Disney. No one name holds as much power over business and the world of Animation as much as Walter Elias Disney. Whether it was making the first animated motion picture in the English world, further revolutionizing the field of animation, or making one of the most powerful media companies in the world, Disney managed to become a titan of industry and media. Nowadays, we joke about the House of Mouse and its’ lasting impact in today’s world…but without Disney, much of the animated world today…well…wouldn’t be.
Aladdin: The costs and benefit of star power
10,000 yeeeeaaaars…(or what certainly feels like it), and it’s back to our regularly scheduled programming. Howard Ashman pitched the idea to do a loose adaptation of “Aladdin and his wonderful Lamp”, and although it took a few drafts to get it right, Jeffrey Katzenberg signed off on it, thus putting Aladdin in production. Around the same time, Richard Williams (of Who Framed Roger Rabbit fame), was working on what would have been his magnus opus, the Thief and the Cobbler. Williams wanted it juuuuuust right…and wanted it just right enough that it took forever to make and he was eventually kicked off the creative team. The production of Aladdin took notes from Thief and the Cobbler…which also took notes from Aladdin…resulting in Aladdin being a huge hit and Thief and the Cobbler bombing pretty badly.
This was not only the last film that Howard Ashman would have any creative part in (he died midway through the production of Beauty and the Beast due to complications of HIV), but it was also the first real movie to have a big celebrity voice actor. Robin Williams was already pretty big in comedy at the time, but his getting asked to be Genie in Aladdin was something he was very willing to do for the art. He even agreed to take a large pay cut for the movie and required Disney to limit the use of his performance in the marketing and not to use it at all for merchandizing (this was because he was already in another movie called “toys”…which didn’t do too well anyway). Disney decided not to do that and as a result, Robin Williams refused to work for Disney for a while until much later.
The Plot: We start being introduced to Agrabah by an intrepid Peddler (played by Robin Williams) who tries selling the audience on things that break before taking out a lamp and beginning a story of the man whose life was changed by the lamp. At the outskirts of Agrabah much earlier, a dark man awaits a thief in the desert. The thief finally arrives with half of a scarab pendant before asking to be paid…which the man does not do until he fits the pendant together…which leads to the Cave of Wonders. The only issue is that the Cave of Wonders will only allow one person in: the Diamond in the Rough. The thief tries to go in…and is consequently eaten, requiring the dark man to find the Diamond in the rough.
We then cut to our title character escaping from the guards after stealing a loaf of bread to survive. He eventually escapes, and splits the bread with his monkey, Abu (voiced by the legendary Frank Welker). He ends up giving his part of the bread to some kids who need it more than he does. Later, a prince walks through town to wed the Princess of Agrabah…and those same kids get in his way. Aladdin stops him from whipping them by taking the whip himself and getting a very nice parting shot at him (about as nice as a kid friendly film can get it, by calling him an ass). The prince then calls him a street rat and lectures him about how he will be one forever, and that is what gets to Aladdin as he walks back to what he calls home: an abandoned building with a nice view of the Palace.
With that, we see the prince storm out of the palace after being humiliated by the Princess and her pet Tiger Rajah. Jasmine sees him as just another pompous, puffed up jerk and refuses to have anything to do with him. While her father acknowledges this, the current law states that she has to marry a prince before her 16th birthday to inherit the throne…which Jasmine also decides is a stupid law. Sultan is at his wit’s end and is in the middle of trying to figure out how to leave a future for Jasmine before he gets a visit from the dark man from earlier, Jafar, his royal vizier…and his parrot Iago (voiced by Jonathan Freeman and Gilbert Godfrey respectively). Jafar has a rather tight grip on the Sultan, whom he hypnotizes to get a ring to tell him who the Diamond in the Rough is. Turns out, it’s Aladdin…who is helping Jasmine in disguise after she runs away from her life in the palace. Aladdin is promptly captured by the guards and Jasmine is directed to Jafar.
Jafar has set up Aladdin to be executed for kidnapping the princess, at least until an old man breaks him out of prison to find the cave of wonders and find a very specific treasure: a magic lamp. The Cave of Wonders lets him in on the condition that he touches nothing but the lamp. Especially the giant hordes of treasure inside. Aladdin heeds this warning very well. Abu…not so much. It ends with them nearly making it out of the Cave of Wonders until they are betrayed at the last moment by the old man…who was revealed to be Jafar. Abu ended up stealing the lamp from Jafar though, and to their benefit, they end up unleashing the Genie of the Lamp (played by the one and only Robin Williams). The Genie reveals that Aladdin has three wishes he can wish for…with a few limitations. After tricking the Genie into getting him out of the cave of wonders, he asks what the genie would wish for…and finds out the Genie is a slave to the lamp. He can’t do anything unless it’s what his master wishes. Because of this, Aladdin promises to set aside one of his wishes to free the Genie.
With that, Aladdin can’t really think of what his heart desires until he remembers his time bonding with Jasmine over being trapped in circumstances beyond their control: Aladdin trapped in being a street rat and having to steal everything just to survive, and Jasmine having every aspect of her life planned out for her with no say in the matter. Genie reminds Aladdin that he can’t wish for anyone to fall in love…but Al mentions her being the princess and decides to wish he could be a prince so he could try to impress her. Genie obliges, and sets him up with a huge parade…only to fall flat when Jasmine catches Aladdin, Sultan and Jafar discussing her future without her. Aladdin tries to woo her again…falling flat until he mentions her being caught in a situation she doesn’t want…and she decides to hear him out…and go on a magic carpet ride with him.
Jafar decides to take matters into his own hands and marry Jasmine so he can be sultan and then kill the real sultan and Jasmine later. Just as Jasmine returns, he has Prince Ali (really Aladdin) knocked out and hurled off a cliff, and Sultan hypnotized to have her marry Jafar. Aladdin unconsciously wishes for Genie to save him, and he ends up exposing Jafar’s duplicity, getting Jasmine to fall in love with him for real, and Sultan to grant him Jasmine’s hand. This is all well and good…except it’s still in a lie, and Aladdin knows it. So much, that he feels he has no choice but to go back on his word to the Genie…which upsets him…a lot. Not helping matters is Jafar figuring out the identity of Prince Ali…really Aladdin with the Lamp, and he gets Iago to successfully steal the lamp and make him Sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world right in front of Agrabah.
Aladdin’s secret is exposed, and he is sent to the ends of the Earth before the magic carpet sends him back, and Jafar has everything he wants…except that Jasmine still can’t stand him for mistreating her father. Jafar then decides to wish to the Genie for her to fall in love with him…which can’t happen. At least until she supposedly falls for him (really her seeing Aladdin trying to get the lamp from Jafar). Unfortunately for them, Jafar sees through her act (and even her kiss! Yep, Jasmine’s the only Disney princess to kiss the bad guy. The rest of the cast was rather squicked out), and he shows his powers off, with fire, swords, and even becoming a huge snake. There’s really no hope for Aladdin until he reasons that Jafar will still only be second best because he owes his power to the Genie. Jafar realizes this as well…and remedies it by becoming a Genie himself…with all the power and limitations. Genie sends him to the Cave of Wonders, and puts everything back to where it belongs…and Al uses his last wish to free the Genie instead of becoming a prince again. With that, Genie is freed happily and the Sultan amends the law so that the princess could marry anyone she deems fit.
Believe it or not, Patrick Stewart was approached to be Jafar. He couldn’t because of scheduling conflicts with Star Trek and it remains the one part he really wished he would have taken up. As mentioned earlier, Robin Williams had very specific demands for his performance of the Genie made…that Jeffrey Katzenberg ignored. This caused Robin Williams to very publicly denounce Disney and Jeffrey Katzenberg who had him give the best performance of his life for almost nothing and it took many years (and Jeffrey Katzenberg leaving Disney) before Williams decided to work with them again as the Genie and a few other rolls (Dan Castellenata of Simpsons fame did voice work as the Genie until Williams came back). Because of much of the ad libbing in the movie, Aladdin was denied any sort of award for best screenplay. Also, due to a clause in Robin Williams’ will, Disney can’t use the hours of voice work he had for anything else until 2039, thus rendering a project for what happened before the events of the film unworkable.
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