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I guess the expectations of Aladdin were exceedingly high because this was the first Disney animated film that featured computer generated effects as well as hand-drawn effects and what a great success it turned out to be! It is a very exciting, tense, romantic and hilarious film to watch. What I love about Aladdin the most is that it makes you feel different things in different ways. For example, you are with Aladdin on his journey to succeed in life, you are with Jasmine when she is just desperate for happiness and free will and you are even there with Jafar and Iago with their evil plans for Agrobah. Aladdin is a hilarious film as well because of the variety of characters and the humour that they bring out. Aladdin has now been made into a trilogy. "A Whole New World" is my favourite song from the whole film as well as my all-time favourite Disney song.
Aladdin is set in an Arabian neighbourhood in Eastern Asia and it tells three different stories at the same time that join together. First of all, a young man called Aladdin who has spent all his life living off the streets with his pet monkey Aby and always been known as 'the street rat' (especially to the guards). Yeah, he may be poor and perhaps nowhere in life but he does have a big heart and does want to climb higher in his life! Next is Princess Jasmine. She is having a difficult time as of late at the hands of her father (the Sultan of Agrobah) and she is being forced to marry a prince which she doesn't want. Because she can't handle it, she decides to run away (which leads to her meeting Aladdin) and the stories begin to jumble together. Thirdly, Jafar is the Grand Vizier of the Sultan (like a best friend) who seeks to take over Agrobah himself by finding a magic lamp with a genie inside it. When Aladdin is captured by the guards, Jafar disguises himself as a aging prisoner and asks Aladdin to get the lamp for him (so Aladdin could die in the Cave Of Wonders not Jafar). Now, the magic truly begins and everything begins to change! The Genie in this film always has been and always will be my favourite Disney character because he just makes me laugh so much, he is a very powerful character with a big heart.
There are two direct-to-video sequels to Aladdin called The Return Of Jafar and Aladdin And The King Of Thieves. Both are very good films but neither are anywhere near as good as the original first film. The idea of a musical version of Aladdin came alive in 1988 by lyricist Howard Ashman. Ashman wrote some of the songs with partner Alan Menken, the script was written by Woolverton who previously worked on Beauty And The Beast. Tim Rice was another music composer of this film too and after Aladdin, they went onto even bigger success 2 years later with The Lion King. Aladdin won two Academy Awards (Best Original Song "A Whole New World" and Best Original Score) and it received nominations for Best Sound Editing, Best Original Song ("Friend Like Me") and Best Sound Mixing. It was also nominated for Best Picture Musical-Comedy at the Golden Globes.
Overall, Aladdin is perhaps the most magical and colourful Disney Classic to date! It features some of the best songs, best scores and most entertaining musicals of all time! It is definitely one of the best Disney films but not quite my favourite.
9/10
