Aladdin: get your first proper look at Will Smith’s Genie

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A new teaser trailer for Disney’s live-action Aladdin remake has provided our first proper look at Will Smith’s part-CGI/part-live-action take on the character of Genie. You can take a look right here…

Smith will be stepping into the shoes of the iconic Robin Williams, of course, who played the part fantastically in the 1992 animated flick.

That classic film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, with British director Guy Ritichie – who’s best known for popular crime films like Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch – taking the director’s chair for this remake.

This new teaser trailer for Ritchie’s remake is packed with colour and special effects, along with parps of familiar music, but it’s the sight of Smith’s Genie that will last longest in the memory. Here’s the clip, in which the wish-giving supporting character pops up right at the end…

Live-action family films aren’t as common as they once were, so we’ll try not to look a gift horse in the mouth here… but isn’t there something a bit off about that Genie? Is it the mix of digital effects and a real person that makes it look slightly strange? Or is it that fact that Will Smith is so instantly recognisable that makes the joins between movie magic and real life seem so noticeable?

It’s hard to say for sure, but the visual look of the Genie has already become a huge talking point online. We’ll keep trying to work it out, as we wait – trying to be optimistic – for the film’s UK release on Friday 24th May 2019.

We’ll bring you more news as we hear it.