Aladdin (film)
- “Imagine if you had three wishes, three hopes, three dreams, and they all could come true.”
- ―Tagline
Aladdin is a 1992 animated film produced at Walt Disney Feature Animation. It's the 31st animated feature film in the Disney Animated Canon and the fourth entry of the Disney Renaissance. Inspired by the story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, the film is centered on a young "street rat" in the kingdom of Agrabah who uses the power of a shape-shifting genie to win the heart of Princess Jasmine. Unbeknownst to them, Jafar, adviser to the Sultan, plots to use the Genie to take over the kingdom.
Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, Aladdin was released at the peak stretch of the Disney renaissance era, beginning with The Little Mermaid. Released on November 25, 1992, it was the most successful film of 1992 with over $217 million in domestic revenues and $504 million worldwide. The success of the film led Disney to produce two direct-to-video sequels: The Return of Jafar (1994) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996). Additionally, Disney would produce Aladdin, an animated television series which was set between the two sequels and a series of video games for different platforms in 1993. In 2014, a stage adaptation premiered on Broadway, which would go on to win a Tony Award. In 2019, Walt Disney Pictures released a live-action adaptation of the 1992 film.
The film starts with a street peddler, guiding through the streets of the fictional Arabian city of Agrabah, which is based mainly on a medieval city in the Middle East, the home of the 1001 Arabian Nights, and there are some inconsistencies in the time period. After trying to sell the viewers on his wares, he pulls out an old oil lamp, claiming it "once changed the course of a young man's life. A young man who like this lamp was more than what he seemed: A diamond in the rough."
The peddler then begins to tell the viewers a tale. Beginning on a dark night, the Sultan's vizier, Jafar, and his talking parrot and main assistant, Iago, meet with a thief named Gazeem, who hands over half of a gold scarab beetle, of which Jafar has the second half. Putting them together, the beetle flies off, before causing a giant tiger's head to rise from the sand - the Cave of Wonders.
Jafar summons Gazeem to enter, instructing him to retrieve a lamp inside. However, upon approaching the Tiger's Head, it speaks that only one may enter: "One whose worth lies far within: the Diamond in the Rough!" Gazeem still attempts to enter upon Jafar's orders, but upon entering the tiger's mouth, it bites down on the thief, closing off the entryway before instructing Jafar again to seek out the Diamond in the Rough it was referring to. It is then that Jafar realizes he needs to find the Diamond in the Rough in order to enter. Jafar seeks to become sultan himself and become the new ruler of Agrabah.
The next day, on the streets of Agrabah, a street urchin named Aladdin is struggling to steal a loaf of bread, along with his pet monkey, Abu. After outwitting the palace guards led by their captain, Razoul, the two settle down to eat their spoils, but are put off from satisfying their stomachs by a couple of hungry children. Aladdin and Abu give the two their bread, but are then sidetracked when a royal prince marches through the streets, and claims Aladdin to be nothing but "a worthless street rat." Aladdin and Abu then retire to their abode, with Aladdin promising his friend that someday, things will be better and people will see him for what he really is instead of as a public menace.
The Sultan, meanwhile, is having problems with finding a prince for his daughter, Princess Jasmine, to marry, especially when the last suitor, whom is the same one who insulted Aladdin earlier, leaves after Jasmine's pet tiger Rajah bites into his pants. The Sultan talks to Jasmine, who claims she is tired of living her life being cooped up behind walls. The Sultan goes to consult with his adviser, Jafar. By mesmerizing him with his magical snake staff, Jafar convinces the Sultan that Jafar needs the Sultan's blue diamond ring to find Jasmine a husband. Jafar actually needs the ring to discover the identity of the "Diamond in the Rough."
Jasmine, who does not want to be married off, decides to run away disguised as a peasant girl. However, her act of giving an apple to a hungry little boy lands her in trouble with the street merchant until Aladdin intervenes and leads Jasmine away just in time before she can lose a hand as payment for the fruit.
Meanwhile, Jafar uses the blue diamond ring of the Sultan's and consults The Sands of Time, and discovers the identity of the "Diamond in the Rough": Aladdin.
Aladdin has retreated with Jasmine to his and Abu's place, and she is rather taken by his kindness. However, Aladdin is suddenly set upon by the Royal Guards. It is then that Jasmine reveals herself to them, demanding Aladdin be released. However, Razoul claims he is acting under orders from Jafar, so Jasmine will need to speak with him to get Razoul to release Aladdin. When Jasmine confronts Jafar, he claims that he was placed in charge of keeping peace in the city and Aladdin was a criminal. He then lies to her by saying he had already been executed for "kidnapping the princess." As Jasmine runs to the fountain outside after confronting Jafar, she begins weeping over Aladdin's "loss", even though she never knew his name and Rajah comforts her.
In actuality, Aladdin has been imprisoned in the Royal Dungeon. Abu manages to free Aladdin, but are then met within the dungeon by an older prisoner, in reality a disguised Jafar and Iago, who shows Aladdin a hidden passageway out of the dungeon to free and take him to the Cave of Wonders. At the entrance, Jafar informs Aladdin that if he brings back the lamp, he will be rewarded. The Cave's tiger-shaped head allows Aladdin to enter, but he is instructed to touch only the lamp and nothing else. Aladdin and Abu venture deep into the cavern, where they first encounter a magic carpet, that then leads them to the lamp's location. Aladdin successfully retrieves the lamp, but Abu violates the rule the Cave's guardian imposed, and seizes a large ruby, enraging the tiger guardian, causing the cave to begin to collapse on them. Using the magic carpet, Aladdin and Abu manage to get to the entrance to the cave, where the disguised Jafar pleads for Aladdin to give him the lamp. Aladdin does so, and Jafar then reveals a dagger, intending to kill him. Luckily, Abu bites Jafar's arm, and Aladdin and Abu fall both back into the cavern, as the giant Tiger's Head disappears under the sand. Aladdin, Abu, and Carpet are trapped in the Cave of Wonders. Jafar then laughingly reaches for the lamp only to find it is gone because Abu stole it back.
In the palace, a weeping Jasmine is comforted by the Sultan and informs him that Jafar has done something terrible. The Sultan comforts Jasmine and gets her to tell him what happened. When Jafar comes back, the Sultan confronts him for having an innocent person beheaded and informs him that he must discuss sentencing prisoners with him from now on.

Aladdin and Genie.
Deep within the cave, Aladdin begins to examine the lamp, finding a worn inscription on the side of it. Aladdin discovers that the lamp is home to a wisecracking blue genie simply named "Genie", who will grant him any three wishes, excluding wishes to force a person to fall in love, kill someone, bring someone back from the dead, or give his master extra wishes.
Aladdin tricks Genie into getting them out of the cave without technically wishing for him to do so. Once out of the cave, and in a small oasis, Aladdin gets to know Genie and asks him what he would wish for if he had the chance; Genie says he would wish for freedom (as he is a prisoner of the lamp), but that can only be granted if his master is benevolent enough to free him with a wish. Aladdin promises to set Genie free with his last wish.
Aladdin, who has fallen in love with Jasmine, is disappointed that he could not wish to make her fall in love with him. However, the law states that only a prince can marry a princess, so he wishes to become a prince. Therefore, as his first wish, Genie turns Aladdin into a fabulously rich prince, and Abu is transformed into a large purple elephant to become Aladdin's mount, while Genie then goes further to make Aladdin's entrance into the palace one that will impress all of Agrabah.
Meanwhile, Jafar, who is worried that Jasmine might have him beheaded as punishment for supposedly having Aladdin executed, comes up with the idea to convince the Sultan to let him become her husband with the help of Iago. He later tries to mesmerize the Sultan into granting this request with his staff. However, his plans are interrupted when a large and noisy royal procession enters the kingdom, proclaiming the arrival of "Prince Ali Ababwa" (aka Aladdin in his new persona). The procession is huge, with riches, exotic animals, hundreds of servants, and Aladdin himself. Aladdin's entourage bounds into the palace, impressing the Sultan. Jafar appears suspicious and cold toward the new suitor. Aladdin is taken to Jasmine, who is unimpressed and rebuffs Aladdin's charms, thinking him to be another arrogant prince like the previous ones. However, when Aladdin removes his turban to shoo away Rajah, Jasmine is reminded of the street rat she met in the marketplace.
Aladdin tries to gain Jasmine's interest again by telling her how rich and powerful he is, but she remains steadfastly ambivalent. Aladdin decides to tell Jasmine that she's not a prize to be won and should be free to make her own choices before stepping off the balcony. Jasmine, believing Aladdin committed suicide, gasped only to learn that he actually stepped onto his magic carpet. After explaining his magic carpet, Aladdin invites Jasmine to take a ride with him to see the world, which she accepts. Afterwards, the carpet takes them to China, and Jasmine tricks Aladdin into admitting he's the street rat she met. Naturally wishing to impress her, Aladdin instead lies to her by convincing her that he really is a prince and had often pretended to be a commoner to escape the restrictions of palace life, much like what Jasmine did she relates to. Aladdin brings Jasmine back to the palace, and the two of them share their first kiss together.
Jafar is afraid that "Prince Abooboo", as he incorrectly calls him, may win Jasmine over, ruining his own scheme to marry her, but orders Aladdin out of the way. He orders Razoul and the guards to capture and kidnap Aladdin. The guards end up having Aladdin gagged with a white handkerchief over his mouth and tied up in metal manacles on his ankles and on his wrists behind his back (which is not a problem, as Razoul, the chief guard, is plagued with a lust for killing). He informs him that he has "worn out his welcome," and a guard clubs Aladdin unconscious, then drops Aladdin over a cliff into the sea. They have attached to his ankles a large metal ball-and-chain, so that a tied-up-and-gagged Aladdin is underwater and sinks faster. He hits the bottom, and his turban floats down. The lamp tumbles out, and he begins to struggle towards it (which is difficult as the ball-and-chain attached to his ankles pulls him back), but passes out from the lack of oxygen before he can reach it. Aladdin, tied up and gagged, slides down towards the lamp while underwater and rolls over, causing it to rub against his fingers. Genie appears (though apparently interrupted in the midst of taking a bath), and rescues Aladdin, using up his second wish. Genie unties and ungags Aladdin and takes him back from the sea and back to dry land. A soaking wet Aladdin thanks Genie for saving his life as his second wish.
Aladdin and Genie return to the palace, and Aladdin confronts Jafar over having him almost killed. Jafar uses his cobra staff to try and brainwash the Sultan into believing Aladdin is lying, but Aladdin, seeing what he is doing, grabs the staff and shatters it. He then shows the Sultan that Jafar has been controlling him and plotting against him. The Sultan calls for the guards to arrest Jafar, but Jafar manages to escape and, before doing so, witnesses the lamp in Aladdin's possession. The Sultan is convinced that his troubles are over as his daughter has finally chosen a suitor and dubs Aladdin as the heir to his throne. However, unbeknownst to the both, Aladdin, though casually happy, is suddenly struck with guilt, feeling unworthy of such a honor, as well as a future with Jasmine, because of the fact that he lied to her.

Jasmine has chosen a suitor.
The next day, Aladdin expresses his frustration to the Genie and considers going back on his promise to free the latter out of fear of losing Jasmine if the truth is revealed and uncertainty of keeping up the facade on without Genie's help. Feeling betrayed, a heartbroken Genie goes back inside the lamp, but not before pointing out how much Aladdin has lied to get where he is. Chastened, especially after taking his anger at Genie out on Abu and Carpet, Aladdin decides to tell Jasmine the whole truth of the matter. Unfortunately, Aladdin leaves the lamp in his chamber, and Jafar summons Iago to steal it. With the lamp in hand, Jafar becomes Genie's next master, giving him three wishes. His first wish is to become sultan. When the former Sultan and Jasmine refuse to bow to him, he wishes to be the world's most powerful sorcerer. Now Jafar forces them to bow to him.
Jafar then uses his magic to expose Aladdin and then banish him with a makeshift rocket to "the ends of the earth", in one of the palace towers. "The ends of the earth" appear to be Antarctica, the mountains of Austria, the Arctic or possibly the Himalayas. Luckily, Abu and Carpet are banished with him, and Aladdin is able to fly back to Agrabah, intent on reclaiming the lamp, stopping Jafar and fixing the mistakes he'd made.
Meanwhile, Jafar, who is angry that Jasmine does not wish to become his queen, makes a wish for Genie to cause her to fall in love with him, so he can make her his queen. Genie tries to inform him that he could not grant that wish, but this only frustrates Jafar. Jasmine, who witnesses Aladdin sneaking into the palace, pretends that the wish has been granted, much to Genie's surprise, in order to distract Jafar. She even goes so far as to kiss him, causing Aladdin, Abu, the Genie, and even Iago to nearly vomit out of disgust. At first, it seems to be working; Jafar, however, looks at Aladdin's reflection in Jasmine's crown (made from her shackles via a performance of sorcery) and, realizing he'd been tricked, confronts him before he can reach the lamp.
After trapping Jasmine in an hourglass, turning Abu into a wind-up monkey toy, and unraveling Carpet, all of whom had attempted to retrieve the lamp, Jafar eventually turns himself into a giant cobra and fights Aladdin. When Aladdin appears to be defeated, Jafar informs Aladdin he was a fool for thinking he could defeat "the most powerful being on earth." Aladdin informs Jafar he is not the most powerful being on earth and that honor belongs to Genie since he gave Jafar his power in the first place and can therefore take Jafar's power away.
Realizing what Aladdin is saying, Jafar decides to use his final wish to become the most powerful genie in the world. As Aladdin frees Jasmine from the hourglass and revives her, Jafar is at first convinced that his new powers will allow him to rule the universe, but he realizes too late that Aladdin tricked him since being a genie comes with a price. Jafar is suddenly shackled and is sucked into the new lamp created by his wish and is trapped (along with Iago, who tries to flee, but he's dragged by the villain). Not long after, Genie throws the lamp across Agrabah to the desert, left to be banished to the Cave of Wonders for 100,000 years.
Of course, since Aladdin is no longer a prince, he is not eligible to marry Jasmine. Genie, however, insists that Aladdin use his final wish to make himself a prince again, but nevertheless, he keeps his promise and starts accepting who he is, using his final wish for Genie's freedom. When all seems lost for Aladdin and Jasmine, the Sultan decides that, between his loyalty to Genie and his courage in defeating Jafar, Aladdin has proven his worth; the Sultan, therefore, changes the law so that his daughter shall marry whomever she deems worthy, meaning Aladdin and Jasmine can be married. Jasmine runs to Aladdin and chooses him. Genie flies away to see the world while Aladdin and Jasmine begin their new life together.
At night, while the fireworks begin exploding, Aladdin and Jasmine share another kiss and fly off with Carpet near the moon. As "The End" writes in the sky, the moon laughs and turns around to show that it was really Genie. Genie then pulls up the scene and says, "made you look," ending the film on a comical note.
The initial version of Aladdin was greatly different. Aladdin was portrayed as much younger, and living with his single mother. His motive was making his mother proud, which was addressed in the Howard Ashman and Alan Menken-penned number "Proud of Your Boy". There were also two genie characters, the Genie of the Lamp and the Genie of the Ring. Aladdin's friends in these drafts were a trio of humans, named Babkak, Omar, and Kassim. This version of Aladdin was panned by test screeners, forcing the creative team to rework the movie over eight days. This was referred to as "Black Friday" by the filmmakers. Jeffrey Katzenberg accepted this new outline. Next, writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot were brought on to make further changes to the story. First, the mother character was scrapped. There was also the concept of unlimited wishes from the genie, which Rossio and Eilliot also scrapped in favor of three wishes as a means to raise the stakes. Aladdin's friends were scrapped in favor of a monkey, Abu.[1]
A few months later, Glen Keane's Aladdin had to be reworked to appear older and more dashing, so to better match Mark Henn's Princess Jasmine. Aladdin's personality was also examined to refrain from repeating the "boring" Prince Charming archetype that appeared in previous Disney fairy tales. Tom Cruise was referred to as the basis for Aladdin's redesign. The Genie was designed and animated by Eric Goldberg, who was inspired by Al Hirschfeld's signature curvy style.[1] This style, coupled with Arabic influenced the entire movie, from its characters to its backgrounds. This broad, yet elegant style was a major departure from what came before, being Beauty and the Beast, but the filmmakers believed that the broader art style better complimented the tone of the movie, which was much more of an exuberant comedy than most Disney animated features before it.[2]
Voice actors included Robin Williams as the Genie, although other actors such as John Candy, Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, John Goodman, George Wendt, Rodney Dangerfield, Dan Aykroyd, Phil Hartman, Jerry Stiller, Jon Lovitz, Don Rickles, Chris Farley, and Dom DeLuise were considered for the voice of Genie. Though 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 action by Disney caused an argument between them and Williams, as Williams agreed to be paid a smaller sum if his name and fame were not used to directly promote the film. This has led to a subsequent increased attention to the casts of later productions, such as Toy Story and Shrek, as a major element of animated film marketing. Linda Larkin, who voices Jasmine, was chosen for the role in part because of her unique voice which differentiated Jasmine from previous Disney heroines.[3] Scott Weinger, the voice of Aladdin, sent an audition tape with his mother playing the part of the Genie. Some filmmakers joked that Scott's mother stole the show in the recording.[3]
- Main article: Aladdin (soundtrack)
The original songs were written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and Menken and Tim Rice after Ashman's death. Menken received the 1992 Academy Award for Original Music Score of Aladdin. The main soundtrack song "A Whole New World" (sung in the closing credits by Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle) won a Grammy Award as well as the Academy Award for Best Song in 1992. When writing the songs, Ashman and Menken were inspired by a mix of Fats Waller, Cab Calloway numbers from the 1920s, the jazzy music of classic Fleshier cartoons such as the Betty Boop shorts, and Arabian pieces. Writing the songs of Aladdin coincided with the production of The Little Mermaid. In fact, the positive reception of "Under the Sea"—a high energy musical number—was what inspired Ashmen and Menken when writing "Friend Like Me".[3]
Some original songs before the story was rewritten and half of the characters were cut:
Rough versions of "High Adventure" and "Proud of Your Boy" can be found in the Special Edition soundtrack, while "Why Me" was recorded in the studio with Jonathan Freeman and can be found on the compilation album Aladdin: Magical Selections. Some deleted songs were later incorporated into the stage adaptation.
- Main article: Aladdin (video)
After a limited release on November 11, 1992, Aladdin debuted on November 25, 1992, in 1,131 theaters, grossing $19.2 million in its opening weekend - number two at the box office, behind Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Batman Returns, The Bodyguard, A Few Good Men, Wayne's World, Basic Instinct, Under Siege, Lethal Weapon 3, Sister Act, Alien 3, Beethoven, 3 Ninjas and Bram Stoker's Dracula. It took eight weeks for the film to reach number one at the US box office, breaking the record for the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve with $32.2 million. The film held the top spot five times during its 22-week run. Aladdin was the most successful film of 1992 grossing $217 million in the United States and over $504 million worldwide. It was the biggest gross for an animated film until The Lion King two years later.
It was first released on VHS on September 29, 1993, as part of the Walt Disney Classics line, although, it was not officially advertised until October 1.[4] In its first week of availability, it sold over 10.8 million copies and went on to sell over 25 million in total (a record only broken by the later release of The Lion King). It entered "Disney Vault" moratorium on April 30, 1994.
On October 5, 2004, Aladdin was released for the last time on VHS and for the first time on DVD, as part of Disney's Platinum Edition line of animated classic DVDs.
A Diamond Edition of Aladdin was eventually released in the United States on October 13, 2015.
For the first time in 4K UHD Blu-ray, the film was released on September 10, 2019 as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 95% of critics gave the film a positive review based on a sample of 73 reviews, with an average rating of 8.14/10. The site's consensus reads, "A highly entertaining entry in Disney's renaissance era, Aladdin is beautifully drawn, with near-classic songs and a cast of scene-stealing characters." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" grade.
Turning Robin Williams into 'Aladdin's' Genie
Turning Robin Williams into 'Aladdin's' Genie - ABC News
- When Rajah changes back to his normal self, his head turns into Mickey Mouse for a split second.
- The Genie's head briefly turns into that of Pinocchio.
- The Genie pulls Sebastian (from The Little Mermaid out of a recipe book as the first few notes of "Under the Sea" are played).
- Beast from Beauty and the Beast, can be seen among the stack of the Sultan's toy figurines.
- Genie dons a Goofy hat before leaving on his vacation. This look was based on Williams' outfit from the film Back to Never Land at The Magic of Disney Animation in Disney-MGM Studios.
- Genie's appearance during the "phenomenal cosmic power" scene and Jafar's appearance as a genie are similar to that of the genie in the Walt Disney educational work film Our Friend the Atom.
- In the Full House episode The House Meets the Mouse (Part 1) When The Tanners are enjoying a vacation in Disney World, DJ imagines Steve dressed as Aladdin while visiting.
- This film was re-broadcast commercial-free by Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Jr. in the wake of Robin Williams' death, as a tribute to the late actor's legacy.
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