November 25 - Aladdin

On this day, in 1992, Walt Disney Pictures' 31st animated feature, Aladdin, was released in theaters. Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, Aladdin is the fourth film to be released during Disney's Renaissance period. Ron and John have directed seven Disney animated features together including The Little Mermaid, Hercules and Moana.

Based on the stories from the Arabic folktale One Thousand and One Nights, Aladdin tells the story of a street rat who proves his worth and marries the princess with the help of a genie. The idea for the film originated in 1988 with lyricist Howard Ashman, who wrote a big story treatment, complete with several songs. The studio said no thanks. Later, during production on Beauty and the Beast, the project was partially revived and a new script written. Ron and John then came on board when they chose Aladdin as their next film, passing on a version of Swan Lake and what would eventually become The Lion King. In April of 1991, they showed Jeffrey Katzenberg a third script they'd written. He hated it, demanded a complete rewrite and told them that their release date in November 1992 wasn't changing. Luckily, by October of 1991, a script had been decided on and the production could barrel forward.

Image copyright Disney

Except, a good chunk of the script wasn't ever written down. When Ron and John conceived the character of the Genie, they'd always had Robin Williams in mind for it. Katzenberg tried to suggest John Candy, Steve Martin or Eddie Murphy, but the directors prevailed and Robin accepted the role. Not only did he accept, but he agreed to do it for scale pay, $75,000, instead of his current rate of 8 million, mostly as a thank you for the success of Good Morning Vietnam. His only conditions: the Genie couldn't be used for marketing purposes and couldn't take up more than 25% of the space in the film's advertising. Disney reneged on both conditions, causing a rift with Robin that wouldn't be healed until well after Katzenberg left the company. Luckily, all of Robin's almost entirely ad libbed dialogue for the Genie had already been recorded.

Image copyright Disney

Because let's be honest, the Genie is what really makes Aladdin (even if some of the references in it now feel pretty dated). The wildness of Robin's improvisations not only kept the animators on their toes but have made audiences crack up ever since. And since Robin was gifted at projecting sincerity and basic human decency as well, the Genie gives the movie its heart, too. Not that I'm trying to detract from the other voice actors in the film. If the only good thing in Aladdin was the Genie, the movie would have bombed horribly. The rest of the ensemble was marvelous, it's just that the first thing people remember about the movie is the crazy blue guy.

Whatever the cause, Aladdin was a huge success. It became the first animated film to gross over half a billion dollars. Funnily enough, it debuted in the number two slot behind Home Alone 2 with just over 19 million in ticket sales. It didn't become the number one film until its eighth week out and would be number one for five weeks out of its 22 week run.

Image copyright Disney

When awards time rolled around, Aladdin was showered with mentions. It was nominated for five Oscars (two of those for Best Song), winning Best Original Score and Best Original Song (A Whole New World). The Golden Globes smiled on Aladdin with Best Score, Song and a special award for Robin as well as a nomination for Best Picture. It also won an Annie Award, three Saturn Awards, four Grammy Awards and several others.

As much as I enjoy Aladdin, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the negative reactions to the film, especially from the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee. The ADC's first objection was about the way Aladdin and Jasmine are portrayed as opposed to the rest of the cast. The two main characters are decidedly a whole lot more white than everyone else and are presented as being more sophisticated than most of the other characters. It's a fair point but not one that much can be done about. The change the ADC could bring about was through its objection to one of the lyrics in the movie's opening song. The original line from Arabian Nights was "Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face." For the home video release (and the Broadway show) the line was changed to "Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense." My only problem with this lyric change is that the next line was left intact "It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home." In my opinion, the revised line doesn't flow with that and both lines should have been changed.