Aladdin
Diamond Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack
Directors: John Musker and Ron Clements
Cast: Robin Williams, Scott Weinger, Linda Larkin, Gilbert Gottfried, Douglas Seale, Frank Welker
Music: Alan Menken; Lyrics: Howard Ashman
Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release date: October 13, 2015
Disney’s Aladdin was part of the studio’s great animated musical boom in the 1990s that saw massive hits with Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid (released November 1989). While Walt Disney Pictures’ animated wing had cornered the market previously with classics like 1939’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and 1940’s Pinocchio, Aladdin began a new trend that would propel the studio even further — signing on major celebrities to their voice cast. In this case, they snagged the great comedic actor Robin Williams.
For Aladdin, Williams, who had had recent success with dramatic roles in Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Awakenings, and The Fisher King, voiced Genie, a spirit with phenomenal cosmic powers, and as we learn, itty bitty living space (he lives inside a magic lamp!). What could have been just another retelling of a classic tale — for this, the story of Aladdin in the Arabic folktale One Thousand and One Nights — accompanied by catchy tunes, was instead transformed into something much more captivating, humorous, and lovable thanks to Williams’ voice work.
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