Movie Blog: Aladdin 1992 Film

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, it relates a version of the story of Aladdin and the magic lamp from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. As is usual with Disney film adaptations, many aspects of the traditional story were changed for the movie. 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.

It was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. The musical score was created by Alan Menken, and the lyrics were written by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. Alan Menken received the 1992 Academy Award for Original Music Score of Aladdin. 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 in 1992.

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, such as Toy Story and Shrek, 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.

The film begins with a merchant in the mystical city of Agrabah, telling the story of a magical lamp and how it changed a young man's life ("Arabian Nights"). The story begins on a dark night, where Jafar, the grand vizier to the Sultan, attempts to access the Cave of Wonders, a magical trove where a magical lamp containing a genie is hidden. He and his talking parrot, Iago, learn that the only way into the Cave of Wonders is through the metaphorical "Diamond in the Rough."

Meanwhile, street urchin Aladdin is fleeing guards with his pet monkey Abu after stealing a loaf of bread ("One Jump Ahead"). He eventually gives the bread to two homeless children before being knocked to the ground by a prince, who is on his way to attempt to marry Princess Jasmine. Jasmine, the teenage daughter of the sultan, must be married before her upcoming birthday, but she rejects every prince she meets, wanting to be married for true love. Jafar, meanwhile, uses the Sultan's ring to discover that Aladdin is the one needed to enter the cave, and has him jailed; he then tells Jasmine that Aladdin, whom she had met in the streets and developed a rapport with, has been executed.

A disguised Jafar leads Aladdin and Abu to the Cave of Wonders. Aladdin and Abu enter and encounter a magic carpet before Aladdin finds the lamp. Abu attempts to steal a ruby and the cave collapses with them inside. When Aladdin awakens, he rubs the lamp and unleashes the magical, humorous genie, who reveals that he will now grant Aladdin three wishes ("Friend Like Me"). As they leave the cave, the sultan scolds Jafar while Jasmine plans to fire him once she is ruler of Agrabah. Iago suggests that Jafar become Jasmine's husband in order to gain power.

The genie grants Aladdin his first wish: making him a prince so that he can marry Jasmine. They parade to the sultan's home, much to Jafar's dismay ("Prince Ali"). As Prince Ali, Aladdin turns Jasmine off with his arrogant behavior, but he later takes her on a magic carpet ride through the sky, showing her his true feelings ("A Whole New World") and she soon realizes that he is the same boy she met in the streets. Aladdin returns her home with a kiss before Jafar sends the guards to drown Aladdin. He uses his second wish to save himself from drowning.

A hypnotized sultan then orders Jasmine to marry Jafar, but Aladdin arrives and reveals Jafar's plot. Jafar escapes, but discovers that Aladdin now has the lamp. Meanwhile, the genie hopes for Aladdin to set him free with his third wish, but Aladdin refuses, fearing that he may need the third wish for something else. Iago then steals the lamp and brings it to Jafar, who becomes the genie's new master and uses his first wish to become sultan. Jafar then wishes to become "the most powerful sorcerer in the world" and, using his new-found powers, the now all-powerful wizard sends Aladdin to the ends of the earth in one of the palace towers ("Prince Ali Reprise").

Aladdin uses the magic carpet to return to Agrabah, where Jafar is keeping the Sultan and Jasmine as slaves. Aladdin fights Jafar, but Jafar transforms himself into a giant snake and begins to strangle Aladdin. When Jafar boasts that he is "the most powerful being on Earth," Aladdin reminds the former vizier that he still isn't as powerful as the genie since it was the genie who gave Jafar his powers in the first place. This immediately prompts the power-hungry sorcerer to use his third and final wish to become a genie himself. However, after his wish is granted, Jafar discovers that, as a genie, he has no free will and he is sucked into a new lamp, pulling Iago along with him.

In the aftermath, Aladdin and Jasmine attempt to be married but are unable to now that Aladdin isn't a prince. Instead of wishing to be a prince, Aladdin wishes for the genie's freedom, much to the genie's happiness. Inspired, the Sultan changes the law so that Jasmine can marry anyone she chooses and she, of course, chooses Aladdin. The genie leaves to explore the universe while Aladdin and Jasmine begin a new life together.

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Aladdin