Aladdin Review: 4 Ups & 5 Downs

Ups...

4. Will Smith's Genie Steals The Show

Though there was plenty of pre-release hand-wringing about Will Smith's Genie, it was all pretty much for nothing, as Smith is easily the most entertaining aspect of the entire movie.

While he certainly takes a little too long to show up and he's absent from long stretches of the third act, the Genie is a charismatic force-of-nature every time he's on-screen, allowing Smith to give perhaps the most Will Smith performance that he has ever given.

Whether he's singing his heart out or frantically wise-cracking, Smith is clearly having a blast, and his enjoyment is infectious enough to make the second act of the film dangerously close to very good.

The effects could be better, for sure, but given that Smith's not exactly been cranking out the prime roles in recent years, it's great to see him pulling off some worthy, crowd-pleasing work.

And above all else, he has the good sense not to try and imitate or out-do Robin Williams' beloved Genie: his version is a very different and equally valid beast.