Review: Aladdin

An Arabian Nights tale with the title street thief (voiced by Scott Weinger) finding a genie in a bottle (voiced by Robin Williams) who aids him in pretending to be a prince so that he will seem more attractive to the beautiful Princess Jasmine (voiced by Linda Larkin), whom he had but a fleeting chance encounter with, and whom is given but a few days by her father the Sultan (voiced by Douglas Seale) to find someone to marry. In Aladdin’s way stands the nefarious Jafar (voiced by Jonathan Freeman), a treacherous palace advisor with designs on both Jasmine, and the magic lamp that contains the powerful genie.

 

One of the films that saw a resurgence from Disney in the late 80s-early 90s, this 1992 animated film is solid entertainment, bolstered unquestionably by the force of nature that is Robin Williams as the genie. Some say that Williams runs riot in the film to the very detriment of the story. To those people I say, lighten up, Francis. The story is still there and it’s much more entertaining than say “Hercules”, which messed around with the mythology to not much good. Yes it’s a show-stopping performance in a way, but anyone who doesn’t find Williams’ genie bundles of anarchic fun needs to look up fun in the dictionary, and then take a good look at themselves, because they’re clearly so sad they had to look up fun in the dictionary. “Hercules” felt like a story uncomfortably turned into a Disney product, whereas this is more kiddie fare to begin with and fits the Disney mould much better. It actually benefits from Williams’ comic stylings and anarchic energy, working well as both comedy (My favourite moment being Aladdin searching for a compliment for Jasmine, and the Genie offering: ‘Punctual!’) and romantic adventure. Genies are usually awful in movies, but that’s definitely not the case here. The weird thing about Williams (and the animation matches him) is that he’s so anarchic, that he seems like a “Looney Tunes” character more than a Disney character (Look out for a funny cameo by a classic Disney character from the 40s, by the way).

 

Next best to Williams is the inimitable Gilbert Gottfried as squawking parrot Iago. An annoying parrot is the role Gottfried was born to play. Jafar is a classic Tim Curry-esque villain as voiced by a very fine Jonathan Freeman. And if you can’t pick veteran Frank Welker’s voice from a mile away, you’ve probably not grown up on morning cartoons in the 80s. His work here is minor, but nice to hear as always, even if you find yourself wondering where Inspector Gadget is.

 

The animation here is pretty good, and certainly not as angular-looking as in “Hercules” nor having an old/new animation technology identity crisis like “Treasure Planet” (A film that also overdosed on anachronisms and wannabe hipness that “Aladdin” only dabbles in). It’s all very colourful, if perhaps a bit too reliant on blues and browns. It’s still one of the better-looking Disney animated films of the 90s. Although Aladdin and Jasmine are fairly stock-standard Disney lead characters (in every respect), I did like the design of the nefarious Jafar, clearly modelled on Maleficent from “Sleeping Beauty”, with a touch of Vincent Price. And that cute monkey almost steals the show from the Genie. Almost.

 

There’s probably a few too many songs here by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman (the Oscar-winning team behind “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid”), with Tim Rice (“The Lion King”) chipping in when Ashman died. Having said that, most of the songs are pretty good, including the opening ‘Arabian Nights’, and especially Williams’ ‘Friend Like Me’. No, Williams can’t sing, but it works anyway, and will get stuck in your head. ‘A Whole New World’ isn’t my favourite Disney number but it’s a whole lot better than that ‘Colours of the Wind’ shit from “Pocahontas”, even if I can’t understand why the characters sing the song instead of the original artist. The same thing pissed me off about “The Lion King”.

 

This is a solid Disney film, in fact it’s better than “The Lion King” in my opinion. However, the rushed finale holds this one back from being even better than it is. Still an enjoyable film for young and old. Directors Ron Clements and John Musker (“The Little Mermaid”, “Hercules”, “Treasure Planet”) co-wrote the screenplay with Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (scribes of “Little Monsters” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films).

 

Rating: B-