A new “Aladdin” trailer debuted during the Grammy’s Sunday night and if reaction on the internet is any indication, Disney might want to rework the animation for Will Smith’s “Genie” character before it hits theaters on May.
On Twitter, one man wrote, “I’m sorry but Will Smith as the Genie in #Aladdin is nightmare fuel. Also, he’s just gonna use his regular Will Smith voice?
Peter Taggart wrote on Twitter, “This looks like an SNL host had to change into a genie costume 4 minutes after their monologue.”
A woman named Samantha wrote “Just saw the #Aladdin preview. Totally sold up until I saw the genie.”
“The bar I’m in had the most VISCERAL reaction of horror to Will Smith in the Aladdin trailer,” Juan Brammer wrote. “I’m screaming.”
Disney posted the trailer to it’s Facebook page. After just seven hours, the post had more than 10,000 comments.
“Will Smith as the Genie looks awful…they could have done it better!” Mart Gabriel wrote.
Blair Lindsay said, “For live action this looks pretty lifeless.”
“Well there goes my childhood it’s been destroyed by Will Smith as the Genie,” Caleb Wong wrote.
The comments on Disney’s YouTube page weren’t any better.
“Hey this kickstarter fan film looks pretty okay!” NerdSync wrote.
“Aladdin: I have a request. Genie: Name it. Aladdin: Delete this movie already,” Md Kd wrote.
Another sent a harsh message to Disney, “Please don’t release this, it’s not ready. Recast that Jafar. Redo all of that CGI.”
Booster Gold said, “How does one of the richest film companies in the world with access to near limitless funds consistently put out some of the worst cheapest looking CGI I’ve ever seen?”
There were a handful of positive comments among all the negativity.
“I’m super pumped for this, and don’t plan to compare it to the animated version from my childhood. Love when they make animated into real live action though!” Jessica Collins said on Facebook.
“I’m open to Will Smith as Genie,” Wasp Sting wrote on YouTube.
Heather Smart tweeted, “I have watched the Aladdin trailer probs 6 or 7 times since it first show tonight and LEMME TELL YA, Robin [Williams] would be pumped I’m certain.”
Fans were much kinder on Smith’s Instagram post. By early Monday, it had more than two million likes and more than 74,000 comments — many of which were positive.
I told y’all I was gon’ be Blue!! 🧞♂️ Y’all need to trust me more often! 😆 #aladdin
