Hey folks, Harry here... ALADDIN is just a perfect animated film. It marks the last of the great Alan Menken and Howard Ashman collaborations - with Ashman leaving the world way too early, due to his battle with AIDS. Tim Rice took over - and the resulting music and songs... truly soar. John Musker & Ron Clements directed the heck out of this animated film. Then there's Robin Williams, a truly supernatural performance. In fact, that's the stumbling block in my mind for a live-action adaptation of the animated musical Disney classic. That - and a desire not to see Aladdin as a live action film become whitewashed in the casting department.
Now, with John August handling the screenplay, that gets me quite enthused. And Guy Ritchie doing a musical adventure out of this... I imagine the Flying carpet to be absolutely jaw-dropping. But... I really and truly would love an Arabic cast for this. Next, I hope they do a live action RESCUERS. But then I'm odd that way.
The story broke by our friend Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter. This could be one of the great triumphs of Disney's animated to live action conversion program they're doing. Thus far, the best has got to be a toss up between Jon Favreau's JUNGLE BOOK or Kenneth Branagh's immaculate CINDERELLA... of course, next year is bringing us Bill Condon's BEAUTY & THE BEAST, which I think we all have the highest hopes for.
Casting the Genie and bringing that to life in a show-stopping manner... I almost wish they just used Robin's voice work and brought him magically to life with all the wonder that cinema can give us. Just thinking about this being remade without his spirit - just feels odd. What do you folks think?
Keep it cool,
Harry
P.S. If you want to see the best live action version of the Aladdin tale, look no further than THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940) by Alexander Korda and starring Sabu as Aladdin, Rex Ingram as the amazing Genie and Conrad Veidt as Jaffar! The film is a technicolor marvel and Rex Ingram is magnificent!
