Ranks Among My Top 10

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2011)

Like "The Little Mermaid" and "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin" holds some of my fondest childhood memories. Like the other two, I watched this in the theaters (even vividly remembering how I was annoyed that the princess was given a modern name). What's great about "Aladdin" is that Disney didn't try to duplicate "Beauty", which was arguably a huge hit. Instead, it's the complete opposite of Beauty: a quirk-filled comedy owned almost entirely by the Genie (Robin Williams). Artistically, it's also a departure from its predecessors. Aladdin doesn't look like your typical Disney film. Every object in the background is rounded, like the characters, and the style is more loose and cartoony. The music is a notch down from "Mermaid" and "Beauty" but "Prince Ali" and "A Whole New World" hold up pretty well. All in all, another winner from Disney. The Platinum Edition DVD is still available in most markets outside the US, so grab one while you can.