Sunday, March 5, 2017

Chris' #97: Aladdin (Ron Clements, John Musker, 1992)


Starring: Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman
Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker
Writers: Ron Clements, John Musker, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio
Release Date: November 25, 1992

First Time
If I did see this in the theater, I don't remember. I was six when this came out and my earliest movie theater memories are from 1994 (Little Giants and The Lion King). The Howard family, like a lot of families, had an extensive Disney VHS collection. I remember watching Aladdin on VHS a ton; I've probably seen it more than any other Disney movie.

Why it's on the List
This is strictly a nostalgia pick. The movie has its fair share of problems (including obvious racism), but I enjoyed it more than the other non-Pixar movies from the 90s - The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the BeastThe Lion King. Side note: I think 1997's Hercules was something of a cut-off for me. I was 11 then and became too old and cool to keep watching Disney movies. 😎

Most, if not all, of the songs have stuck with me. Even if I don't know all of the words now, I could still sing most of them. The movie is a lot of fun, largely due to Robin Williams' performance. Genie is like crack for kids. I don't have a favorite scene or anything, but I think the movie as a whole is consistently entertaining.

Another fond childhood memory is of the video game tie-on for Super Nintendo. I believe my brothers and I got the game the same Christmas that we got our Super Nintendo system. If I were to play that game today, I could beat it in twenty minutes. It's an easy game, sure, but that also speaks to the amount of times that I've played and beaten it. That game was fucking awesome.

(tough-ass level)

Additional Notes/Stats
  • This is second of four animated movies on my list.
  • This is the only time Robin Williams makes an appearance on my list. I had The Fisher King on there at one point, but it didn't make the final cut. Like most people in their late 20s or early-mid 30s, Robin Williams was a staple of my childhood. RIP.
  • Beauty and the Beast doesn't make my list, but when I was a kid, one thing that brought me a lot of joy was when Gaston and those other jerks were attacked by the anthropomorphic objects in the castle.
  • I also want to give a shout-out to Frank Welker, who does the voice for Abu. Welker is a legend in the voice acting world, with hundreds of credits to his name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Welker_filmography. Notably for me, he's the voice of Santa's Littler Helper and other animals on The Simpsons.
  • This will probably get moved off of my list at some point, since I don't know that it is an essential pick for me. If not, it'll stay around this area. Again, strictly here for nostalgia.

8 comments:

  1. I owned the Sega game. Saw it at the Tioga theater which is currently located right behind MiKe's apartment. Loved it. It's fun

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  2. Nice. My older cousin owned a Sega but we never had one in our house.

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  3. I'm with you on the video game. That's all.

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  4. Love the game. Love the movie. Dave Nelson would be proud.

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    Replies
    1. "I'm like a shooting star...from Agrabah."

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    2. Fuck yes. A whole new world. I dressed as Aladdin for Halloween once. Love it, great pick you diamond in the ruff

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  5. Re-watching it, it was clear to me again that I dislike precisely what most like about the film: Robin Williams. If I had a genie like that, my first wish would be for him to shut up.

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