A mostly memorable Disney Renaissance feature from my childhood with a great soundtrack

Rating: 9/10 (14 March 2014)

Alongside 'The Little Mermaid,' 'Peter Pan' and 'Cinderella,' I enjoyed watching this film as a child and I can even remember a lady who used to work with my siblings and me when we were younger giving us a copy of the video. I also received the Musical Masterpiece edition on DVD that came with a free lyrics book a few Christmases ago. This film also has one of the best soundtracks that is on par with those from 'The Little Mermaid (my mum's favourite Disney film and one of mine),' 'Pocahontas (my sister's favourite and also one of mine)', and 'The Lion King (one of my housemate's favourite Disney films as well as this one)'. My top three songs here are 'A Whole New World (the version in the film itself and also the closing credits version plus its beautiful matching incidental music version),' 'Friend Like Me' and 'Prince Ali.' The opening song 'Arabian Nights' was the most authentic-sounding of them all. The rest of the incidental music by Alan Menken was tense and poignant at the right moments if somewhat generic. While this film is memorable for the most part, I found certain scenes and the song 'One Jump Ahead' forgettable, which are some of my only complaints.
Gripes aside for the time being, this film has many positive aspects such as the animation being fluid, detailed and smooth, some stunning backgrounds such as the Cave of Wonders, the palace and its surrounding garden and a mixture of funny and serious moments, the former including antics from the Genie, Abu and Iago and the latter involving Jasmine disagreeing with the rules about marriage. I also liked the fourth wall joke of the camera coming too close to the man introducing the story at the beginning - that really cracked me up. The climax with Jafar, one of Disney's most menacing villains, turning into a snake was creepy yet outstanding. Further to the rest of the characters, Aladdin is a handsome hero, Jasmine is beautiful, sensitive and a bit tough whilst becoming Disney's first non-white princess, Sultan is a strict yet supportive father figure to Jasmine, Abu is mischievous yet cute and funny while the Genie and Iago are as comical as their antics. I also liked the humanistic animation on the magic carpet when it is first introduced. As for the voice acting, Scott Weigner as Aladdin, Linda Larkin as Jasmine, Jonathan Freeman as Jafar, Gilbert Gottfried as Iago and Douglas Seal as Sultan all did respectable jobs with their roles but the standouts were Robin Williams who was humorous as the Genie and the prolific Frank Welker, who provided realistic vocal effects and minor speech for Abu and a sinister, growly voice for the Cave of Wonders. Like the scenes and songs, most of the script is memorable despite including some clichÃ©d moments such as Jafar yelling, "No!" when he realises he no longer has the lamp he snatched from Aladdin whilst disguised as an old man (reminds me of the Queen in Snow White disguising herself as an old hag) and the playing of the 'liar revealed' trope when Jafar reveals 'Prince Ali's' true identity to Jasmine; however I like the script including references to other Disney films such as 'The Little Mermaid' when the Genie pulls Sebastian out of a recipe book and possibly 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' (as I already mentioned earlier) and 'The Sword in the Stone' just before Aladdin grabs the magic lamp. The pace is just right as well - the songs just made it fly by.
All in all this is a very enjoyable Disney Classic from my childhood with stunning animation, a superb soundtrack and some funny moments. 9/10.