Aladdin won over many moviegoers with its charming leads and deft use of nostalgia, but one character was particularly disappointing: Iago. The new version of Iago (Alan Tudyk) underscores a recurring problem with Disney’s live action remakes. Guy Ritchie’s new interpretation broadly retells the same story of a street rat (Mena Massoud) befriending a magic genie (Will Smith), winning a princess’ heart (Naomi Scott) and saving Agrabah from the evil Jafar (Marwan Kenzari). But while some changes enhance the original tale - such as Jasmine’s new solo songs and the Genie’s romance - the revamped grand vizier and his pet parrot, Iago, have noticeably regressed from what they were.
Even with the new scene where Iago transforms into a mythological roc and pursues Aladdin and his companions, his role largely remains the same. But the problem with this Iago stems not from the movie’s plot, but from his characterization. In the animated Aladdin movie, Iago is an intelligent - yet easily angered - wisecracking bird. Conversely, the remake sees Jafar gain a more conventional feathered friend, whose personality is more subdued and whose broken speech is like a real parrot’s. Moreover, Iago was, traditionally, a comical companion, but the 2019 version is a rather sinister counterpart for the film’s villain. Normally this wouldn’t be a complication. After all, pop-culture is filled with many disconcerting, villainous pets. But changing Iago to resemble these standard creatures does both the character and the movie a disservice.
Though Disney have developed many lovable sidekicks, Iago was immediately distinctive - not just because of Gilbert Gottfried’s unique vocals - but due to how he was developed in the wider animated franchise. Certainly, Aladdin’s direct-to-video sequels and animated series gifted Iago a conflicted morality. Iago’s desire for money and power remained, yet they were frequently at odds with his affection for his new friends: Aladdin and Co. This is an unusual amount of development for a villainous source of comic relief. Even so, the fact that the Aladdin remake doesn’t seem interested in retroactively adopting this kind of nuance means that Iago feels rather short-changed. Plus, Iago acting like a normal parrot is a major problem in the film itself.
The hand-drawn animation of Disney’s animated movies allow for magical beings and fantastical scenarios to be realized. Since they’re often heavily stylized there’s a greater suspension of disbelief, and this allows for even more outlandish characters, slapstick humor and wild, death-defying capers to prevail. For example, the cartoon Iago runs on a treadmill and later gets trapped in a stone door, and during these situations, Iago’s irascible - yet endearing - personality is revealed. However, this all changes during the remakes, since Disney uses lifelike CGI to realize these fictions. As such, Iago’s aforementioned pratfalls would likely not be as funny if he resembled a real macaw. Disney and its chosen directors also seem eager to ground each story so that is complements the remake’s human leads. Indeed, the Cinderella and Dumbo remakes largely omitted the heroes’ lively, talking mouse companions and focused on the protagonist’s drama. In short, the Disney remakes refuse to accommodate the original’s irreverent humor, meaning that Iago’s beloved personality cannot be showcased.
This approach isn’t limited to the animal companions of Disney movies, but the human ones as well. Originally, Belle’s father Maurice in Beauty and the Beast, the King of Cinderella, and Aladdin’s Sultan were well-meaning, eccentric figures. Yet the recent remakes have re-imagined them as quieter, stately, often somber people. This might seem like a rational process - after all, monarchs and elders are often respectable figures. But the bottom line is that, by radically changing the form of their characters and movies, Disney have removed much of the humor from their stories. Readers may argue that this is not an inherently bad thing, yet it is undoubtedly dispiriting when we consider that it was these eclectic characters and quirky bursts of humor that drew people to Disney’s classics in the first place. Iago’s new voice actor, Alan Tudyk, is certainly not to blame since he does the best that he can with what he is given. Nevertheless, by changing the story’s humor, Iago has been stripped of his personality in the new Aladdin - and, consequently, the remake loses some of its heart.