Will Smith as himself is fairly entertaining. It works for him a lot of the time.

Of the ones listed, I have seen I Am Legend, Enemy of the State, and Pursuit of Happiness. It's just Will Smith as Will Smith if he were put in those circumstances. It was fine. It worked for Men In Black and I Robot too. Will Smith as himself isn't the worst thing in the world but he is not a character actor.

The recent rash of remakes clearly proves that Walt's influence on his beloved company is about gone.

His motto was keep moving forward. Instead, we get guaranteed cash grab remakes.

The only good remake was Cinderella and that is because Kenneth Branagh focused on making a movie and not agendas.

I laughed out loud.

Thats more about the state of the industry as a whole more than anything. People rarely go to the movies on something they have never heard of anymore.

Disney is in the business of making tentpoles and keeping shareholders happy. Not to be risky and edgy.

True.

I don't need an edgy Disney. Just give me a Disney that wants to continue to strive for new ideas. Remaking animated classics is just lackluster. Especially when the new movies really don't add anything worthwhile.

Yea I would agree. But these things are making money. Unlike stuff like Wrinkle in Time.

Disney is making new movies all the time. Frozen, Moana, Coco, Wreck it Ralph, plus many more are all new ideas and characters. Whether they add in anything worthwhile is subjective but they are certainly constantly creating new movies and exploring emotions on a level that many movies can’t even touch.

As for the remakes, they aren’t mailing them in. They are well made and keep people interested in the stories. I’m sure most people who enjoyed them growing up will enjoy the remakes, and now they get to experience them with their kids and Disney doesn’t have to rely on parents only to show these movies to kids.

One thing to remember is that these movies make nothing in terms of dollars compared to what the parks make each year. Disney parks and resorts made $20 billion just last year. The movies are not about the cash grab. They are about keeping people interested in Disney as a whole and keeping the parks from becoming stale. The parks have countless attractions, themes, and resorts that are all tied directly to older characters. Those have to stay appealing and the remakes help with that.

Live action Jungle Book was quite good.

Agreed.

He was damn good those movies sand after earth never seen jt. I can literally look at any actor and be like he's playing himself if I tried hard enough lol.

After Earth was a shit movie. Don't watch it. Will was clearly trying to feature his douchey son and didn't give a shit whether the product was worthwhile or not. The small role he played in the film was very different from typical summer blockbuster Will Smith, though, which is why I mentioned it.

I think you're right, which is why I laugh anytime someone says that about Smith. How many times has Denzel played Denzel as some form of cop/detective? Tom Hanks isn't a true thespian. Brad Pitt? Get the **** outta here.

I really hope that it will be worth it to watch, I am not that impressed with the live action movie of Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. I have also heard that Disney is creating a live action of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Didn't know they made a Cinderlla one. Doubt I'd watch that anyway.

Can't wait for the Lion King though. I'll probably see that in theatres.

The way kids are now w/ Frozen, I was like that w/ Lion King and Aladdin when I was a kid.

It's too bad it's a children's movie...I want to see some real gory NatGeo level lion fights. Or Mufasa ripping legs off of a hyena. Crunch crunch crunch....

New trailer.

https://youtu.be/foyufD52aog

OK, glad to know that he won't be blue the whole time. That looks much less cringeworthy.

I agree...some people seem mad about that though

Looks like a lot of fun. I’m in.

Trailer looks much better. Will Smith's singing sounds a little questionable though...

First look at Will Smith as Genie
 

Honestly, I thought The Rock’s singing was the worst part of Moana but people ate it up so I’ll give this a chance..

If anything, I’d say Jafar appears to be the weakest aspect of the movie. This dude doesn’t look nearly skeevy enough.

I feel the same way about Jafar. His voice especially throws me off. It needs to be more raspy, deep, and sinister.

Rock singing was beyond cringey.

But yeah, Jafar doesn't have that narrow face evil smirk look like he does in the original. When they showed him giving the proposition to go into the cave in the trailer, I initially didn't know who it was.

Great...IMDB says Steve the Pirate is doing Iago's voice-over.

Wtf didn't they have Gilbert Gottfried do it? Dumb.

And there is STILL no reason for this movie to exist...

It doesn't need to be exactly the same. And Alan Tudyk is one of the best voiceover actors in the game today.

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Meh, it looks fun. I'll go see it most likely. My wife loved the original.

It already isn't the same obviously.

But Iago/Gottfried is one of the most recognizable and iconic voices/characters.

there are some things that shouldn't be changed if you can help it.

Heard Will was great as the genie. Will probably take my daughter to it in the next couple days.

Heard decent reviews about it. Still not my cup of tea.

I still dont understand why ppl DIDN'T think he was an absolute perfect fit.

Because Robbin was a staple for many because he made an animation come alive perfectly. It's hard to not see will Smith because he's such a strong personality. I thought he did really well as the genie and the rw generation of fans will love it

I guess he wasn't as bad as I thought he'd be. I still think the role needed someone goofy like a Jim Carrey.

Going to see this tonight, going to be the first kids movie I've seen since Justice League. Which sucked ****ing balls.

He will never win an Oscar that's for sure.

LMAO

Can't these people enjoy ANYTHING without making it about this shit?

Disney’s live-action Aladdin, a remake of its 1992 animated film, has finally arrived in theaters, and on one level, it’s something of an achievement. The production, helmed by Guy Ritchie, had a hefty amount of cultural baggage to overcome, and has been dogged by controversy and skepticism over its premise and execution since before filming even began.

All the backlash isn’t entirely the 2019 film’s fault. Although the original movie was a critically acclaimed masterpiece, it was also dripping in Orientalism and harmful racist depictions of Arab culture. The new film has, for the most part, managed to shirk much of its inspiration’s exoticism and cultural inaccuracies, but despite Ritchie’s clear efforts to deliver a more respectful version of Aladdin, it may not be enough to satisfy many of its detractors.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a press release earlier this week asking reviewers and critics to acknowledge that the “Aladdin myth is rooted by racism, Orientalism and Islamophobia” and to “address concerns about racial and religious stereotypes perpetuated by the [new] Disney film.”

Most people think that the story of Aladdin comes from the original 1001 Nights tales, which is a collection of traditional Middle Eastern and Asian folklore. But in fact, Aladdin isn’t a traditional folktale; it has a different history, and it’s one that still causing controversy today.

(cont'd.)

https://www.vox.com/2019/5/24/186358...oversy-history

Agreed. It's a FICTIONAL tale in a FICTIONAL place. Agrabah or w/e doesn't exist.

Aladdin is my favorite of the Disney animated classics so I didn't expect to love this remake- and I didn't. It was entertaining for sure, though. The audience I saw it with applauded at the end.

Will Smith was the best part of the movie. By far.

I wasn't too in love with the actor who played Aladdin but it worked.

One thing that we all need to know, is Jasmin ****able enough?

He was probably the worst part of the movie aside from basically everything to do with Jafar.

I'll give them a pass on Jafar because bringing that cartoonishly overdramatic villain to life in live-action would have been difficult. Aladdin was just stiff and wooden. I hated any song he sang. Felt like he lacked energy.

She's so ****ing fine. And she can sing her ass off, too. That actress did well.

Wish they'd have had her in the classic blue dress at one point during the movie but no biggie.

I liked it a lot, don’t get what all the bad reviews are about. I’m glad it’s not exactly the same as the animated movie, although it follows the plot lines pretty much all the way. The changes they did made sense though. The only nitpick complaints people could throw out we’re CGI Genie looking a bit disproportionate, Iago not talking like Gilbert Gottfried, or if you hate bollywood tunes and dancing. I thought it was very genuine, the cast did an amazing job, and I would go see it again if someone asked me to. Better than the live action Beauty and the Beast imo and I’m looking forward to Lion King this summer for sure.

can't wait for the song of the south remake. Sam Jackson's going to do work

Its funny, they keep calling it 'live action' but its really not. Its animated, just a different form of animation than the original.

Zip a dee doo dah M*therfucker!

I thought it was fantastically entertaining. A beautiful tale just like the original. Didnt hate Jafars as much as I thought. The actor did a fine job, he just isnt a natural menacing presence as the original.

Listen to Will monotone the **** out of "Prince Ali". He even got in his ridiculous trademark *a ha hah!* laugh track.

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I am Legend was his last good movie IMO.

I don't think what monotone means.

He sounded like a community college music theater major. His voice had almost no inflection and he couldn't sustain a note to save his life. Damn... Disney could have given the dude some voice coaching.

I'm not trying to be overly critical but he sucked out loud in that one song.

I agree he lacked inflection and generally sounded over processed. That's not monotone. Ben Stein was monotone. Mono - single.

Calling him monotone was a slight exaggeration for his lack of inflection. That said... inflection is a pretty important part of singing. One may even say the most important after simply hitting the correct notes (which he had difficulty with in that clip as well). Will Smith singing Genie's parts are what Ben Stein is to speaking at a lecture on economics.

Way too nitpicky. He's obviously not a natural singer and was aided by autotune it still held up.

Agreed. He hit every note...and that's it. It sounded like a practice round not the actual performance. That was pretty awful.

You know who is the right guy to cast in a movie that has a shit ton of classic Disney songs? A natural singer that can act or a natural actor that can sing well enough to not need auto-tune.. Will Smith is neither of those.

I had reservations about Will taking on this role because I've heard the dude try to sing... I had his albums when I was a teen. He can't. I haven't seen the movie so I cannot comment on his non-singing role but his version of "Prince Ali" was very bad.

Step 1: actually watch the movie.

Step 2: realize it's pretty good and that Will Smith is actually the best part of the movie.

Step 3: stop bitching.

Step 4: profit???

Step 1: Learn to read

Step 2: Learn to comprehend

Step 3: Realize I'm commenting on a specific song that he sang which I linked. I don't need to see the entire movie to comment on the one shitty song.

Step 4: Go to Step 1 if you still don't understand.

Wait, so you must have thought Robin Williams was a great singer in the first one?

Robin emoted the living hell out of it, didn't sound flat, didn't need auto-tune.

Robin Williams may not be Freddy Mercury but he sang the shit out of each of his songs. Will sounded bad in "Prince Ali".

So yes, in comparison... Robin Williams was a great singer in the first one.

You haven't even watched the movie. You're being a bitch.

Here's an interesting video:


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I haven't seen the new movie yet but...


Old/New Aladdin: They both sound decent and they are very, very similar to me. They both have young sounding voices and that's appropriate for the role they are playing.


Old Jasmine: I like her voice. Very sweet but has some power to it. Nice tone.


New Jasmine: Holy shit. Somehow sounds just like the old one but better. Better tone and more power.


Robin Williams: Nice tone, very playful, shows his personality well. Not much power or skill but makes up for it with the delivery.


Will Smith: Horrible tone. Not much power. When he sings an extended note it's like nails on a chalkboard. Not enough of his personality comes through to make up for his poor singing. He's a crappy singer.


Of course that's just from the snippets I've heard and that's only considering the musical numbers. Maybe Will Smith does a great job in the role of the genie aside from the musical parts. But...I have no urge to see this. For me this was a cartoon that I watched with my kids. There were other cartoon movies from around this time that I thought were much better. The fact that Will Smith is in this remake does nothing for me.

I don't need to watch the movie to comment on a song that I did watch and provided a clip for.

Start over at step 1, bitch.

Wicky wicky wild wild Agrabah...

lol what point are you trying to prove here? Your right to be a YouTube commenter? Congrats, you qualify.

Will Smith's limited singing ability doesn't change the fact that he really pulled off this role and the movie is actually a lot of fun. In fact, in context, the prince Ali scene is really fun to watch and Will Smith is a big reason why, in spite of his singing voice.

I qualify to comment on that clip as much as anyone else that has watched the clip.

Fantastic! Super glad to hear that his limited singing ability didn't change that him pulling off the role. That doesn't at all take away from my original statement... he sounded like shit in that song.

Ok cool. Feel free to keep smugly spamming your irrelevant opinion about a Disney movie on a football website.

Thanks for smugly giving me your irrelevant permission!

/TIL - Responding to comments is "opinion spamming"
// are you related to BEP?

Nobody tops Peabo Bryson

I gave it a chance, but Will Smith was awful....as expected ROFL

just wow...

Disney better do Lion King right

I don't know of one movie ever where it was ruined by one part of one song. If that dictates whether you like a movie or not then I pity the friends and family in that person's life.

I don't care if Will Smith is bad in this because I will never watch it.

Seen your opinions on other movies... And I'll continue to ignore them lol

Will Smith was great and the movie was fun and a blast from the past.

you sure are doing a good job ignoring them.

I liked this movie a lot. It was fun and entertaining and the performances were all very good. My wife especially loved the new Jasmine song. Will Smith was really good and I had no problem with his singing at all.

As with most of these remakes the only issue is the worlds the characters in don’t feel that lived in and seen sort of small but that’s not really something that bothers me much. It’s not all that important to the story or quality of the movie.