Aladin - Movie Review - Page 2

THE SNEAK PEEKS AT SUJOY GHOSH'S ALADIN didn't exactly set the pulse racing, and the film proves our instincts were regrettably right. Ghosh has his heart in the right place – he attempts a riff on the Arabian Nights tale by setting it someplace modern enough to accommodate television sets, yet old-world enough to resemble a picturesque never-never-land. And Riteish Deshmukh is a perfect Aladin, a lightweight actor embodying a pleasantly lightweight character. After all, the heavyweights in this modern-day fairy tale are the duelling good and evil genies, Genius and Ringmaster – the former played by Amitabh Bachchan (mugging madly; it's a wonder there's any scenery left after he exits his frames), and the latter in the form of Sanjay Dutt (who gets into the spirit of the film with appropriately twinkly-eyed hamminess). An Aladin with too much presence would have thrown the story off-kilter.

The initial portions show promise. I enjoyed the whimsy in a store for ancient things being called, simply, Ancient Things Store. Along the way, Ghosh shows a good eye for accumulating visual detail. No sooner than Aladin's parents express a wish to be together forever, a villain, outside, tears up a photograph of the couple. The two halves drift down and catch fire – cut to a pair of funeral pyres. And the scenes with Ringmaster unspool with the sort of bravado that suggests a just-this-side-of-surreal Tim Burton caricature painted with the gonzo cinematographic technique of the early Coen brothers. In particular, a stunt where he upends a truck on a mountain road made me giddy with joy – it says as much about the character as the kind of film he's supposed to be in, silly enough to delight children, and just sinister enough so grownups won't be bored.

But for some inexplicable reason, Ringmaster is shoved aside to make room for an utterly banal love story between Aladin and Jasmine (Jacqueline Fernandez). This leads to one pleasant-enough duet, with Genie prompting the dumbstruck Aladin (reminiscent of the balcony scene in Cyrano de Bergerac, with Cyrano prompting Christian in the latter's wooing of Roxane). But the other numbers – staged in a brassy, generic Bollywood-style, and popping up far too frequently – are serious mood-killers. The non-stop invocations of Bachchan-era cinema are even more annoying, with variations on the "mushkil nahin namumkin hai" line from Don and even songs – Anhonee ko honee kar de from Amar Akbar Anthony, and Kab ke bichhade from Lawaaris. Why bother creating a brand-new fantasy universe if you're going to keep yanking us out of it, with constant nods to a world we know only all too well?

Poor: 2/5

Masand's movie review: Aladin brings fable to life

Rajeev Masand / CNN-IBN

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandes

Direction: Sujoy Ghosh

Few films encourage you to free your mind and unleash your imagination. Say what you will about the Amitabh Bachchan-Ritesh Deshmukh starrer Aladin, but you cannot complain that you've seen this kind of Hindi film before.

Directed by Sujoy Ghosh, Aladin is set in the make-believe city of Khwaish in Northern India, where a puny boy named Aladin Chatterjee (played by Ritesh Deshmukh) has been bullied all his life and forced to rub lamps by his classmates because he shares his name with the character from that popular fairytale.

On rubbing one such lamp, a genie does appear. This one's named Genius; he's played by Amitabh Bachchan in a gawdy wardrobe, and he wants to quickly grant Aladin his three wishes so he can retire in peace.

Aladin's nursing a crush on the pretty new student in class, Jasmine (played by newcomer Jacqueline Fernandes), but knows it's unlikely she'll return his affections. Determined not to use the help of magic to win her over, Aladin urges Genie to help him woo her the old-fashioned way.

In a parallel track, the film's villain, an ex-genie named Ringmaster (played by Sanjay Dutt) wants to get his hands on that lamp so he can take over the world.

Ghosh uses superlative special effects to bring this fable to life, even if the narrative itself is occasionally choppy, leaving you befuddled over important plot-points like a comet whose reflection must be caught to gain genie powers. The film's often too-simplistic, going for light-hearted jokes and gags but it's still a welcome relief from the crude humor we've been subjected to in the name of entertainment lately.

Aimed squarely at the kids, Aladin is a spectacle of sweeping sets, lavish dance numbers and never-before-seen visual effects including a stunning sequence in which Genius is raised to the skies, his chest ripped open and his powers snatched away. Not all is perfect, though.

The editing is abrupt in places, with Ringmaster's scenes appearing almost forced into the narrative on more than occasion. The screenplay lacks smoothness, and leaves the audience to fill up the blanks themselves.

Of the cast, Sanjay Dutt leaves a strong impression as Ringmaster, his look and his wardrobe contributing as much to his performance as his menacing delivery. Amitabh Bachchan is consistent, if a little OTT as Genius, but it's his scenes with Ritesh's Aladin that are the heart of this film. First-timer Jacqueline Fernandes is easy on the eye and appears confident, but has precious little to do.

In the end, Aladin, belongs to Ritesh Deshmukh whose endearing performance pins you to your seat even when you're craving a loo-break after three back-to-back songs test your patience.

I'm going with three out of five for director Sujoy Ghosh's Aladin; it's a worthy watch, especially for the kids. It's also a rare reminder that you can have good, clean fun at the movies. Beneath all the special effects however, it's a noble story about standing up for what's right.

Rating: 3/5

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Originally posted by: Pianofied.

Looks like the film sucked big time. :( I feel bad for RD