No Animal Characters in Aladdin's Remake?!

Based on various articles floating around the internet, it seems director Guy Ritchie is wanting to replace the iconic animal characters Rajah, Iago, and possibly Abu with human characters his reboot of Aladdin. 

              For Rajah, it seems the tiger is being replaced with a handmaiden known as Mara. Based on these developments, it seems Mara is based on the handmaidens from the stage musical, as well as a deleted character from earlier drafts of the original film. I do not mind the change, (as first of all) it shows Guy Ritchie is attempting to bring in more elements of Howard Ashman’s intended vision of the film by repurposing these deleted characters. Also, Rajah was a very minor character in the original film; he did not contribute anything to the story and if he is indeed omitted from the reboot, it would not impact the film at all. However, Iago is another situation entirely.

              Iago made a significant contribution in the original movie’s storyline and was a member of the main cast. If Ritchie wanted to eliminate the parrot from his adaptation, he could have made the character human like in the stage musical. Unfortunately, it seems Ritchie plans to give the bird “le boot” and replace him with another character known as “Hakim”. Surprisingly, Hakim will be an amalgamation of the original film’s Razoul and the aforementioned Iago. In my opinion, I am disappointed in the change, but I can understand why the character was omitted. If Iago were to remain in his current state, it would take away from the “grounded” and “street-level” vision Guy Ritchie has for the film. However, as I stated before, Iago could have worked if he was turned into a human character like in the stage adaptation of Aladdin. If they plan to axe Rajah and Iago, then it is extremely likely the monkey known as Abu will also be eliminated from this version.

              While I am somewhat disappointed about the possibility of Abu being eliminated from the upcoming film, I am also optimistic about what characters they could put in his place. Since it seems Ritchie wants to evoke more of Ashman’s original “grounded and realistic” vision for the film, this brings up the possibility of him incorporating deleted characters Babkak, Omar, and Kassim to serve as Aladdin’s sidekicks. For those unaware, the three aforementioned characters were written into Howard Ashman’s original 1988 treatment of Aladdin and served as his sidekicks; think of them as prototypes of the monkey. However, when the movie went into production, the three were amalgamated into a singular entity. If these three characters are brought back into the fold, it would also raise the possibilities of three cut Aladdin songs being restored as well; Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim, How Quick They Forget, and the iconic High Adventure. I know wishing for the trio to be resurrected for this film is like grasping for straws, and they are probably going to give Aladdin a single sidekick like everybody else. However, Disney has surprised us before, so I am cautiously optimistic about this.

              Do you think any other characters will be eliminated or brought back from the cutting room floor? If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below and get some sort of discussion going!