Poor Will Smith man. We can't just let the guy enjoy his still relatively new Instagram in piece. Its been a tough couple of months for the actor, when his appearance as the Genie in the Super Bowl spot for Aladdin basically became an internet meme. Not only that, but he was also replaced by Idris Elba as Deadshot in the upcoming Suicide Squad sequel (Although that was supposedly his own decision). So its about time Will got the love we all know he deserves, and sure enough the new trailer for Aladdin finally does his portrayal of Genie justice. Its just about everything we expected Smith's Genie to be like when his casting was first announced, and finally put his comedic timing and positive energy to good use.
Below is the first official trailer for Aladdin:
Its kind of crazy just how much the Genie has been the focus of this entire movie's marketing, rather than the actual story of Aladdin and Jasmine. I mean sure, we get some of that in here too, but audiences pretty much already know how all this is gonna play out (They made a movie of this in the 90s in case you didn't know). Anyway the real exciting part about this movie is how an actor as big as Will Smith was gonna succeed a legendary performance like that of Robin Williams. Thankfully, the crazy visuals from the cartoon look like they'll be making their way into this movie. While I doubt we'll be getting any impressions from Will like Robin was known for, the movie's going to make good use of his own specific sense of humor and personality judging by the trailer.
The CGI itself is also much improved, not looking nearly as fake and unsettling as it did in the TV spot. This fits more in line with the screenshot we saw of Will Smith's full sized Genie which looked much better than what was shown in the commercial, but the actor will also apparently be spending a decent amount of time in human form as well. The overall CGI for the set pieces in general looks much cleaner than it has in previous footage we've seen, and the overall tone feels much more fun and in line with the animated movie we all know and love.
The gripe fans do still have following this trailer is Jafar, is definitely much less theatrical and over the top villainous than he was in the original. The belief is that Guy Ritchie may have done this on purpose for his version of the character, maybe making him slightly more likable and younger as opposed to the creepy older man he was portrayed as in the animated movie. We also learned today that Alan Tudyk will be voicing his loyal servant bird Iago in the movie, so it'll be interesting to see how the relationship between the two of them compares to the original with this more subdued Jafar.
So what did you think of the new Aladdin trailer? Are your sold on Will Smith's Genie now? Let us know below!
