I am still baffled by the logic that led them to getting Guy Ritchie to direct this film
It's a conveyor belt production. It wasn't created to put an artist's vision on screen, it was created in the hope of making an obscene amount of money, by way of appealing to the general public's wistful nostalgia for a film which
was created to put an artist's vision on screen. A writer wasn't inspired to pen a remake of Disney's
Aladdin because they had a unique take on the story. Disney decided to produce a remake and then hired and dictated to a screenwriter in order to bring their money spinner into fruition. In creative terms, it's the equivalent of putting the cart before the horse, before setting fire to both cart and horse and then attempting to drunkenly stumble to your destination, before promptly falling into a bush of brambles and throwing up on yourself but of course, it's not about creativity. It never was. The movie's raison d'être is to milk the financial teat of an intellectual property.
On that note, Disney sought a director who would shut up and do as they're told. The
Aladdin remake isn't a Guy Ritchie movie. It's a Disney movie; one designed by committee to appeal to the widest possible demographic. There's no room for artistic interpretation here. Can you imagine Stanley Kubrick or Alfred Hitchcock directing an
Aladdin remake, starring wicky wicky Will Smith as the genie? Of course not. It's not only an absurd notion because they're dead but also because they had artistic integrity and wouldn't lower themselves to making a soulless corporate product. Likewise, their contemporaries aren't going to be interested in doing so either. What Disney needed was someone willing to toe the line and make their boardroom of executives' vision a reality. They needed a competent errand boy and a recognisable name to put on the poster. It's movie making at its most cynical and no director with artistic integrity is going to take the job. Hence; Guy Ritchie.
