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By
NICK ZEGARAC
In the best attempt at
emulating the traditions of the studio's all time
great features, Walt Disney's "Aladdin" recants
the tales of the Arabian Nights in typical musical
style. The story concerns a young, devilishly
handsome Middle Eastern street urchin, Aladdin
(voiced by Scott Weinger) and his desire to be
anything but what he is. Desiring to romance the
feisty feminist of the royal house, Princess
Jasmine (Linda Larkin), Aladdin soon discovers
himself in a heap of trouble at the hand of the
Grand Vizier Jafar (Jonathan Freeman). All seems
lost until Aladdin stumbles upon the mythical cave
of wonders -- a fabulously wealthy cavern
inhabited by the fast-talking, sharp-shooting jack
of all genies (Robin Williams).
Saddle-bagged with the inheritance of the Disney
tradition, director's Ron Clements and John Musker
are desperately grappling to find either a hit
film or, at least, a hit song (a la "The Little
Mermaid" or "Beauty and the Beast"). But, more
often than not, the film digresses into a mere
homage or parody of Disney's previous efforts.
Consider the parallels in musical styling between
"A Whole New World" ("Aladdin") and "Kiss The
Girl" ("The Little Mermaid") or the Genie's Busby
Berkeley-esque "Friend Like Me" in juxtaposition
with "Be Our Guest" ("Beauty and the Beast"). In
concocting his performance as the Genie, the
animators fall back on parodying everyone from Ed
Sullivan to Pinocchio. Ironically, the Genie
emerges as the most fully realized character in
the film. Famed Warner contract player, Conrad
Veidt was the inspiration for the villainous
Jafar. Yet, Jafar is more a caricature or copying
of Veidt rather than a stand alone menacing force
of evil as say "Sleeping Beauty's" Maleficent.
Gilbert Gottfried provides an attractive diversion
as Iago, Jafar's parrot, but here a comparison in
both animation style and character structure is
too obvious with the loony gooney sea gull (voiced
by Buddy Hackett) from "The Little Mermaid." Thus,
the sum total of "Aladdin" is more as a claptrap
of previous Disney efforts, rather than its own
unique and engaging film experience. Some might
recall that the film's score came under scrutiny
from Islamic fundamentalists who felt that the
line "they cut off your nose if they don't like
your face; it's barbaric but, hey, it's home"
falsely represented their cultural identity as a
whole as crude and foreboding. The line was
eventually altered on video copies to read, "where
it's flat and immense and the heat is intense;
it's barbaric but hey, it's home."
Disney DVD delivers a very pleasing anamorphic
presentation. Colors are extremely bold and
vibrant. Black and contrast levels are deep, rich
and solid. The vibrancy of the image is to be
admired. There are no age-related artifacts and
very few digital anomalies for a picture that is
remarkably smooth. The audio has been cleaned up
and re-mixed to 5.1 surround. It's aggressive and
powerful, delivering a thrill ride experience in
your living room that few live action sound mixes
of late have been capable of rivaling. Extras
include several thorough and interesting
commentary tracks, an all too brief making of that
is definitely geared more toward the under 13
category, some child's play vignettes and some
DVD-ROM junket materials that, quite simply, you
can do without. |
