Aladdin (1992) Review

Aladdin

Release Date: 3rd June 1993 - Australia

Production Companies
Walt Disney Pictures (presents)

Walt Disney Feature Animation

(Uncredited)

Distribution

Walt Disney Studios Motion
Pictures Australia

Genre: Animation/Family/

Fantasy/Comedy

Rating: G

Runtime: 90 minutes

Budget: $28,000,000

Box Office Gross: $504,050,219 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

A humble street urchin named Aladdin lives in the streets of Agrabah with only his best friend and loyal monkey companion, Abu. He meets Princess Jasmine, who is sneaking out of the marketplace after being forced to marry. When the evil grand vizier, Jafar, captures Aladdin and uses him to enter the Cave of Wonders to retrieve a magical lamp for him. After finding it, Aladdin unleashes a comical Genie who grants him three wishes, which gives Aladdin the idea to disguise himself as a prince so he may see Jasmine again.

Voice Cast

Scott Weinger - Aladdin

Jonathan Freeman - Jafar

Robin Williams - Genie/

Peddler

Linda Larkin - Princess Jasmine
Frank Welker - Abu/The Cave of Wonders/Rajah

Gilbert Gottfried - Iago

Douglas Seale - The Sultan

Jim Cummings - Razoul/

Farouk

Brad Kane - Aladdin (singing

voice)

Lea Salonga - Princess
Jasmine (singing voice)
Charlie Adler - Gazeem/

Melon Merchant/Nut Merchant
Corey Burton - Prince Achmed/Necklace Merchant

Bruce Adler - Peddler (singing voice) (Uncredited)

Crew

Screenplay/Producers/

Directors - John Musker and Ron Clements

Pre-Production Story Development/Lyrics - Howard Ashman

Pre-Production Story Development - Linda

Woolverton and Gary Trousdale

Story/Visual Development - Francis Glebas
Story/Character Designer - Daan Jippes

Story - Burny Mattinson, Roger Allers,

Kevin Harkey, Sue C. Nichols, Darrell Rooney,

Larry Leker, James Fujii, Kirk Hanson,

Kevin Lima, Rebecca Rees, David S. Smith,

Chris Sanders, Brian Pimental and

Patrick A. Ventura

Screenplay - Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio

Story Supervisor - Ed Gombert
Co-Producers - Donald W. Ernst and Amy Pell

Production Designer - Richard Vander Wende
Art Director - Bill Perkins
Artistic Coordinator - Dan Hansen

Effects Animator/Artistic Coordinator/

Visual Effects: Restoration/Special Edition -

Dave Bossert

Character Designer - Jean Gillmore

Character Designer/Supervising Animator:

"Genie" - Eric Goldberg

Background Supervisor - Kathy Altieri
Background Supervisors: Florida - Ric Sluiter
and Robert E. Stanton
Layout Supervisor - Rasoul Azadani

Layout Supervisor: Florida - Robert Walker

Production Manager - Alice Dewey Goldstone

Production Manager: Florida - Baker Bloodworth
Supervising Animator: "Aladdin" - Glen Keane
Supervising Animator: "Jasmine" - Mark Henn
Supervising Animator: "Jafar" - Andreas Deja
Supervising Animator: "Carpet" - Randy Cartwright
Supervising Animator: "Iago" - Will Finn
Supervising Animator: "Abu" - Duncan Marjoribanks

Supervising Animator: "Sultan" - David Pruiksama

Animator: "Jasmine" and "Rajah" - Aaron Blaise

Animator: "Jafar as Beggar/Snake" - Kathy Zielinski

Animator: "Gazeem/Achmed" - T. Daniel Hopstedt

Animator: "Guards" - Phil Young and

Chris Wahl

Clean-Up Supervisor/Supervising Character

Lead: Miscellaneous Characters - Vera Pacheco

Visual Effects Supervisor - Don Paul

Visual Effects Supervisors: Florida - Barry Cook

and Jeff Dutton
CGI Supervisor - Steve Goldberg
Film Editor - H. Lee Peterson

Editor: Florida - Chuck Williams

Associate Editor - Mark A. Hester

Sound Effects: Weddington Productions Inc./

Supervising Sound Editor (Uncredited) -

Mark A. Mangini

Special Sound Effects - John Pospisil

Sound Editors - Ron Bartlett, Clayton Collins,

Teresa Eckton, Mary Ruth Smith, Donald Flick,

Sandy Berman (Uncredited), Mark A. Hester

(Uncredited), Andrew Patterson (Uncredited)

and Gregory G. Rubay (Uncredited)

Re-Recording Mixers - Terry Porter,

Mel Metcalfe, David J. Hudson and

Frank A. Montano (Uncredited)

Foley - John Roesch and Alicia Stevenson

Songs/Original Score/Songs Arranger -

Alan Menken

Lyrics - Tim Rice

Music Mixer/Recordist - Bruce Botnick

Vocal Arrangements/Music Conductor -

David Friedman


Awards

1993 Academy Awards
Best Music, Original Song "A Whole New World" -
Alan Menken and Tim Rice (Won)
Best Music, Original Score - Alan Menken (Won)
------------------------
Best Sound - Terry Porter, Mel Metcalfe,
David J. Hudson and Doc Kane (Nominated)
Best Sound Editing - Mark A. Mangini (Nominated)
Best Music, Original Song "Friend Like Me" -
Alan Menken and Howard Ashman

(Posthumously) (Nominated)

Review

ALADDIN is a Disney animated classic that takes you on a magic carpet ride, and that is what you'll find in this film. It also includes romance, action and pure comedy. It is the main feature that drives the animated movie. I remember seeing it when I was very young, and then I saw it again when I was 12. As an adult, I notice some deficits in this old childhood feature, such as the opening sequence, but that's an issue better left unsaid.

Having said this, I still enjoyed almost everything in the movie, such as Robin Williams' manically voice performance as the Genie. Williams's role made me laugh, particularly his celebrity impersonations of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jack Nicholson, Groucho Marx, Peter Lorre and Rodney Dangerfield. Williams mostly improvised these send-ups and, by doing so, stole the entire show. The other two best things about ALADDIN are the memorable characters and the fantastic songs by Alan Menken, such as the enchanting and romantic tune "A Whole New World".

How wondrous is it that ALADDIN was the first animated film to use pop culture references, including these celebrity impressions? That is why the same writers, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, went to do the first Shrek film as they wrote it by using similar references. ALADDIN was a harmless piece for entertainment, not stereotypical and offensive as some people thought it to be. Either way, it's still got a lot of excitement and Disney magic.

Star rating: (4/5) Good Movie

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