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Pure Bollocks Issue 22_032
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F I L M * R E V I E W S
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ALADDIN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Good animation but an otherwise very bad non-telling of the
story of Aladdin and the wonderful lamp. The story has
little to do with the Arabian Nights tale and even that
story keeps being derailed by Robin Williams's much too
topical humor. This film is many cuts below BEAUTY AND THE
BEAST. Rating: 0 (-4 to +4).
I am not a great fan of the animated versions of fairy tales and, in this
case, Arabian Nights tales, as produced by Disney Studios. I frankly
questioned that proclivity when I saw BEAUTY AND THE BEAST just about a year
ago. It seemed to me at that point Disney (the studio, not the man) had
learned how to hell a story with complexity and one that worked on multiple
levels. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, it seemed to me, was a film that said something
about the human condition. Now the same company makes ALADDIN. Is it as good
as BEAUTY? Try asking if it is even as good as THE LITTLE MERMAID. This one
is a solid disappointment.
Let us start with the story. I think we all know the story of Aladdin,
right? Good. Will somebody tell it to the good folks at Disney, please.
Disney is often less than faithful to source material. In this case perhaps
one or two scenes of the story made it to the film. The screenplay by Ron
Clements and John Musker (who also produced and directed) in fact is almost a
reasonable version of the modern story "The Thief of Baghdad." The setting has
been moved from China to Arabia for reasons best know to Clements and Musker.
In this version Aladdin falls in love with the princess of Aqaba and sets out
to win her. Even telling that story would not have been a bad idea, but the
film goes desperately wrong with its use of Robin Williams as the genie of the
lamp. When the genie is on the screen we go from the usual timeless story-
telling to a bunch of topical allusions that may be amusing on first viewing,
but will not be a second time. Williams lampoons Arnold Schwarzenegger, William
F. Buckley, Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, Groucho Marx, and a host of other
celebrities. Williams totally derails any style that the film has been able to
build up. The story-telling often just stops dead as Williams does his thing
or the film goes off into slapstick.
At least there is something positive to say about the art and animation,
some of which is actually quite nice. There is a cave whose mouth is the head
of a tiger that is both well drawn and well animated. Backgrounds are
intentionally blurred and then focused sharply to shift the eye of the viewer
and give a feeling of depth. There is a very nice sequence involving a rolling
cylinder--I will not describe how it fits into the plot. The animation is
sufficient but the extremely uneven tone and the almost total lack of fidelity
to the story make this a lesser effort from Disney. My rating is 0 on the -4
to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
att;mtgzfs3;leeper
leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com
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From: frankm@microsoft.com (Frank R.A.J. Maloney)
Subject: REVIEW: ALADDIN
Keywords: author=Maloney
ALADDIN
A film review by Frank Maloney
Copyright 1992 Frank Maloney
ALADDIN is an animated film from the Walt Disney Pictures. It features
the voice of Robin Williams. Music by Alan Menken, with lyrics by Howard
Ashman and Tim Rice. Rated G, suitable for all audiences.
ALADDIN, which ought to be called GENIE, is more properly a remake of THE
THIEF OF BAGHDAD than a telling of the story of Aladdin. (I wonder who here
has seen Tim Burton's ALADDIN AND HIS WONDERFUL LAMP, which he made for "Faerie
Tale Theatre," with Valerie Bertinelli, Robert Carradine, Leonard Nimoy, and
James Earl Jones?) THE THIEF has been made four previous times, including one
of the greatest of all silent films with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., and directed
by Raoul Walsh; others are the 1940 special-effects extravaganza with Sabu,
music by Miklos Rozsa, directed by Ludwig Berger, as well two newer and more
dismissible versions (one with Steve Reeves, the other made for television with
Peter Ustinov as the king along with Roddy McDowell, Terence Stamp, Frank
Finley, and Ian Holm).
The Disney version is totally dominated by two entirely different forces,
Robin Williams and computer animation. Undoubtedly the great achievement of
ALADDIN is yoking these two disparate elements into one seamless whole. The
other elements of a big animated Disney musical, in the manner of BEAUTY AND
THE BEAST and THE LITTLE MERMAID, at least, are unfortunately either lacking or
sadly diminished in this film.
For one thing, the music is quite dismissible. There are no really
memorable songs. The best number is a high-speed patter song-cum-production-
number sung by Robin Williams's Genie. Nothing can compare with the score of
MERMAID, where the only problem was the small number of songs (compared to a
live musical). Nothing can compare with individual songs from BEAUTY, either,
like Mrs. Potts singing the title song. Alan Menken's lyricist Howard Ashman
died of AIDS while working on the ALADDIN score, and Menken's new collaborator,
Tim Rice (who had previously collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Weber), no doubt
was given a nearly impossible job to do. The results are forgettable, and I
doubt the score will get an Oscar nomination, as did those of the previous two
Disney musicals.
For another, the story line is skewed away from developing an interesting
human character, especially in the form of Beauty, in favor of Genie's
pyrotechnics. This results in a less resonant, less universal quality, and
reduces the value of the film to the value one brings to Williams's unique
talents. Neither the Thief nor the Princess can hold our interest on his or
her own. The villain, the sorcerous Vizier, his parrot-familiar, and the
bemused little king provide entertainment value, but not much in the way of
human elements.
So what about Robin Williams's Genie? Nothing much, except his
performance is the core of the film, the only real reason to see it (and resee
it). It is a marvel of breath-taking free association, of verbal shape-
shifting, and of a distinctly un-Disney sense of humor. Everything about Genie
reminds one more of the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes that were constantly
tweaking Disneyesque pretensions to high art. But in addition, Genie and his
treatment also put me in mind the distinctly hallucinatory quality of some of
Disney's most interesting films, such as THE THREE CABALLEROS, parts of
FANTASIA, or even ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Genie is more alive, more intriguing,
than any merely human character, and Robin Williams finds himself in the
character. The fact that the animators could visualize the free-form flow of
Williams's mind is a tribute to their skills and to their willingness to take
chances in a very un-Disneyesque way.
All of us computer geeks will be fascinated to see the computer animation
used here. I think that it must be more extensive, and better integrated, here
in either of the two previous musicals. Instead of one or two set pieces, such
as the chandelier and ballroom in BEAUTY, we have here computer animation in
virtually every sequence; we have swooping rides on the magic carpet, we have
the streets and alleys of Aqaba and the palace itself, we have a rolling
cylinder, and a lot more. I look forward to the day when I won't be able to
spot computer animation, and quite possibly that day has already come in some
scenes and effects, but not in all. It still has a tendency to draw attention
to itself, to look cold and mechanical, if I may so inexactly characterize the
look. It allows animators to do things that they would not attempt otherwise,
and for that I am grateful; but still one does look forward to day when it not
so distractingly clever and self-apparent.
In general, ALADDIN was not the success BEAUTY was, but it still has
powers and attractions and entertainment values that more than justify a
matinee ticket. Remember that there will lots of kids in the audience and be
patient. Once the movie starts you will hardly hear a peep from them. And of
course, if you are a parent, this is your chance to get out of the house and
not have a qualm. The kids will like it and you will like it.
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
