Aladdin (1992)

***This page is dedicated to Robin Williams (1951-2014) and Gilbert Gottfried (1955-2022).***

***Aladdin*** is a 1992 American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was the fourth film in the Disney Renaissance Era that occurred in 1989 with *The Little Mermaid* and ended in 1999 with *Tarzan.* It was released in 1992 and based off the *1001 Arabian Nights* story of the same name.

## Plot

When street rat Aladdin frees a genie from a lamp, he finds his wishes granted. However, he soon finds that the evil Jafar has other plans for the lamp -- and for Princess Jasmine. But can Aladdin save Princess Jasmine and his love for her after she sees that he isn't quite what he appears to be?

## Why Robin Williams Is Our Friend Like Him

1. It has strikingly dazzling animation that looks really colorful and flows very well. The character designs are not just amazing, but also well-detailed and creative. But this is to be expected from *Disney* films. Especially considering how this wasn't just a *Disney* movie, but also a movie released during their Renaissance Era.
2. Great cast of characters like Aladdin (the main hero, a rowdy and strong-willed street rat), Jasmine (a rebellious princess who seeks to escape being forced into marriage) and the Genie (a comic relief who was so funny and iconic that he ended up inspiring an entire **generation** of comic reliefs in film, although some of which ended up as pointless to the plots of their movies and just very unfunny in general, unfortunately).
3. Aladdin's character development is great. As he starts off as being more than willing to steal from (although given his status as a street rat, it was mainly understandable) or even lie to others. By the end film, he's really grown into a man worthy of being Sultan. Although this is best seen in King of Thieves. As after going to break his father out of prison, Aladdin returns ready and willing to accept any sort of punishment he might receive, because he actually realizes how much his habits of running away would affect Jasmine due to him now fully understanding how greatly his own father's abandonment of his family affected him. Aladdin has learned that his actions can and do affect other people, a lesson some people would say more rulers need to learn.
4. Awesome songs including "A Whole New World" (the love song between Aladdin and Jasmine as the former takes the princess on a magic carpet ride), "Friend Like Me" (the Genie's song to Aladdin featuring him fulling showcasing his powers to Aladdin), "One Jump Ahead" (which has Aladdin steal a loaf of bread and get chased down by Razoul and his men), and "Prince Ali" (a song centered around Prince Ali, Aladdin alter-ego after he wished to be a prince).
5. Aladdin uses his wits to save the day and defeat Jafar rather than brawn, which is vastly original and clever. Especially considering that many *Disney* movies being released at the time, while nonetheless good, more often than not relied on action or fast-paced battle sequences in order to take down the film's main antagonist. But here, it isn't the case. It's all the more remarkable given how much action there had been previously in the film and the fact that Aladdin is such an reckless and abrasive character, which would only raise assumptions that the final battle to take down Jafar would be some high-staked final battle rather than Aladdin actually using their intelligence to defeat the villain.
6. Amazing voice acting from Scott Weinger, Linda Larkin, and of course, Robin Wiliams (as Aladdin, Jasmine, and the Genie respectively). Although this is another aspect to be expected from *Disney* films (let alone *Disney* renaissance films).
	* Williams puts in an entertaining performance as the Genie, who is really the best part of the entire movie.
7. The action scenes are cool, such the carpet ride scene in the Cave of Wonders.
8. Spot-on and highly hilarious humour, for the most part.
9. The film has some nods to the 1940 film *The Thief of Baghdad*.
10. Jafar is a pretty nasty villain as he aims to take the magic lamp in order to overthrow the Sultan of Agrabah and marry Princess Jasmine and proves that he's willing to do some absolutely despicable things to do so (such as hypnotizing the Sultan into becoming his personal pawn). And in the end, he uses his third and final wish to become an all-powerful genie (and it actually **worked**, given briefly before he was sealed into the lamp) It's also worth noting how Jonathan Freeman did a great job doing the voice of him (although *all* the voice actors in this movie did great vocal performances).

## Bad Qualities

1. **Major plot holes**:
	* When Aladdin wished to be a Prince, did the Genie either dressed him up to act like a prince, or did he manifest a kingdom somewhere if he did really make Aladdin a prince? Since that is a requirement for being a prince, technically.
	* Jafar’s plan of getting rid of Prince Ali (Aladdin’s royal alter-ego) could have been successful much sooner had he used his magical staff. His hypnotic staff was all he needed, never the genie or his 3 wishes, as he could have used it to make Jasmine fall in love with him, and instantly make everyone else obey him too, including Aladdin.
2. Aladdin and Jasmine, while nonetheless likable, can still be a bit bland at times.
3. The remake wasn't as good as the original.

## Reception

*Aladdin* received positive reviews from critics (particularly for Williams' performance). The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 95% of 75 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The site's consensus reads, "A highly entertaining entry in Disney's renaissance era, *Aladdin* is beautifully drawn, with near-classic songs and a cast of scene-stealing characters.". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" grade.

## Trivia

* This is the first Disney animated film to feature a non-Caucasian heroine (in this case, a Middle Eastern heroine).
* This was the final film songwriter Howard Ashman had any involvement in before his death in 1991; the film was released posthumously one year after his death.
* The animated character of Aladdin was originally designed based on actor Michael J. Fox but during production it was decided that he wasn't "appealing enough" and they decided to draw to instead resemble actor Tom Cruise.
* The original theatrical release had the original lyrics to "Arabian Nights", and no dialogue after the end credits. All authorized home video releases has altered lyrics to the song, and the DVD and Blu-ray releases have the audio of the Genie thanking the audience for watching right after the end credits.
* After the successful runs of the IMAX versions of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, a trailer was made for an IMAX version of this film, but it was ultimately scrapped.

## Videos

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## External Links

* Template:IMDb
* Template:Rotten Tomatoes