Culture

Classic Film

Aladdin, as far as i am concerned, is a timeless classic that represents the pinnacle of Disney. It came out the year I was born and I think I watched it for the first time when I was around a year old. I recently bought the DVD to replace the utterly destroyed VHS of my childhood, and it is as captivating now as it was back then.

There isn’t anything quite like the classic Disney films, I don’t think. The ones that are released these days just don’t have quite the same magic to them, and it really is a shame. I also believe that Robin Williams, who voices the “long-contained, often imitated, but never duplicated” Genie of the Lamp, contributes so much to making this movie great. His humour, his tone, and the presence that he gifts to Genie quite nearly outshine Aladdin as the star of the show. Sure, sure, everyone knows Aladdin as the Disney Prince and his lovely, exotic Princess Jasmine, but none of it would be possible without the Genie of the Lamp. I also think Jasmine’s pet tiger, Raj, is criminally underrated as a character. Not even I can look that disparaging and I have the single-raised-eyebrow down to a science. What’s more, I don’t even think you can call the plot of Aladdin clichéd like you could so many modern films, because, really, classic Disney is pretty much the source of those clichés. It’s also the source of unreasonable expectations of one’s hair and probably the reason most of my generation have a very clear idea of exactly what characteristics the perfect significant other should have.

Aladdin is an incredible work of imagination and a stunning example of what could be done with graphics in the early 90s. IMHO classic Disney graphics are better than some of the CGI crap I have seen this year. It boggles the mind, honestly. I can’t recommend it enough; there are few films I can honestly say that everyone should see, and classic Disney take up most of those spots (and Marvel, these days). Aladdin is, most assuredly, one of those films.