Aladdin

It’s hard to keep thinking of fresh, new ways to start introductions to these reviews. I don’t want to keep doing the same thing, but it’s most likely always going to be a repeat of an introduction I’ve done in the past. But oh well. Aladdin was Disney’s film for 1992. Based off the Arabian folktale from One Thousand and One Nights, the film starred Scott Weinger, Johnathan Freeman, Robin Williams, Frank Welker, Douglas Seale and Gilbert Gottfried. Earning over $500 million worldwide, its success led to two sequels, three video games, five Academy Award nominations, winning two (Best Original Score, Best Original Song: A Whole New World) and a Broadway adaptation in March. It was also one of the more annoying, yet fun worlds in Kingdom Hearts.

Set in the city of Agrabah, Aladdin (Wenger), a street urchin meets and falls in love with Princess Jasmine (Linda Larkin). However, the vizier, Jafar (Freeman), arrests him in order to acquire a magic lamp which is hidden a cave only Aladdin can enter. In it, he finds a sentient magic carpet and a genie (Williams) that he uses to win over Jasmine and defeat Jafar.

Not since Pinocchio has Disney made a film where the main character gets in so much trouble because he decided to lie. And it’s interesting to see Aladdin get deeper and deeper and deeper in his deception, especially when there’s a few times he could just tell the truth, free of consequences. But when everything unravels thanks to Jafar, it’s nice to see that he not only owns up to it, be goes and fixes what he screwed up.

And that’s what’s great about Aladdin as a character. He’s a nice guy who would rather go hungry than see children do so. And he’s always dreaming of improving his station in life. And when that actually does happen, he’s not prepared and starts becoming a polar opposite of who he really is. And when he gets that realization, it’s too late. It’s something we can all relate to in some way or another.

Aladdin isn’t the only character to go through development though. It’s a small part, but the Sultan also goes from strict and by the scroll, insisting that Jasmine marries a prince to realizing that love is better. It’s also Aladdin’s actions after the reveal that help him to see this. It’s short, it’s fast, but some development is like that.

Jafar is a good villain, especially with the sarcasm. He’s very savvy at what’s going on around him and keeps trying to edge it all into his favor. And when it doesn’t go according to plan? Develop a new plan around that. But he’s also always lusting after more and more power, which is eventually his downfall as his hubris gets in the way of him thinking about the details.

There’s also quite a bit of humor in this film. And mostly, it’s well timed and well placed. But there are a few areas where the jokes seem out of place. And they’re all from Genie. All of Iago’s comedic moments make sense due to the fact that he’s a loudmouth blowhard with no sense of subtlety. Genie, on the other hand has some moments that take away from the heaviness of the scene. I’ve said before that comedic relief is necessary to do just that, but sometimes, a heavy scene needs to be a heavy scene. #3.