Off The Charts Fun

Rating: 10/10 (25 May 2015)

This movie is as fun as a movie can be. It was hard to believe, coming after Beauty and the Beast, that Disney would slam it home again, but I still remember the feeling of satisfaction of seeing this in the theater. Animated movies, which had been such a big part of my childhood, were officially great again. And the movie holds up. It's another one that finds a way to get your interest early and maintain the excitement right on through. None of the songs are personal favorites, although the short reprise of "Prince Ali" is deliciously demented. The animation is beyond world-class, obviously the product of an insane level of work. But the movie also continues to influence family films, for better or worse. Just like Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark ushered in the age of the quick-cut short attention span blockbuster, Genie and Iago made sure every animated kids production had to have sarcastic, wisecracking characters spouting off insults that usually went over young viewers heads'. Movies like Pulp Fiction, Forest Gump, and Aladdin brought in the age of irony, and pop culture has pretty much resided there ever since.