When Aladdin debuted in 1992, Disney was undergoing an animation rebirth. The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast brought back the cinematic powerhouse of Walt Disney Studios. While Beauty and the Beast is arguably most remembered for its fantastic music score, Aladdin is more known for its humor – brought to life by comedic genius Robin Williams, who voiced the vivacious blue Genie of the Lamp. Sadly, the comedian passed away in 2014, just over a year before the release of Disney’s Aladdin Diamond Edition release. In honor of the lost comedian, many of the new Blu-ray features focus on reflecting on Williams’ contribution to Aladdin.
In Aladdin, an evil vizier, named Jafar, is on the hunt for the legendary Genie of the Lamp. With the power of the lamp, he can move out of the shadow of the Sultan of Agrabah, Arabia. However, in order to rescue the lamp from the Cave of Wonders, Jafar must search out and dupe a lowly street rat or “diamond in the rough,” named Aladdin. Unfortunately for Jafar, Aladdin is locked inside the cave for eternity with the lamp. Luckily for Aladdin, he discovers the genie and escapes the cave. Now, he must return to Agrabah to win the heart of Princess Jasmine and eventually save the kingdom from the nefarious Jafar.
Aladdin falls into Disney’s dated “princess” storytelling model. The plot revolves around Princess Jasmine, who must be married off within a certain amount of time to secure the future of Agrabah. Her father, the Sultan, is trying his best to find suitors from neighboring kingdoms to marry her. Unfortunately, Jasmine, who hasn’t ever left the palace isn’t too happy about that. Then, Aladdin shows up, under the guise of Prince Abubu, with a magic carpet singing, “I can show you the world.” Yes, Jasmine needs a man to show her the world because she can’t see it on her own. After Jafar is dealt with, the film eventually finds resolution to arranged-marriages by proclaiming that Jasmine can now marry whomever she wants.
If you can get past these archaic archetypes and plot threads, there’s a diamond in the rough to be enjoyed in Aladdin. And that diamond is the humor of Robin Williams. As the Genie, Williams delivers a non-stop barrage of comedy and heart. Williams is a wizard in his own right, dropping countless celebrity impressions throughout his performance. But it’s not just Williams’ humor that brings this movie to life, the comedian also creates an endearing relationship between Aladdin and the Genie.
The Diamond Release has two featurettes dedicated to Williams. The first is “The Genie Outtakes.” In this featurette, Aladdin’s directors and the animation director of the Genie discuss working with Williams. They also go through several unreleased outtakes of Williams in the booth. The outtakes are presented alongside sketches and animatics of the Genie. The second short, dedicated to the memory of Williams is “Genie 101” with Scott Weinger, who voiced Aladdin. Weinger goes over a few of the impersonations that Williams did in the movie. However, he leaves out some celebrity impersonations, such as Joan Rivers.
One of the coolest mini documentaries on the Diamond Edition is “Aladdin: Creating Broadway Magic.” This is a behind-the-scenes look at the Broadway musical. It’s great to see how the production progressed on this project, including the ups and downs of creating the magic carpet on stage. The producers of the Broadway production also discuss how they revamped the Genie, in order to distinguish him from the Genie that Williams presented. The cast also briefly touches on diversity in the casting of Aladdin. One of the criticisms of the animated feature was that the cast was “white-washed” since it employed primarily Caucasian actors to voice an Arabian world instead of Middle Eastern voice actors.
The Aladdin Diamond Edition is a worthwhile addition to your Disney Diamond collection. These are films that don’t make their wait to streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime so it’s best to get them now while you can.
