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Aladdin is a 1992 animated feature produced by Walt
Disney Feature Animation, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on November
25, 1992. The thirty-first animated feature in the Disney animated
features canon, the film is based on the Arab folktale of Aladdin and the
magic lamp from One Thousand and One Nights. Several characters and plot
elements are also based on the 1940 version of The Thief of Bagdad.Many
aspects of the traditional story were changed for the film—for instance,
the setting is changed from "China" to a fictional Arabian city, Agrabah.[2]
It was released at the peak stretch of the era known as the Disney
Renaissance beginning with The Little Mermaid. Aladdin was the most
successful film of 1992, earning over $217 million in revenue in the
United States, and over $504 million worldwide.
In 1988, Howard Ashman suggested Disney make an
animated musical adaptation of the story of Aladdin. After writing a
storyline and songs with partner Alan Menken, Ashman delivered it to
directors John Musker and Ron Clements. In 1991, the script was delivered
to studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, who thought the script "didn't
engage", and only approved it after rewrites from Clements, Musker and the
screenwriting duo of Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. Among the changes to
the script were the removal of the character of Aladdin's mother, Princess
Jasmine was made a stronger character, Aladdin's personality was reworked
to be "a little rougher, like a young Harrison Ford,"and the parrot Iago,
originally conceived as a "British" calm and serious character, was turned
into a comic role after the filmmakers saw Gilbert Gottfried in Beverly
Hills Cop II. Gottfried was cast to provide Iago's voice. The concept of a
calm, serious British bird would later be worked into The Lion King's Zazu.
Style guide depicting the main characters. The animators designed each one
based on a different geometrical shape.
Style guide depicting the main characters. The animators designed each one
based on a different geometrical shape.
Most characters' designs were based on the work of
caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. Jafar's design was not based on Hirschfeld's
work because Jafar's supervising animator, Andreas Deja, wanted the
character to be contrasting.[9] Aladdin, designed by a team including
supervising animator Glen Keane, was originally made to resemble actor
Michael J. Fox. During production, it was decided that the design was too
boyish and wasn't "appealing enough," so the character was redesigned to
add elements derived from actor Tom Cruise, rapper MC Hammer, and Calvin
Klein models. Computer animation was used in a number of scenes in the
film, such as the tiger entrance of the Cave of Wonders, the scene where
Aladdin tries to escape the collapsing cave, and the texture for the magic
carpet.
Musker and Clements created the Genie with Robin Williams in mind; even
though Katzenberg suggested names such as John Candy, Steve Martin, and
Eddie Murphy, Williams was approached and eventually accepted the role.
Williams came for voice recording sessions during breaks in the shooting
of two other films he was starring in at the time, Hook and Toys.
Unusually for an animated film, much of Williams' dialogue was ad-libbed:
for some scenes, Williams was given topics and dialogue suggestions, but
allowed to improvise his lines.[8] It was estimated that Williams
improvised 52 characters. Eric Goldberg, the supervising animator for the
Genie, then reviewed Wiliams' recorded dialogue and selected the best
gags/lines. Goldberg and his crew then created character animation to
match Williams' jokes, puns, and impersonations.
Williams also provided the voice of a merchant in the opening scene, which
was completely unscripted (the production left Williams a table with props
and asked him to describe the object in character). The double role
originally led to the merchant revealing to be the Genie disguised, but
that idea was later dropped (the merchant returned in the ending of
Aladdin and the King of Thieves).
Aladdin was well-received by critics, with most
praise to Robin Williams' Genie. Warner Bros. animator Chuck Jones even
called the film "the funniest feature ever made." However, some criticism
was reserved for the couple, Aladdin and Jasmine, and many reviews
considered it inferior to its predecessors The Little Mermaid and Beauty
and the Beast. Aladdin Box Office
It was the most successful film of 1992, with $217 million in the United
States and over $504 million worldwide, being the biggest gross for an
animated film until The Lion King two years later. As of 2008, it is the
third highest grossing traditionally animated feature worldwide, behind
The Lion King and The Simpsons Movie, however adjusted for inflation it is
ahead of The Simpsons Movie. |
