Will Smith’s ‘Aladdin’: Why Does This Movie Exist? | Exit Survey

Aladdin 2019

Guy Ritchie's live-action remake, which Dobbins says left her not sure what movies are anymore. It plays like a music video crossed with a nostalgia machine, with a money grab underneath. Will Smith splits the role: charming and funny in his own body, tougher to buy as the giant blue CGI genie, where the shadow of Robin Williams sits heavy. Naomi Scott's Jasmine gets a new song, "Speechless," that both hosts agree the movie doesn't earn. Mena Massoud, Marwan Kenzari, and Nasim Pedrad all hold their own next to Will Smith. Fennessey clocks it as the closest Smith has gotten to his 1989 rapper persona on screen. Ends on a Will Smith/DJ Khaled credits remix of "Friend Like Me" that leaves them both horrified and delighted.

Aladdin (1992) 1992

The animated original, credited to 16 different story writers, which both hosts say has aged well. Robin Williams's Genie could morph into Johnny Carson mid-scene without it feeling strange; the 2019 version restages entire sequences, like the opening chase, almost shot for shot.

Mamma Mia! 2008

Dobbins's reference point for the nostalgia-jukebox feeling Aladdin is chasing. Thanks to Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan's "earned seriousness," it stays on the right side of embarrassment more successfully.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again 2018

The other time Dobbins felt the exact whiplash between joy and secondhand embarrassment that Aladdin gave her.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 1998

Where Ritchie started: British gangster movies Fennessey says still hold up.

Snatch 2000

Swept Away 2002

His remake of the Lina Wertmüller classic, starring his then-wife Madonna. Destroyed by critics, seen by almost no one.

Revolver 2005

An attempt to get back to his gangster-movie lane.

RocknRolla 2008

Same lane. Fennessey calls both this and Revolver relatively anonymous by Ritchie standards.

Sherlock Holmes 2009

Fennessey says he likes Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, and Ritchie individually and still doesn't respond to these movies at all.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows 2011

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 2015

Fennessey's actual favorite of the bunch (Armie Hammer and Henry Cavill in great suits, Hugh Grant on a raft at the end), despite it not finding an audience.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword 2017

Charlie Hunnam as King Arthur, reworked into something closer to a Jackie Chan movie. Flopped hard, which made his Aladdin hiring a surprise to both hosts.

The Gentlemen 2019

Ritchie's next movie, a return to the British-gangster register he started in.

101 Dalmatians 1996

Glenn Close, the wave's earliest entry.

Alice in Wonderland 2010

Maleficent 2014

The five-year run of these movies effectively starts here, per Fennessey.

Cinderella 2015

The Jungle Book 2016

Jon Favreau, whose Lion King is coming next.

Alice Through the Looking Glass 2016

Pete's Dragon 2016

David Lowery's version, which Fennessey holds up as the rare one that actually reimagined its source rather than just restaging it, though it made nowhere near the money the others did.

Beauty and the Beast 2017

Bill Condon's version. A huge hit that Fennessey says has nothing to say about anything.

Christopher Robin 2018

The Winnie the Pooh reimagining, also nowhere near as financially successful as the marquee remakes.

Dumbo 2019

Tim Burton's version, which neither host saw. Fennessey calls its underperformance against its high expectations a turning point that exposed a weakness in the whole strategy.

The Lion King 2019

Favreau's follow-up to Jungle Book, out in July; Billy Eichner is playing Timon or Pumbaa.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil 2019

The sequel, out in October.

Lady and the Tramp 2019

Going straight to Disney+ in November instead of theaters.

Mulan 2020

Directed by Niki Caro, whom Fennessey notes would make it the first of these remakes directed by a woman. He thinks the material actually justifies a live-action treatment.

Cruella 2021

A 101 Dalmatians prequel starring Emma Stone.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937

Cited as the start of the sleepy-princess lineage the hosts joke about.

Cinderella (1950) 1950

Sleeping Beauty 1959

Home to Maleficent, whom Dobbins says scared her as a kid the way Ursula did.

The Little Mermaid 1989

One of the Disney Golden Age titles Dobbins name-checks alongside Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

Beauty and the Beast (1991) 1991

The Golden Age original, about Belle rather than a supporting player, which Dobbins contrasts with Aladdin's original Jasmine being sidelined in her own movie.

The Lion King (1994) 1994

The other Golden Age title Dobbins was blasting on her way into the studio, alongside Aladdin's soundtrack.