Aladdin

Huh, I thought I’d be taking a bit more of a break from Disney, but I guess my random movie picker had other plans for me. Either way, I do still like this movie and it is definitely better than I remember it much like Beauty and the Beast which I reviewed two weeks ago. While I wouldn’t necessarily say this film is better than Beauty and the Beast, it has definitely earned the title of ‘household classic’. From its lovable characters, amazing songs, gorgeous animation, and fun comedy, it’s no wonder this movie’s made a place for itself in many of our hearts. And also why Disney felt the need to remake it decades later, but that’s a different review. (Speaking of which, if anyone wants to see me review the Disney remakes, feel free to send me an e-mail. Of course I wouldn’t do any of them willingly.)

Sure there are great things in this movie and as I’ve aged I can appreciate them more, but I won’t deny that there are still a few things that I’m not the biggest fan of (which should probably be the slogan for this blog). Since I want to give every film a fair shot, and I tend to be a bit harsher on movies I grew up with as a child, I will be going over these elements today. Make no mistake though: I still really like this movie! Whether it be fantastic cinematic experiences that last you for the rest of your life, or awkward Disney Renaissance tropes of over-correcting certain character archetypes that could’ve been seen as offensive in the past, we’ll be going over it all.

So rub those lamps and keep your hands and arms inside the carpet as we go through the original Disney classic: Aladdin!

One thing I find weird about the opening on Disney+ is how before the film starts it shows this disclaimer you see above. While I’m not saying people shouldn’t try to improve as time goes on, especially Disney (even more if this were playing before Song of the South), I’m not entirely sure what’s in Aladdin to warrant this kind of message. Now I am familiar with the original version of the ‘Arabian Nights’ song which included this line: “Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face.” Although, in the version shown on Disney+, that line isn’t included, so why is this disclaimer here? That’s honestly the only part that I would personally find objectionable, everything else in Aladdin seems fine to me, although there could be something I’m missing. If y’all would like to talk more about this in the comments, feel free to educate me because after all, I’m about as white as the background of this page you’re currently reading.

Anyway, the opening title was always really cool to me as a kid with the flames billowing in the background, the music building up a sense of mysticism, and the title emerging from the flames as you see here. We then go straight into the opening song ‘Arabian Nights’ (not the version I mentioned in the last paragraph that has that one uncomfortable line in it) which I always thought was really fun too. It gives the animators some time to show off the landscapes and environments of the city we’re about to be witnessing for the next 90 minutes which, as you may have guessed, are breathtaking.

Okay, those citizens were clearly designed in a hurry, but in their defense they’re only onscreen for a matter of seconds.

That and it gives Robin Williams a chance to show off his singing. Yes, the merchant we see in the opening is actually played by Robin Williams as well. I’m pretty sure the filmmakers are trying to get across that he’s actually the Genie in disguise (especially since he just so happens to have the Genie’s old lamp on his person), but that’s not the most important part of this opening.

After failing to sell us anything, the merchant reveals the Genie’s lamp and tries pitching it to the audience by giving us the backstory behind it. This is when the story really gets going and we cut to the main villain of the movie, Jafar (played by Jonathan Freeman), who is immediately intimidating. Even his first line sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it.

I wish I could properly capture the pure boomy-ness of Jafar’s voice just in this written blog format, but I can’t so you’ll just have to take my word for it. Not only that, but I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised watching this film again at just how funny Jafar can be as well. He’s really the whole Disney villain package: devilish, intimidating, and hilarious. All that aside, he’s waiting for the arrival of his accomplice Gazeem (played by Charlie Adler) who’s there to give him one half of a golden scarab which, once assembled, reveals the entrance to the Cave of Wonders. Yeah, now’s probably a good time to bring up the CG animation in the movie.

I will say, for the time it is pretty ambitious and is also a cool design for the cave, although it doesn’t blend the greatest with the rest of the hand-drawn animation in the film. At least in regards to the Cave of Wonders. There is some pretty good CG that we’ll take a closer look at later, but something that should also be mentioned is that Cave of Wonders doesn’t appear that much throughout the movie anyway, so I can’t blame the animators for prioritizing their CG designs. As Gazeem approaches the cave, per Jafar’s orders, the Cave of Wonders speaks to him and tells him “Only one can enter here. One who’s worth lies far within. The diamond in the rough.” Gazeem is obviously not the right person to go in which is why Jafar demands him to enter. Humans, merely pawns to our dear villain. When Gazeem steps inside, the Cave immediately collapses giving us our first death in this G-rated film. Not even 10 minutes in, 90’s G has clearly proven itself to be far superior to modern G.

Considering everything we’ve already seen thus far, I have to admit that this intro also is very good at getting the viewer invested. It introduces so many interesting concepts and ideas in the span of only a few minutes which only makes you want to keep watching just to see where everything is going. Not only does it hook you, but it delivers the goods as well, which we’ll discuss soon. For right now though, Jafar and his parrot sidekick Iago (played by the late great Gilbert Gottfried) need some way to track down this “Diamond in the Rough” as the cave describes. Enter our protagonist Aladdin (played by Scott Weinger) who’s in the process of escaping Agrabah’s city guards on account of him stealing a loaf of bread. You know, this makes me wonder what it would’ve been like if Disney made an animated version of Les Misérables.

Some things I can say about Aladdin right off the bat is that he definitely has a lot of personality. He’s acted well and easily likable even when he’s stealing things. It’s made clear from the beginning that he does what he needs to survive but still cares about other people. That and his animation is very good in showing how athletic/nimble he is, and how expressive he can be. One thing that can be a bit distracting in my opinion is his voice. Clearly he’s played by a guy who’s a product of the 90’s which can occasionally take you out of the illusion that this story is taking place in ancient Arabian times. Also, I know I’m preaching to the choir, but he’s obviously played by a white guy. Is that what Disney meant when they put that disclaimer up on Disney+? This is an open invitation for Disney to be more specific about what’s wrong in their movies that they decide to put disclaimers in front of.

I’ll definitely give credit where credit is due though for the song ‘One Jump Ahead’. It manages to explain Aladdin’s character, situation, and the humorous nature of this movie very well in very little time.

This also brings up the point that this film was Disney’s first foray into a purely comedic adventure. Of course they had movies in the past which had comedic elements to support the main focus of their films which were primarily heartwarming or emotional, but this was Disney’s first movie that had the comedy as the focus. Practically every character in the film has some sort of funny line, or has some form of comedic slapstick to make the audience giggle, or even both. This movie does have genuine conflict, suspense, romance, and drama as well, but the comedic beats are definitely the primary takeaway and it’s done very well.

After escaping the guards by foreshadowing the magic carpet later, Aladdin comes across the scene that proves to the audience why he’s the “Diamond in the Rough”. There are two young orphans hunting for scraps of food and Aladdin feels compelled to give them his half of the bread loaf. His monkey sidekick Abu (played by Frank Welker) needs a bit more convincing, but that is also the primary character trait that surrounds him throughout the rest of the movie which is pretty clever. In the meantime a pompous prince named Achmed (played by Corey Burton) is off to the palace to be the princess’s next suitor where Aladdin interrupts him after he tries whipping the two orphans he just helped. Achmed pushes him aside into a dirty puddle where Aladdin leaves him with one last insult.

Joking aside, Achmed responds with an insult of his own which really sends Aladdin into a blind rage and the animation on his face is genuinely Prince of Egypt Rameses-esque. This also leads to Aladdin unknowingly singing about how he’s the “Diamond in the Rough” and giving us a genuinely ironic line of Aladdin imagining people who live in palaces don’t have problems. Oh you poor naive boy. This is also when we’re officially introduced to the Sultan (played by Douglas Seale) and his daughter Jasmine (played by Linda Larkin). I know this is going to be hard to believe, but Jasmine’s a princess who doesn’t want to be a princess, is being asked to marry someone she doesn’t love, and doesn’t want to conform to society. Surely it’s difficult for you to take that logical leap. In case you couldn’t tell, that was sarcasm.

Honestly, as a kid Jasmine was probably one of my favorite Disney princesses, mostly because I also watched the Aladdin cartoon series where she does a lot more stuff, but now that I’m older, in this movie she’s kinda just another Disney Renaissance princess. Including Belle from Beauty and the Beast I reviewed a couple weeks ago, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, and Megara from Hercules, Jasmine has a lot of similar traits to them. She can be charming and likable in her rejection of societal norms, but I can’t act like this hasn’t been done several times already, especially within this same company. I think where she really shines is in her chemistry that she has with Aladdin which will become clearer later, but on her own she’s kinda boring. At least in the movie. To be real, even the scenes she has with her father the Sultan are kinda meh. Only when the Sultan meets with Jafar for the first time do we get some more entertainment back into the picture where Jafar hypnotizes the Sultan into giving him his diamond ring. We don’t know what it’s for just yet, but it does a good job in introducing us to the idea of how Jafar probably got this position in the first place and how he’s managed to get so close to the Sultan. It’s also pretty funny which is a good bonus.

We then see Jasmine run away dressed in rags because she wants to be out in the real world and we need to hit all of her clichéd character beats. This is where we see Aladdin get attracted to her for the first time and Jasmine almost get her hand cut off for giving an apple away to a kid without paying for it.

Of course Aladdin saves her and takes her back to his hideout where they start bonding over their teenage problems. Before that we also get closure on what Jafar wanted the Sultan’s ring for, because he uses it in some sort of magic contraption thing to reveal to him who can enter the Cave of Wonders. It’s never made entirely clear what this contraption thing is, but in a world where wish granting genies exist it’s not that farfetched. Meanwhile, Aladdin tosses Jasmine one of the apples they stole earlier in a unique way that I always tried to replicate as a kid but could never get right.

This’ll become important later, but for now it’s just cute. Although, since Jafar discovered Aladdin as the “Diamond in the Rough”, he sent out a swarm of guards to hunt him down and bring him to the palace which they do. Jasmine reveals herself as the princess to try to demand the guards to let him go, but their hands are tied. She goes to confront Jafar and he lies to her saying that he had Aladdin killed. Jasmine of course runs off crying and sobs to her pet tiger Rajah that she never got to know his name. That’s very touching, but plot-wise that’ll be very convenient for Aladdin later. In reality though, Aladdin is still alive and well living in the dungeon to allow Jafar to intercept him while in disguise and send him off to the Cave of Wonders to recover the lamp for him. So they escape via a secret dungeon tunnel and set off for the cave, but before we continue, why was that tunnel there? I can understand a palace having secret passageways in order for royalty to escape during a siege or something, but in the dungeon? The only place you specifically don’t want any person getting out of? That’s just the slightest bit weird.

So Aladdin and Abu make it to the cave with the help of disguised Jafar where they’re told to touch nothing but the lamp. As you can see that’s gonna be a bit of a tough ask for them:

Literally any of this stuff would be enough to make you into the next Jeff Bezos, so restraint is key, Abu! Yeah, much like I said before, Abu is clearly the character that’s the most obsessed with riches in the film which will eventually be his and Aladdin’s undoing in the cave, but we’ll get to that. For right now they come across a magic carpet who is immediately bursting with personality. It’s surprising, for what’s just an inanimate object, this thing has so much life and energy to it that it makes it hard not to smile whenever it’s onscreen. That and the CG animation used to bring it to life is definitely the best in the movie. Granted that makes the most sense since this character will be sticking with us until the end of the film. They also combine its animation style with hand-drawn which helps it blend more among the other characters too.

Carpet takes them to the lamp where Aladdin takes it and Abu is mesmerized by a giant ruby which he tries to steal and fails when the Cave calls him out for touching it. Everything starts to collapse around them and Carpet brings them back up to the entrance where Jafar is waiting for the lamp. Aladdin hands it over and Jafar tries to stab Aladdin like a true Disney villain. I love it. Abu stops Jafar by biting him which causes Aladdin, Abu, and Carpet to fall into the cave as it finally collapses entirely. Jafar, back on the surface, is super happy to finally have the lamp only to find out that he doesn’t have it anymore! Back at the palace, Jasmine brings up Jafar ‘killing’ Aladdin with the Sultan. It lasts less than a minute so it’s just kinda there. Sure it does play a bit of a role later creating a rift between Jasmine and Jafar which ends up growing until the end, but I was kinda hoping for a bit more of a developed relationship between Jasmine and her father being represented here. Instead it’s just kinda standard.

Meanwhile, Aladdin wakes up to find he and his friends are trapped and Abu stole the lamp from Jafar before falling. He’s a bit unsure what’s so special about the thing until he tries to read something engraved on it. Aladdin rubs the side of it to get a better look which is when it starts to go crazy and we’re introduced to most people’s favorite character: the Genie (played by Robin Williams).

What can I say about this character that hasn’t already been said be everyone else? He’s funny, he’s energetic, he’s adorable, he’s the perfect contrast to Aladdin’s down-to-earth persona. Although, one thing I don’t think people talk about enough when it comes to this character is his animation. Pretty much everyone knows that everything Genie says in the film was improvised by Robin Williams (with the exception of the Alan Menken song lyrics), but because each of his lines were improvised, it only made the animators’ jobs that much harder. However, they manage to give him so much fluidity in his movements as Robin Williams smoothly transitions from reference to reference and impression to impression. There’s a lot that’s being visually taken for granted here as you can see if you watch the sequels that also feature the Genie. They’re animated passably, but they’re nowhere near as visually stunning as the original’s animation.

That and of course the ‘Friend Like Me’ song number is so much fun to watch, listen to, and even dance to if you’re someone who likes to do that (like me). Aladdin seems impressed by his new friend, but is a bit overwhelmed by now having the ability to get anything he wants. Genie at least tells him the few limitations he has in his magic to get him started though: he can’t kill people, he can’t make anyone fall in love, and he can’t bring people back from the dead. Upon hearing this Aladdin’s scheming brain starts scheming and he convinces Genie to get him and Abu out of the cave without using one of his three wishes. This is a great way to show how cunning Aladdin can be which of course also comes back into play later and gives this movie a few more minutes of theatrical run time. Since it’s only 90 minutes it really needed some extra padding.

In the palace, the Sultan tries to get Jasmine and Jafar to make-up, but Jasmine isn’t really receptive which is understandable given her belief that she had Aladdin killed. Once she and the Sultan leave, Jafar and Iago come up with the idea to convince the Sultan to have Jasmine marry Jafar through complicated legal action. After that bit of genius-ness, Jafar and Iago share an evil laugh that always makes me laugh and we check back with Aladdin and Genie. They just made their way to an oasis and Aladdin admits that he tricked Genie into getting him and his friends out of the cave without using a wish. Genie admits that Aladdin was clever, but he won’t do anything for free like that again and Aladdin thinks about what he’ll wish for. Here is where Genie gets a chance to show his more sensitive side which makes him feel more like a fleshed out character. If he were only comedic and upbeat all the time I don’t think this performance would’ve worked as well, so it’s nice to see him be a layered character.

Genie tells Aladdin about his imprisonment in the lamp and how he’s forced to grant wishes for eternity unless one of his masters decides to wish him free. Aladdin then promises to set Genie free after using his first two wishes which he then uses one to become a prince so he can be Jasmine’s next suitor. It kinda goes without saying that there are several ways Aladdin could’ve manipulated reality in order to get what he wanted a lot faster, but I believe that given the knowledge he currently has, he would think that this would be the best way to go after Jasmine’s heart. Especially since Genie can’t make anyone fall in love. On their way to the palace, Jafar tries to hypnotize the Sultan into marrying him and Jasmine until Aladdin and co shows up with all the fanfare and theatrics you would expect from a prince from a country you’ve never heard of.

Legit though, ‘Prince Ali’ is a really fun number with some great visuals, lyrics, and melodies that get stuck in your head and refuse to leave. Not gonna lie, this is one of those songs that just randomly pops into my head sometimes and I can’t stop thinking about which really speaks to how great it is. This leads to more humor with the Sultan and the carpet riding around the throne room while terrorizing Iago and Jafar not trusting Aladdin’s story about being a prince from a far off country he’s never heard of. While it’s funny, it does beg the question: Why doesn’t Jafar recognize Aladdin? Sure Aladdin obviously wouldn’t recognize Jafar since he was disguised when he was working with him, but Aladdin just put on a turban, he didn’t change his face at all, so why wouldn’t Jafar recognize his face? I’d probably be able to forgive it more if that was the reason Jafar didn’t trust him, but he doesn’t trust him because he was only just talking to the Sultan about having Jasmine marry him since she didn’t like any of the suitors. It only gets better when Jasmine comes in and hears the three of them discussing her future without her consent, so she scolds them. I’ll admit it gets funny again when the Sultan walks away with Aladdin and Jafar says with complete conviction:

After rewatching this movie so many years later, I think Jafar might be my favorite character.

After that, Aladdin is debating what to do to win over Jasmine when Genie gives him the advice to come clean and tell her the truth. They do show in this scene that Aladdin is at the very least ashamed of his true identity which explains why he would feel compelled to do this, I just feel a slight bit frustrated that this idea isn’t even given a second thought by him. Maybe that’s just because I’ve lied similarly to this before in my past and it’s just the slightest bit embarrassing. It does at least lead to some of Jasmine’s funniest scenes where she humiliates him on the balcony until he decides to jump off of it. Of course he reveals to her that he has a magic carpet and convinces her to take a ride with him by utilizing a call back.

They hop on Carpet together and go on a romantic ride across the world while singing quite possibly the most iconic song from the movie: ‘A Whole New World’. Like I said before, Aladdin and Jasmine’s chemistry is really well done and probably some of Jasmine’s best moments on screen are when she’s paired with him. It’s perfectly adorable, hummable, and beautiful. Definitely one of the main reasons these two are one of Disney’s power couples. That and Aladdin tips off Jasmine some more to his true identity by doing this as well:

After taking a pit stop in China to see the New Year’s festival, Jasmine officially outs Aladdin and demands he tell her the truth. Did I say Jasmine’s funniest moments were earlier, well I was lying, this is her funniest moment:

That’s the face of “Spill the tea or I swear to Allah…”

In the end he continues to lie to her and says that he only occasionally leaves his kingdom dressed as a commoner to escape the stresses of palace life. You see what I’m saying? They had this whole sequence already of Jasmine getting to like him, so why is he still lying to her? I know that they’re trying to get across a ‘Liar Revealed’ type thing here to help make the lesson they’re going for clearer. What makes it more interesting to me is that unlike other films that utilize this trope, this movie only uses elements of the trope instead of following it so unbelievably closely to the point where it just becomes tired and predictable. Outside of this aspect of the story, there are still other things in the movie to keep you invested besides this, but these are still the weakest parts of the movie in my opinion.

Upon making it back to Agrabah, Aladdin gets a kiss from Jasmine, his heart flutters, and he’s on top of the world until he gets attacked by the palace guards. Well, that was fast.

Naturally this is all a plan from Jafar to kill Aladdin so he can marry Jasmine and become Sultan instead. However, he didn’t count on Aladdin having the lamp in his turban still! In the water though, you really get the weight of suspense seeing Aladdin struggle against the ball and chain he’s attached to which again speaks to the animation quality. He just barely manages to rub the lamp before passing out due to lack of oxygen and Genie uses Aladdin’s second wish to save his life. What’s nice about this is how we’ve seen more of Genie getting attached to Aladdin up until now with him even trying to help Aladdin win over Jasmine earlier before the ‘A Whole New World’ sequence, so it’s believable that he would probably like him enough by this point to do this for him. They head back to the palace where Jafar has gone full hypno psycho on the Sultan to get him to marry Jafar and Jasmine. What he wasn’t counting on was Aladdin being right there and exposing Jafar as a traitor. The characters want to be torn up about this, but Aladdin and Jasmine are just such a cute couple! That’s kinda what the Sultan’s reaction is when he sees Jasmine has chosen to marry Aladdin, but it starts to sink in with Aladdin just what’s going to happen as eventually he’ll become Sultan himself.

Jafar on the other hand escapes to his secret hideout and has himself the most delightful crazy laugh that always makes me laugh. This is because he saw the lamp in Aladdin’s turban before he disappeared in the palace guards’ hands. Now he knows who he is and calls on Iago to steal the lamp for him. Back in Aladdin’s quarters, he’s feeling the mope as he sulks around thinking about the future. Genie tries to cheer him up feeling like this is finally his time to be set free, but Aladdin tells him that he can’t because he needs him to keep from being found out. Again, there are definitely several ways around this, but here I at least believe that Aladdin wouldn’t be able to see that yet. This all takes place within the span of about a day, and having been someone myself who’s been so ashamed of the truth that they’ve felt the need to hide it at all costs, I think I’d probably come to the same conclusion at this point if I were in Aladdin’s shoes. Of course this leads to Genie being completely heartbroken and hiding in his lamp until Aladdin gets lured out by Iago pretending to be Jasmine which is pretty funny.

It’s here that Iago manages to steal the lamp while Aladdin’s gone, and while Aladdin goes to give a speech to his new public, Jafar gets the lamp and makes his first wish to become Sultan. Here’s where things start to go crazy as the palace falls apart and the Sultan loses his clothes to Jafar. While Jasmine is firmly defiant of Jafar’s ‘rule’, the Sultan is pretty quick to accept it himself which may explain why the Sultan was trying to find someone to marry Jasmine and become Sultan themselves so quickly. Also it’s pretty funny to see the Sultan bow to Jafar, see Jasmine in staunch opposition to that notion, and quickly correct himself. This prompts Jafar to make his second wish becoming the most powerful sorcerer in the world. It’s also clear in these scenes that while Genie has to be subservient to his master despite Aladdin’s protests, he clearly doesn’t like it. He also gets quite the glow-up, I mean he looks really awesome when he grows so big that he picks up the castle and puts it on a mountain.

Jafar uses his new powers to humiliate Jasmine and the Sultan, reveal Aladdin’s lies, and sing quite possibly the funniest villain song just behind ‘Gaston’. Granted this song is really just ‘Prince Ali’ with different lyrics, but Jonathan Freeman sings it so hilariously. Jafar ends up sending Aladdin off to the ends of the Earth “WHOPEE!” which lands him in the Arctic, I think, where he learns the error of his ways and uses Carpet to get back to Agrabah. Kind of a detour, but it at least has some story and character significance so I give it a pass. Back in Agrabah, Jafar and Iago are living it up and Jafar decides he wants to marry Jasmine just because now and he wants to use his third wish to make her fall in love with him. Yeah. She’s 15. The story doesn’t tell you that and she’s played by a 20-something, but it makes you feel so much better knowing doesn’t it? You’re welcome. I’ll spare you the picture at least, that just makes it worse.

Genie tells Jafar that he can’t make anyone fall in love, but Jafar isn’t having it until Jasmine decides to fake it till she makes it. Genie gives the appropriate response.

You and an uncomfortable adult audience, Genie.

It’s here that Aladdin makes his way into the palace and tries to get the lamp back, but Jafar notices him and responds with the most honest Disney villain line that could’ve just as easily come out of a comic book villain:

He’s got a point though. What is this, the third time?

This kicks off our climax where Jafar tries to kill Aladdin with dad jokes until he ends up transforming himself into a giant snake in some even more awesome animation which results in more reasons 90’s G is better than modern G when Aladdin stabs snake Jafar with visible blood! Eventually snake Jafar gets the better of Aladdin until snake Jafar reminds him of Genie’s power. Aladdin then uses this to convince snake Jafar that he’s not powerful enough and Genie is still stronger than he is which leads to him using his third wish to become a genie himself. Genie grants the wish and Jafar becomes a genie himself until he sees the huge asterisk of an eternity of servitude that comes along with it. He’s sucked into his black lamp along with Iago and Genie flicks them into the Cave of Wonders.

Of course it’s at this point that, since we’re wrapping things up, Aladdin makes the decision to use his third wish to free Genie which is both heartwarming and funny at the same time. He starts to celebrate until he realizes he’s not going to be seeing his friends for a while which results in a touching moment.

*No matter what anybody says, you’ll always be a prince to me*.
I have to reiterate, it’s moments like these that tie the film together.

Without being a prince anymore, Aladdin can’t marry Jasmine under the law, but the Sultan decides to change the law on the spot so Jasmine can marry whoever she wants. Really dude, you could’ve done that from the beginning?! Come on! So now the two of them can be married, Genie heads off to see the world, we see Aladdin and Jasmine fly off on Carpet into the full moon, and we end on one last bit of meta-humor.

And that was Aladdin! After all these years, I think it still holds up pretty well.

Sure I did go into detail on some of the things I’ve noticed over the years, and those do prevent this film from being a masterwork as I originally saw it as a kid, but it does still have a lot of great things in it. From animation, to characters, to humor, to romance, it really has a lot to enjoy for many different people. Of course, I stand by that any person of any age can enjoy this movie, and, to this day, they still do! Disney still promotes these characters in their parks and resorts because so many people adore them and they, like many other iconic characters Disney has created, have become synonymous with classic children’s storytelling. Much like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin has definitely earned its place among the pantheon of Disney tales in their hand-drawn library that dates back to the late 1930’s.

I do still ‘wish’ Disney would try something like this again on a feature-length scale. Something that calls back to the roots of the company especially after having been around for as long as it has and showing off just how much talent and energy is still left in a company that no one doesn’t know the name of. There would have to be a lot of reorganization and a gigantic push for something like that though, and I’m sure that’s very unlikely to happen anytime soon, so we should expect a lot of CG animated films out of this company for a while, but the good news is that these classic stories are still here. If you want to relive your childhood in all the best ways, this is certainly an arabian weekend movie night I would recommend.

I’d personally rate this a 4.5/5 genie lamps on account of those hiccups earlier, but it’s still a far cry from me not recommending it whatsoever. Looking past those things, there’s still plenty to love about this film.

Is it just me or would this be really nice to own?

(I make no claim of ownership for any of the images used in this post)

(Each of them are owned entirely by their respective copyright holders, which are not me)

(I’m just a humble blogger who talks about movies, I do not make them)

(Yet)

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