Aladdin (2019) review

I'm sure, by now, most people know the plot: dirt-poor Aladdin (Mena Massoud) draws the attention of the lovely Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott), goes inside a cave to find a magical flying carpet and a genie (Will Smith) who can grant wishes and later on has to confront a power-mad sorcerer named Jafar (Marwan Kenzari).  What I said about Disney's live-action remakes of Mulan, Cinderella, etc. once again applies here: the Less-Than-Big Brains behind The Mouse keep raiding their storage room for ideas and the end results are grossly inferior than the originals.  I like Smith as an actor a lot, but there's no replacing Robin Williams (or Gilbert Gottfried as Iago the parrot), and the general sense of magic and jubilance is missing (although the sets and costumes are eye-catching).  The real surprise, I guess, is how Ritchie makes himself completely invisible: anyone familiar with his filmography should know this is not the sort of thing he's into.