The Genie is everything

Rating: 8/10 (7 July 2000)

This was the only Disney movie I can remember, except perhaps for Snow White, which I loved on first viewing AND had an insatiable desire to watch over and over again. Without the Genie, this would be little better than average. Throw in this collection of blue smoke, along with his lamp, and Robin Williams, and you get a very good film.
The inclusion of the Genie makes even the parts without him hold together. Aladdin early on has the attention, and Jafar, as the villain, turns in a creditable performance throughout. The other characters have their moments, but are too reminiscent of other Disney good-guys, even Aladdin sometimes. Disney could at least have made half an effort to be authentic and give all the characters bar the genie Arabian voices, instead of only the bad guys!
The genie allowed Disney to be creative, as he has PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS and can do anything, including be very funny. Indeed, his effect rubs off both on Aladdin and his monkey/elephant.
The climax at the end is well set up, as is the fact that someone else (guess who) gains access to the magic lamp. A very strong point is that Disney managed to give the good guys victory WITHOUT killing off the bad guys (I won't say how for those who haven't seen it).
Yep, Disney succeeded with this one: 8/10. Now a word of advice:
DON'T WATCH THE SEQUEL! It was enough to make me stop watching the original (if you want to find out why, read my review for 'The Return of Jafar').