16 Critically Dismissed Recent Movies (That Weren't As Bad As You Think)
6. Aladdin
Rotten Tomatoes: 57% (Average Score: 5.88/10)
Critical Consensus: Aladdin retells its classic source material's story with sufficient spectacle and skill, even if it never approaches the dazzling splendor of the animated original.
This live-action remake of Aladdin has, despite its enormous success at the box office, been met with mixed reviews (especially from critics) and this doesn't do the film justice. Yes, 2019's Aladdin wasn't necessary and yes, it's far from perfect, since it's overlong and the villain is awful, but it still delivers and is actually a really nice film.
Visually stunning, heart-warming and generally a highly entertaining movie to watch, Aladdin is a successful crowd-pleasing blockbuster with a genuine sense of charm and lightness that's hard to resist. It's also surprisingly funny, it gets the musical sequences exactly right and the performances are mostly strong. Will Smith proved the pre-release worries entirely unfounded with his great performance as the Genie and Naomi Scott is also a very good Princess Jasmine.
Speaking of that, the film also has some very welcome feminist revisions as well. Overall, this is a solid member of the billion dollar club and it's certainly better over the god-awful Lion King remake that came out shortly after this.