Aladdin (film)

Aladdin
Directed by	Ron Clements John Musker
Produced by	Ron Clements John Musker
Written by	John Musker Ron Clements Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
Starring	Scott Weinger Robin Williams Jonathan Freeman Linda Larkin Frank Welker Gilbert Gottfried Douglas Seale
Music by	Alan Menken Howard Ashman Tim Rice
Editing by	Mark A. Hester H. Lee Peterson
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	November 11, 1992 (limited release) November 25, 1992 (general release)
Running time	90 min
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$28,000,000
Gross revenue	$504,050,219
Followed by	The Return of Jafar (1994)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Aladdin is a 1992 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 25, 1992. The thirty-first animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, relates a version of the story of Aladdin and the magic lamp from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. Several characters and plot elements are also based on the 1940 version of The Thief of Bagdad. As is usual with Disney film adaptations, many aspects of the traditional story were changed for the movie—for instance, the setting is changed from a mythical Islamic "China" to a fictional Arabian city, Agrabah.^[1] It was released at the peak stretch of the Disney renaissance era beginning with The Little Mermaid. It was the most successful film of 1992, with over $217 million in domestic revenues and over $504 million worldwide.^[2] It was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, both of whom had just finished writing and directing The Little Mermaid. The musical score was created by Alan Menken, which received the 1992 Academy Award for Original Music Score for his work,^[3] and the song lyrics were written by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. The main soundtrack song "A Whole New World" (sung during the closing credits by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle) won a Grammy Award as well as the Academy Award for Best Song for Menken and Rice in 1992.^[3] Voice actors included Robin Williams as the Genie. Although this was not the first time in which a major actor provided voice-over work for an animated film, it was the first major American animated feature film in which particular attention was paid to a celebrity cast member, such as a major movie star, in the film as part of its promotion. This has led to a subsequent increased attention to the casts of later productions, as a major element of animated film marketing. Aladdin was followed by two direct-to-video sequels: The Return of Jafar (1994) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996), and an animated television series, Aladdin, set between the two sequels.

Production

In 1988, Howard Ashman suggested Disney make an animated musical version of Aladdin. After writing a storyline and songs with partner Alan Menken, Ashman delivered it to directors John Musker and Ron Clements. In 1991, the script was delivered to studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, who thought the script "didn't engage", and only approved it after rewrites from Clements, Musker and the screenwriter duo Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. Among the changes, the character of Aladdin's mother was removed, Princess Jasmine became a stronger character, Aladdin's personality was reworked to be "a little rougher, like a young Harrison Ford,"^[4][5] and the parrot Iago, originally conceived as a "British" calm and serious character, after the filmmakers saw Gilbert Gottfried in Beverly Hills Cop II was turned into a comic role, voiced by Gottfried.^[6] . The concept of calm, serious British bird would later be worked into The Lion King's Zazu. Most characters' designs were based on the work of caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.^[7] Jafar's design was not based on Al Hirschfeld's work because animator Andreas Deja wanted Jafar to be contrasting.^[8] Aladdin was drawn originally based on actor Michael J. Fox but during production it was decided that he wasn't "appealing enough" and they decided to make him resemble actor Tom Cruise instead.^[9] Computer animation was used to develop some features of the movie, such as the tiger entrance of the Cave of Wonders, the magic carpet, the scene where Aladdin tries to escape the collapsing cave, the full view of Agrabah, and the clouds in "A Whole New World".^[7] Musker and Clements created the Genie with Robin Williams in mind—even though Katzenberg suggested names such as John Candy, Steve Martin, and Eddie Murphy, Williams was approached and eventually accepted the role. Williams came for dubbing sessions during breaks in the shooting of his other two films at the time, Hook and Toys. Williams also played a merchant in the opening scene, which was completely unscripted (the production left Williams a table with props and asked him to describe the object in character). The double role originally led to the merchant revealing to be the Genie disguised, but that idea was later dropped (the merchant returned in the ending of Aladdin and the King of Thieves).^[9]

Synopsis

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Agrabah

The story begins on a dark night, when Jafar, the grand vizier to the Sultan of Agrabah, attempts to access the Cave of Wonders, a trove where a magical lamp containing a genie is hidden. He and his talking parrot, Iago, learn that the only one who can enter the Cave of Wonders is the metaphorical "Diamond in the Rough". Meanwhile, in the palace of Agrabah, Princess Jasmine, the teenage daughter of the Sultan, must be married before her upcoming birthday, but she rejects every prince she meets, as she wants to be married for true love. Later that day, Jasmine, frustrated with "having her life lived for her," climbs over the palace walls, and in the morning sees the marketplace for the first time, where she meets the street urchin Aladdin and his pet monkey, Abu. At the the same time, Jafar uses a massive mystical machine to see that the "diamond in the rough" is, in fact, Aladdin. Jafar sends a group of guards out to capture Aladdin, and they do so, while Jasmine is still with him. Later, Jasmine tells Jafar to release him, but Jafar lies to her that he was executed. Jafar then disguises himself as an old man, and releases Aladdin and Abu from prison, leading them to the Cave of Wonders. They are then told by the tiger-shaped head of the cave to touch nothing but the lamp. Aladdin and Abu enter the cave filled with mounds of treasure and encounter a sentient magic carpet before Aladdin finds the lamp. Abu attempts to steal a massive ruby. As a result the cave begins to collapse, but they escape to the entrance. Jafar tries to steal the lamp from them, throwing the duo back into the cave as it collapses. Jafar removes his disguise and notices that the lamp is gone. When Aladdin awakens, he is given the stolen lamp by Abu, and after rubbing the lamp a magical humorous genie is unleashed, revealing that he will now grant Aladdin three wishes, that excludes asking for more wishes, killing someone, making someone fall in love with someone else, and bringing people back from the dead. Before long, Aladdin dupes the genie into freeing them from the cave without using up a wish. Meanwhile, the Sultan scolds Jafar while Jasmine voices plans to fire him once she is ruler of Agrabah. After they leave the room, Iago suggests that Jafar become Jasmine's husband in order to gain power. While contemplating his wishes, Aladdin asks for the genie's opinion. The genie admits he would wish for freedom, since he is a prisoner to his lamp and must follow the orders of the lamp's master, not himself. Aladdin, pitying the genie, promises to wish him free with his last wish. Enthusiastic, the genie grants Aladdin his first wish: making him a prince so that he can marry Jasmine. They parade to the Sultan's palace, much to Jafar's dismay, but Jasmine initially rejects "Prince Ali" considering him a buffoon like all the others before him. Later that night, Aladdin meets Jasmine as Ali, and ignoring the genie's advice to tell her the truth, takes her on a magic carpet ride through the sky, showing her his true feelings. She soon realizes that he is the same boy she met in the streets. Aladdin comes up with a story that he sometimes dressed as a "commoner" to escape the pressures of palace life, and she believes him. Aladdin returns her home with a kiss for Jasmine. Jafar sends the guards who shackle and gag Aladdin, and throw him off a cliff into the ocean, where he sinks quickly. The lamp falls from inside his turban, and rubbing against the sand releases the genie, who then rescues Aladdin by making his second wish for him. Aladdin quickly returns to the palace, smashing Jafar's staff and revealing the vizier's plot to Jasmine and the Sultan. Jafar realises Aladdin's true identity, and escapes. Iago later steals the genie's lamp and brings it to Jafar, who becomes the genie's new master and uses his first wish to rule as sultan. Jafar then wishes to become "the most powerful sorcerer in the world" and, using his new-found powers, turns Aladdin back to rags and sends him to a blizzard-swept, far-off place. Aladdin uses the magic carpet to return to Agrabah, where Jafar is keeping the Sultan, the Genie, and Jasmine as his slaves. Aladdin fights Jafar. When Jafar boasts that he is "the most powerful being on Earth," Aladdin reminds him that he, Jafar, still isn't as powerful as the genie, as it was the genie who gave Jafar his powers in the first place - and the genie could take Jafar's powers away. This immediately prompts the power-hungry sorcerer to use his third and final wish to become a genie himself. He is turned to a monstrous red genie with a muscular physique. Jafar tries to gain control of the whole universe with his new powers, but discovers that, as a genie, he has no free will and he is sucked into a lamp of his own, pulling Iago along with him. The genie then hurls the lamp far into the desert. In the aftermath, Aladdin and Jasmine say good-bye to each other now that Aladdin isn't a prince. Instead of wishing to be a prince again, Aladdin wishes for the genie's freedom, much to the genie's happiness. Due to Aladdin's obvious worthiness, the Sultan changes the law so that Jasmine can marry anyone she chooses and she, of course, chooses Aladdin. The genie then leaves to explore the world as a free person while Aladdin and Jasmine celebrate their new life together as an engaged couple.

Cast of characters

The main characters.
Back: Genie with the Carpet in his shoulder.
Front: Sultan, Jasmine, Aladdin (with Abu), and Jafar (with Iago)

• Aladdin/Prince Ali Ababwa, voiced by Scott Weinger, is a poor but kind-hearted thief who lives in Agrabah. His singing voice is supplied by Brad Kane.
• The Genie, voiced by Robin Williams, is a comedic genie, with nigh omnipotent power, but can only be exercised when his master wishes it.
• Jafar, voiced by Jonathan Freeman is the Grand Vizier of Agrabah. He is a tall and slim figure who wears dark and moody clothes and owns a pet parrot named Iago. Manipulative, impulsive, and downright remorseless, Jafar plots to use his sorcery to usurp the throne, kill Aladdin, and marry Jasmine. He is visually based on Conrad Veidt in "The Thief of Bagdad."
• Princess Jasmine, voiced by Linda Larkin is the princess of Agrabah. Sick and tired of life in the royal palace, she sneaks out to find a new life. According to the law, she must find a prince to marry before her next birthday. Her singing voice is supplied by Lea Salonga.
• Abu, voiced by Frank Welker, is Aladdin's kleptomaniac pet monkey who has a unique squeaky voice.
• Carpet, a sentient magic carpet whom Aladdin and Abu meet inside the Cave of Wonders. Carpet is Aladdin's primary mode of transportation in the film and one of the Genie's oldest friends.
• Iago, voiced by Gilbert Gottfried is Jafar's sarcastic, foul-mouthed pet parrot.
• The Sultan, voiced by Douglas Seale is the pompous but kind ruler of Agrabah. He tries desperately to find a suitor for his daughter Jasmine. He is visually based on Miles Malleson in "The Thief of Bagdad".
• Razoul, voiced by Jim Cummings, is the head of the palace guards with a lust for killing and who desperately wants to capture Aladdin. He is extremely loyal to the Sultan and Jafar.
• Rajah, voiced by Frank Welker,^[10] is Jasmine's pet tiger, whom she considers her only friend.
• The Peddler, voiced by Robin Williams is a mysterious merchant who appears at the beginning of the film. After promoting useless goods to the audience, he reveals the magic lamp and begins the story of Aladdin. His singing voice is supplied by Bruce Adler.

Music

Main article: Aladdin (soundtrack)

Aladdin was praised for its musical score^[11] by composer Alan Menken and songwriters Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. The following six songs are featured in the movie.

• "Arabian Nights" (Ashman) is the intro theme, sung by an off-screen Bruce Adler. It was originally longer, and one excerpt of the cut lyrics was featured in Return of Jafar, and later became the title theme of the TV series. A reprise of the song originally planned for Aladdin's ending is featured in the Aladdin and the King of Thieves closure.
• "One Jump Ahead" (Rice) features Aladdin (Brad Kane) singing while running from the guards. Later, Aladdin sings a small song in the same vein, entitled "One Jump Ahead (Reprise)".
• "Friend Like Me" (Ashman) sung by the Genie (Robin Williams). In the song, the Genie shows off his powers to Aladdin, telling him that he is a friend unlike any other.
• "Prince Ali" (Ashman) is sung by the Genie (Robin Williams), and is used to introduce Aladdin's royal alter ego, Prince Ali Ababwa.
• "A Whole New World" (Rice) is a love theme sung by Aladdin (Brad Kane), and Jasmine (Lea Salonga) while they travel the world on the magic carpet. The song won the Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
• "Prince Ali (Reprise)" (Rice) is sung by Jafar (Jonathan Freeman). Using his newly gained powers, Jafar sings this spoof of "Prince Ali" while revealing Ali is only a street rat, and sending him to the ends of the earth.

On Classic Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic, this includes A Whole New World on the red disc and One Jump Ahead on the blue disc. And on Disney's Greatest Hits, this also includes A Whole New World on the blue disc. Eight others were written, but removed from the film (most of them sung by Jafar).^[12] The DVD Special Edition released in 2004 includes four songs in early animations tests, and a music video of one of them, "Proud of Your Boy", performed by Clay Aiken.^[13] That version also appears on the album DisneyMania 3. Others included in the DVD are "You Can Count On Me" (replaced by "One Jump Ahead" in the movie), "Humiliate the Boy", and "Why Me" (both replaced by "Prince Ali Reprise").

Reaction

Aladdin was well-received by critics,^[14] with most praise to Robin Williams' Genie. Warner Bros. animator Chuck Jones even called the film "the funniest feature ever made".^[4] Spike Milligan and Jon Pertwee, two life long fan of cartoons and self-proclaimed experts in animation named this the greatest animated movie ever made. However, criticism was made for the couple Aladdin and Jasmine^[13] and many reviews considered it inferior to its predecessors The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.^[15] It was the most successful film of 1992, with $217 million in the United States and over $504 million worldwide,^[2] being the biggest gross for an animation until The Lion King two years later.

Awards

Aladdin won two Academy Awards, Best Music, Original Score for Alan Menken's soundtrack and Best Music, Original Song for "A Whole New World" (Alan Menken and Tim Rice), and was also nominated for Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing, Best Sound, and another Best Song nomination for "Friend Like Me".^[3] The movie also won the Golden Globes for Song and Score and a special achievement award for Robin Williams (and was nominated for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy),^[16] the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, the MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance to Robin Williams (the only one ever delivered to an animation) and the Saturn Awards of Best Fantasy Film, Best Performance by a Younger Actor (Scott Weinger) and Best Supporting Actor (Robin Williams).^[3]

Controversy

"Arabian Nights" Lyrics

One of the verses of the opening song "Arabian Nights" was altered following protests from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). The lyrics were changed in July 1993 from "'Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home," in the original release to "Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home." The change first appeared on the 1993 video release.^[17] The original lyric was intact on the initial CD soundtrack release, but the re-release uses the edited lyric. Entertainment Weekly ranked Aladdin in a list of the most controversial films in history, due to this incident.^[18] The ADC also complained on how lead characters Aladdin and Jasmine resemble light-skinned Europeans and have European accents, while most of the other characters in the film, who are dark-skinned and have Arab accents and facial features, appear villainous or greedy.^[19]

Similarities to The Thief and the Cobbler

Animation enthusiasts have noticed similarities between Aladdin and Richard Williams's unfinished film The Thief and the Cobbler (also known as Arabian Knight under Miramax and The Princess and the Cobbler under Majestic Films International). These similarities include a similar plot, similar characters, scenes and background designs, and the antagonist Zig-Zag's resemblance in character design and mannerisms to Genie and Jafar.^[20][21] Though Aladdin was released prior to The Thief and the Cobbler, The Thief and the Cobbler was started much earlier in the 1960s, its production being mired in difficulties including financial problems, copyright issues (when it was about Mulla Nasruddin in the 1970s), and late production times caused by separate studios trying to finish the film after Richard Williams was fired from the project for lack of finished work.^[22] The late release, coupled with Miramax (a Disney-owned studio) purchasing and re-editing the film, has sometimes resulted in The Thief and the Cobbler being ironically labeled a "copy" of Aladdin.^[21]

Robin Williams and the Disney studio

In gratitude for his success with the Disney/Touchstone film Good Morning, Vietnam, Robin Williams voiced the Genie for SAG scale pay ($75,000), on condition that his name or image not be used for marketing, and his (supporting) character not take more than 25% of space on advertising artwork, since his live action film Toys was scheduled for release one month after Aladdin's debut. The studio failed on both counts, especially in poster art by having the Genie in 25% of the image, but having other major and supporting characters portrayed considerably smaller. Disney's Hyperion book, "Aladdin: The Making Of An Animated Film", listed both of Williams' characters "The Peddler" and "The Genie" ahead of main characters, but was forced to refer to him only as "the actor signed to play the Genie".^[9] Williams and Disney had a bitter falling-out, and as a result Dan Castellaneta voiced the Genie in The Return of Jafar, the Aladdin animated television series, and had recorded his voice for Aladdin and the King of Thieves. When Jeffrey Katzenberg was fired from Disney and replaced by former 20th Century-Fox production head Joe Roth (whose last act for Fox was greenlighting Williams' film Mrs. Doubtfire), Roth arranged for a public apology to Williams by Disney. Williams agreed to perform in Hollywood Pictures' Jack, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and even agreed to voice the Genie again for the King Of Thieves sequel (for considerably more than scale), replacing all of Castellaneta's dialogue.^[23] When Williams' re-teamed with Doubtfire director Chris Columbus for 1999's Bicentennial Man, Disney asked that the budget be cut by approximately $20 million, and when the film was released on Christmas Day, it flopped at the box office. Williams blamed Disney's marketing and the loss of content the film had suffered due to the budget cuts. As a result, Williams was again on bad terms with Disney, and Castellaneta was once again recruited to replace him as Genie in the Kingdom Hearts video game series and the House of Mouse TV series. The DVD release for Aladdin has no involvement whatsoever from Williams in the bonus materials, although some of his original recording sessions can be seen. However he appears to have made amends with Disney again and is working on a film with close friend John Travolta, which is being co-produced and distributed by the Walt Disney company.

Alleged hidden message

In the scene where Aladdin is attacked by the tiger Rajah on the palace balcony, he quietly says "Scat, good tiger, take off and go". Some people reported hearing "all good girls take off their clothes", or "come good teenagers, take off your clothes!", which they considered a subliminal reference to promiscuity, similar to Paul is Dead. Because of the controversy, Disney replaced the phrase with "down kitty" on the DVD release.^[24]

Cultural references

Aladdin features many references to popular culture, especially from Disney's previous works. While the Sultan is making a pile of toy animals, one is Beast from Beauty and the Beast; Rajah's head briefly resembles Mickey Mouse, and the Genie pulls Sebastian from The Little Mermaid out of a recipe book (meanwhile the first notes of "Under the Sea" are played); turns his head into Pinocchio's, says "Esalalumbo, shimin Dumbo!" to turn Abu into an elephant; and dons a Goofy hat before leaving on his vacation.^[25] Many in-jokes were also done by the filmmakers, such as a "cameo" from directors Ron Clements and John Musker, drawing some characters based on Disney workers, and baptizing the character Razoul after the layout supervisor, Rasoul Azadani.^[10] Other impersonations of the Genie include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Peter Lorre, Señor Wences, Ed Sullivan, Groucho Marx, Robert De Niro, Carol Channing, Arsenio Hall, Rodney Dangerfield, Jack Nicholson and William F. Buckley.^[4]

Home video

Aladdin was first released in VHS in October 1, 1993, as part of the "Classics" line. The previews include a VHS trailer of Pinocchio and an exclusive trailer for The Lion King. In its first week of availability, it sold over 10.8 million copies^[26] and went on to sell over 25 million in total (a record only broken by the later release of The Lion King).^[27] It entered moratorium in April 30, 1994.^[28] The movie was also released on laserdisc in 1994. The CAV Japanese version had many extras, such as documentaries, trailers and the book "Aladdin: The Making of an Animated Film".^[29] On October 5, 2004, Aladdin was released on DVD, as Aladdin: Platinum Edition, part of Disney's Platinum Edition line of animated classic DVDs. The DVD release featured a remastered version of the film, made for a planned but never released IMAX version,^[30] and a second disc with bonus features. It sold about 3 million units, less than any of the other Platinum Edition titles so far.^[31] The film's soundtrack was available in its original Dolby 5.1 track or in a new Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix.^[13] The DVD went into moratorium in January 2006.^[32]

Sequels

Aladdin was followed by Disney's first direct-to-video sequel, The Return of Jafar in 1994. The film saw the debut of a new character, Abis Mal, voiced by Jason Alexander, and all of the original cast, except for Robin Williams, replaced by Dan Castellaneta, and Douglas Seale, replaced by Val Bettin. The sequel was followed by the animated television series Aladdin, that ran from 1994 to 1996 and had the same cast of The Return of Jafar, except for Jonathan Freeman. Also in 1996, the Aladdin story was concluded with another direct-to-video film, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, that saw Robin Williams' return as the Genie and had the appearance of Cassim, Aladdin's father (voiced by John Rhys-Davies). John Musker and Ron Clements had no involvement any of them. Aladdin, Abu, Rajah, Iago, Razoul, Jasmine and the Genie were also featured as guests in the TV series House of Mouse. In related works to those series, Jafar was the leader of the villains in Mickey's House of Villains, and appears along with Aladdin and Jasmine in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse.

Video games

Main article: Disney's Aladdin (video game)

Along with the film release, three different video games based on Aladdin were released, one by Virgin Interactive for the Sega Genesis, Game Boy (later ported to the Game Boy Color), and PC, another by SIMS for the Sega Game Gear and Sega Master System, and another by Capcom for the Super NES (later ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2002) and Nintendo Entertainment System. The TV series inspired another game by Argonaut Games, entitled Aladdin: Nasira's Revenge and released in 2001 for the PlayStation and PC.^[33]Also, in 2004 Vivendi Universal released Disney's Aladdin Chess Adventures, a chess computer game with the Aladdin license.^[34] Aladdin is also part of the plot in the Kingdom Hearts games by Square Enix, taking the name of the world Agrabah. In all games, the plot of the films is followed with new dialogues and altered situations to fit the games' protagonists (Sora, Donald, and Goofy). Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories feature Aladdin, and Kingdom Hearts II features The Return of Jafar. In both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, the voice actors from the films reprise their roles in the game, with the voice of the Genie provided by Dan Castellaneta.

References

External links

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Aladdin (film)

• Aladdin at the Internet Movie Database
• Aladdin at Rotten Tomatoes
• Aladdin at Box Office Mojo
• Aladdin at the Big Cartoon DataBase