Not The Bill Collins Blog No.9: "Aladdin"

There have been two golden periods when it comes to the production of traditional animated feature films from the House of the Mouse. The first in my opinion obviously began with "Snow White and The Seven Dwarves" through to "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" (i.e. 1938-1961), when the combination of art, music, story and that ineffable ability of Disney's studios to make family pleasing movies defined the look and feel of the archetypal animated Disney feature. Yes, there were a couple of hiccups, and much could be said for later films (e.g. "The Jungle Book", "The Aristocats"), but by the early seventies going to a Disney animated feature seemed more like a chore for the parent and a sop for the kids because that was what you had to do to keep the littlies happy.

Then in 1989, thanks without any doubt to the music of the ex-Broadway composers Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, plus the then revolutionary integration of computer animation into the older 2-D style of Disney film "The Little Mermaid" began what I consider to be the second golden age of the Disney animated feature. This period arguably reached its highest points with the next two films "Beauty and the Beast" and the hilarious "Aladdin".


As the last of the Menken/Ashman Disney films (but not the last for the directing and scriptwriting team of Musker and Clements) "Aladdin" has the usual characteristics of the Disney animated feautre. A hero and a heroine. A couple of anthopomorphic sidekicks, a bad guy and his anthropomorphic offsider, and some minor characters that have more to them just a walk on role. There's a major love song (in this case "A Whole New World"), a bit of magic and a big big debt to a previously culturally specific fairy tale or myth. But, and this is the big but...no other film from Disney's animation studios had the anarchic vocal talents of Robin Williams.

Just as in "Good Morning Vietnam" where Barry Levinson effectively gave Williams free rein to improvise dialogue, "Aladdin" sees the voice of the genie going anarchic, which when you think about it is almost anti-Disney. This is one of the main reasons I like "Aladdin"; there is a slightly subversive feel to the flick. But what it really boils down to is that Robin Williams turns a reasonable storyline with some nice animation and great songs into a classic of the comic animated film. In fact, I'd argue that Robin Williams' work in this film made almost every other recent animated film where a star vocal talent gets to feature in a cartoon movie possible. Without Williams' Genie there'd have been no Tim Allen's Buzz, no Mike Myers' Shrek, no Williams' Fender. Perhaps this trend has become redundant and over-emphasized (yes, I am thinking of the Dreamworks films), but you can't criticise the original for starting this.

Putting aside Williams as the Genie I must say that the two good guys (i.e. Aladdin and Jasmine) are rather insipid. On the other hand, Jaffar and Iago (wonderfully voiced by Gilbert Gottfried) have many a scene which if it possible for animated characters to chew up, they do. In fact if Robin Williams' hadn't voiced the genie much of the plaudits would have been given to Gottfried's Iago.

As mentioned earlier this was the last of the Menken and Ashman movies for Disney, and in fact Tim Rice wrote the lyrics for "A Whole New World". But this doesn't detract from the overall feel of the film; thankfully much like the directors the songwriters in "Aladdin" make sure that when the chance comes for William's vocal talents to add to the movie that grasp it rather greedily, again with great comic effect.

Now as for my personal experience with this film, I saw this in the old Greater Union cinema George Street Sydney first off with my then 3 year old niece. She feel asleep shortly into the film, but I was absolutely wrapt with the movie. The sequence where the cave swirls out of the desert (one fo the more impressive CG effects) was a real eye opener, and of course it was damned hard not to fall on the floor laughing at Robin Williams. The scene at the end where the genie appears with a Goofy hat as bought from Disneyland is still one of the top 5 self-referential moments in any film from the likes of Disney and Pixar. And there was no reason why when I had the chance to see it again at the cinema I did, plus get it on video. I'm still to get the DVD, and have avoided the various sequels and spin offs like the plague.

Some people could say that "The Lion King" is the pinnacle of the second golden era of the Disney animated film (which in my opinion ended with "Hercules"). That doesn't do justice to the three Menken/Ashman films and when it comes down to it "Aladdin" is a far more adult-friendly, rib-tickling laugh out loud flick that the ones that came before or since.

My Rating: 3 Bills