Aladdin (film)

Poster for the movie.

***Aladdin*** is an animated feature film directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. It features, in their Disney debuts, Aladdin, the Genie, Jafar, Princess Jasmine, Iago, the Sultan of Agrabah, the Cave of Wonders, the Magic Carpet, Gazeem, Razoul, Prince Achmed, Rajah, Abu and Omar. It also briefly mentions the Sultana of Agrabah. The Peddler, an alternative form of the Genie, appears.

## Plot

In the ancient city of Agrabah, the lowly but kind-hearted thief Aladdin falls in love with the runaway princess Jasmine. Meanwhile, the Grand Vizier Jafar (secretly a sorcerer with plans to overthrow the sultan) seeks out a magic lamp said to contain an all-powerful Genie, and it seems Aladdin is prophesied to be the only one who can enter the Cave where it's been kept hidden for ten thousand years!

### References

* Jafar uses a number of magical artifacts over the course of the film: at least two Snake Staves, the Golden Scarab and a blue diamond ring which, plugged into a greater machinery, allows him to scry the fates.
* Two Genie lamps are featured, Genie's Lamp and Jafar's Lamp.

### Songs

* *Arabian Nights*
* *One Jump Ahead*
* *A Whole New World*
* *Friend Like Me*
* *Prince Ali Parade*
* *Ousting Prince Ali*

#### Deleted Songs

* *Count on Me*
* *Call Me a Princess*
* *How Quick They Forget*
* *High Adventure*
* *To Be Free*
* *Proud of Your Boy*
* *Why Me?*
* *Humiliate the Boy*
* *My Finest Hour*

### Continuity

* *The Genie World Tour* (2004) and *Inside the Genie's Lamp* (2004) take place, in this order, directly after the events of the film, dealing with Jafar and Iago's imprisonment inside the Cave of Wonders.
* The comic arc *Jafar's Revenge* (1993), also known as *The Return of Aladdin*, is a direct sequel to the events of the film where Jafar and Iago make a first attempt at escaping the Cave.
* *The Return of Jafar* (1994) is a sequel to the film taking place some months after, and its official feature-length sequel. It does not refer to the events of *Return of Aladdin*, but can but take place after it, as Jafar and Iago start out still imprisoned in the Cave of Wonders.
* The sign outside of Gyro Gearloose's lab in *Under Siege!* (2017) reads “phenomenal cosmic inventions… in a tiny living space!” in allusion to the Genie's quote from this movie about his fate.

## Behind the scenes

Released in 1992, *Aladdin* is loosely based on the Arabian fairy tale of the same name, although only a few of the key plot elements are kept. Inspiration for the film was notably taken from the live-action film *The Thief of Baghdad*, notably for the character of Jafar.

Shortly after its release, *Aladdin* spawned a TV series taking place after it, with a sequel entitled *The Return of Jafar* bridging the two together. Other 'sequels' to *Aladdin* revisiting the characters include the short *Inside the Genie's Lamp*, various comics, the series' finale *Aladdin and the King of Thieves*, and an episode of *Hercules: The Series*, entitled *Hercules and the Arabian Knights*. Like several other Walt Disney Classics, *Aladdin* was also remade as a video game and a stage Broadway musical.

The film went through many changes. For instance:

* Aladdin was originally meant to be a somewhat younger character, and his mother was going to play a large part in the plot, with making his mother proud as a major element of Aladdin's motivation. An entire song, *Proud of your Boy*, was cut following the decision to make Aladdin an orphan.
* Like in the original tale, the Genie's wishes were originally going to be unlimited; only later was the "3 wishes per master" introduced.
* Jafar's character was originally glaringly different, being a much more unhinged and psychotic villain as opposed to a cool, calculated threat. To balance things out, in this version, Iago wasn't a loudmouthed parrot but an ever-polite, British-accented cockatoo.
	+ As a result of Jafar's varying character, no less than four different villain songs were written for him: *Humiliate the Boy* (for the psychotic version), *Why Me?* (which, while more consistent with Jafar's final self, was felt to make him too comedic), *My Finest Hour* (which was cut for time), and finally *Ousting Prince Ali*, which was the song used in the final version.
* Early concepts had the Genie's head appear in the sands, as opposed to making the Cave of Wonders a character of his own.