Disney Movie Challenge: Aladdin (1992)

Disney Movie Challenge

Aladdin (1992)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

Aladdin was a big deal in my childhood.  I listened to the soundtrack a hundred times and always considered it one of my favorite Disney films.  Oddly enough while rewatching it I realized I didn’t remember half the film so obviously while I know almost all the words to the songs I didn’t actually watch the movie that much.  But the issue when a movie looms that large in your memory is that it tends to not live up to the standards you set for it.  I have always thought that Aladdin was the height of the Disney Renaissance but on rewatch I’m not sure.  

The movie is about the titular character and his journey from a thief to prince.  Two events happen that will change his life. First he meets Princess Jasmine who is pretending to be a regular townsfolk.  They of course fall in love.  Simultaneously Jafar the evil seer for the Sultan is trying to find someone to go into the Cave of Wonders to steal a magic lamp.  The cave said that only a “diamond in the rough” will be allowed to enter and it turns out that diamond is Aladdin.  Jafar kidnaps Aladdin, tells Jasmine that Aladdin was killed, then convinces Aladdin to go into the cave to get the lamp.  In a turn of events Aladdin ends up trapped in the cave with the lamp, his pal Apu the monkey, and new friend in the flying carpet.  He finds out the true power of the lamp when he unleashes a genie that can grant him three wishes.  He tricks the Genie to get him out of the cave then uses his wish to become a Prince to win the love of Princess Jasmine.  Once a prince he must face the fact that he is living a lie and will eventually be found out. Meanwhile Jafar realizes who he is and plots to steal the lamp and use the Genie to make himself all powerful.  

The production of Aladdin has a bit of a tragic start.  The idea for a film based on the Aladdin story from the Arabic folk tale was pitched by Howard Ashman, the award winning lyricist for both The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.  Ashman mentioned the idea after he had worked on The Little Mermaid and had begun writing some songs.  Head of Disney Jeffrey Katzenberg wasn’t that interested in the idea and asked Ashman and Menkin to work on Beauty and the Beast instead.  Ashman died of AIDS related illness prior to the release of Beauty and the Beast. When directors Ron Clements and John Musker were asked what movie they wanted to make next they chose Ashman’s Aladdin.  Still Katzenberg was not happy and forced the script into several rewrites.  Eventually some of Ashman's songs were removed and famed Broadway Lyricist Tim Rice was brought in to work with Menken to write some new songs.  

The movie ended up being something completely different for Disney.  While previous princess movies had the Princess as the main character Aladdin switched it around and had the guy be the main character.  The film also had a bit more progressive attitude towards women.  Not only is she fighting for her choice of love interest, she also isn't a helpless girl that needs saving.   Jasmine fights for what she wants, proves she is just as capable as Aladdin when fleeing the market, and initially sees through Aladdin’s ruse as Prince Ali.  The movie also had lots of action and adventure not normally found in Disney Princess films.  And on rewatch seemed to have a lot more talk of people being killed than other Disney films.  

Of course the biggest standout of the film is Robin WIlliams as the Genie.  He basically steals the show.  In a departure for Disney they let Williams riff and adlib his lines and animated the Genie around his performance.  The animators  were able to capture the kinetic energy that is Robin Williams and put it on screen.  While some of the jokes were modern pop culture references that can take you out of the fantasy world, there is no denying the comic genius of Williams.  Disney realized that Williams and the Genie were going to be their big selling points and used that heavily in the marketing.  This caused a big riff between Williams and Disney.  Williams had made a deal with Katzenberg and Disney that he wouldn’t be featured in commercials and his character wouldn’t be featured more than the other supporting characters on promotional materials.  Some have argued that Williams' success led to other animated films using A-List talent to promote their films.  Here is a bit lengthy but interesting video about that.   https://youtu.be/nyiBdccfNkg 

As a 15 year old boy who pretty much rejected all Disney Princess movies as “girly” this was one I felt I was allowed to like.  It had action, adventure and besides for one mushy song wasn’t much of a love story.  Like I said I must have listened to the soundtrack a bunch of times because I know almost every word to all the songs.  But watching it this time I felt a little disappointed and can’t really put my finger on it.  It could be the state I was in when I watched it or because I had it hyped in my head too much.  That being said it’s still a good film.  

Overall: A fun film that feels more like an action adventure film than a romantic Princess movie.  It has a good message to always be yourself and pretending to be someone else almost always leads to trouble. It also a reminder of the comic genius that was Robin Williams and sad that we will never get anyone quite like him again.  

Random Facts

Was the highest grossing film of 1992 (Beating Home Alone 2, Batman Returns, and Lethal Weapon 3). The first animated film to make over $500 million worldwide.  And the highest grossing animated film until The Lion King came out in 1994.  

Robin Williams was so pissed at Disney he refused to come back for the first sequel Return of Jafar but by the time the next sequel came out Prince of Thieves Jeffrey Katzenberg had left the studio and Williams agreed to do the voice again. 

There was controversy over the song “Arabian Nights” because it continued to stereotype Arabs as barbaric. Initially it had the lyrics “Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face”. But was changed to “Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense”