Aladdin Review: 4 Ups & 5 Downs

4. It's Brutally Paced

Much like 2017's live-action Beauty and the Beast, this new Aladdin touts a significantly beefed-up runtime compared to its animated predecessor, clocking in at 128 minutes and therefore almost 40 minutes longer than the original.

While this could've allowed Ritchie to amp-up the set-pieces and deepen the characterisation, much like Beauty and the Beast it simply leadens the film's pacing and makes the journey to the end credits ultimately feel like a bit of a slog.

The biggest issue is clearly the bloated first act, which takes over 40 minutes to introduce audiences to the Genie (Will Smith), and clearly could've been trimmed down some.

The distended runtime isn't ever really justified, and though live-action by its sheer nature isn't as lithe as animation, there's absolutely no way this thing needed to run past the two-hour mark.