The version of Aladdin Remake of "Friend Like Me" presented at CinemaCon

By Jim Vejvoda

Disney has unveiled new images of their upcoming live-action Aladdin remake at CinemaCon on Wednesday, including the movie version of the famous "Friend Like Me" musical number.

What was immediately obvious is that, unlike Jon Favreau's upcoming Lion King remake, Aladdin does not seem to be just as much a remake of the original animated film. (It should be noted that the visual effects in the presented images are not final.)

The shot selections and backgrounds of the new "Friend Like Me" scene were very different from the animated version; Indeed, to correspond to what the animators did in this sequence and with an interpreter as wild as Robin Williams always seemed impossible. So, the remake – and Genie's new actor, Will Smith – is doing his own thing, though familiarly energetic.

Will Smith's genius is much smoother and less insane than Robin Williams was; if this one was basically the frantic comic character of Williams captured in animated form, then this real action Genie is … well, a blue Will Smith.

Big Willy has brought her signature to the charm of this sequence, appearing much more among the visual effects and unusual nature of the case than her co-starring Mena Massoud, who portrays Aladdin. Massoud looked lost at times, as he was content to answer an off-screen directive to watch different tennis balls and imagine what was there … what is probably exactly what he was doing. Even though Smith looked like this at the time, Massoud appeared as an accessory, as Emma Watson looked as lost in the "Be Our Guest" scene in the remake of La Belle and La Belle. Stupid.

Maybe it was just this scene; After all, one of the most difficult things that an actor can do is to do nothing. Massoud's aladdin seemed more confident in the quick glimpses of him with Naomi Scott's Jasmine.

The sequence began with Aladdin in the Cave of Wonders showing how he came into possession of the magic lamp. Although the subject of this film is more like a real monkey than a completely caricatural drawing, the film does not target the same photo-realistic animal CG as the Lion King's remake.

To learn more about the Disney CinemaCon presentation, see our descriptions of Avengers: Endgame, Toy Story 4 and The Lion King sequences presented.