Disney’s insistence on reproducing all of their animated films as live-action epics were bound to hit a snag eventually, even though The Lion King remake looks like it might live up to the hype.

That snag has now been hit with the latest teaser trailer for Aladdin, soon to be released in theatres.

The original trailer left out the Genie. It was a smart move – he’s the most beloved character in the story, and his characterisation was highly anticipated.

Leaving him out kept things interesting.

The new teaser trailer gives us a first look at Smith’s portrayal, and many have called it terrifying:

Social media is now riddled with people who are not happy with the new Genie.

Here’s CNN with some feedback from Twitter:

“When I was 6 I had a nightmare about kings Ramses from courage the cowardly dog,” wrote one Twitter user. “That was the scariest thing in my life up until I saw Will Smith as the Genie.”

He is pretty terrifying. More from Twitter:

To give you some context the below is a kid from one of those commercials:

As you can tell, it’s not exactly a complimentary comparison. Then there’s this:

Will Smith as #Aladdin‘s genie makes me want to uninvent CGI. pic.twitter.com/OsPHFxZQck

— Steve Bannister (@SteveisSensible) February 11, 2019

And finally – he does have a touch of the smurf about him:

Disney and Smith probably need to face the fact that they’re going to catch heat for this.

The film and its weird Genie hit US cinemas on May 24.

[source:cnn]