity/

Naomi Scott on playing a whole new Jasmine for Disney's live-action Aladdin
https://ew.com/movies/2018/12/23/naomi- ... y-aladdin/

Guy Ritchie on keeping the DNA of original Aladdin songs in new live-action film
https://ew.com/movies/2019/03/12/guy-ri ... tion-film/

Aladdin star Naomi Scott breaks down Princess Jasmine's revamped turquoise outfit and whole new wardrobe
https://ew.com/movies/2019/04/27/aladdi ... -wardrobe/

Discover a whole new Aladdin world with EW's collector's edition
https://ew.com/movies/2019/05/10/ultima ... o-aladdin/

How Agrabah was brought to life in Disney's live-action Aladdin
https://ew.com/movies/2019/05/16/aladdi ... n-agrabah/

[D82]

The stills from EW can be found in higher resolution here: http://mwildbunch.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-17517.html

In my opinion, all the actors look good in their roles except Jafar. I agree with Pasta67 that he lacks presence. But it's just one photo and I hope the actor can make up for that with his acting. I also think the costumes look a bit cheap, but nomad2010 is right. They'll probably look better in the actual movie with the right light and filters.

The take of Jasmine's iconic blue outfit is a letdown. Its direction is everywhere. They don't want a midriff, which is fine. But, then they add this weird nude color element where the midriff would be.

Yeah, that looks ridiculous. Speaking of that, I wonder why all the actors are more covered up here than in the animated film or in the Broadway show. Is it because Disney wants the movie to be approved by Arab countries? Or is it perhaps more historically accurate?

I'd actually prefer it if he weren't. It'll look too weird and artificial in live-action.

Relax, Everyone – Will Smith Says His ‘Aladdin’ Genie Is ‘Gonna Be Blue’
https://www.thewrap.com/aladdin-genie-w ... -cgi-hair/

I agree.