Aladdin (1992)
4K Ultra HD | Blu-ray
Director: Ron Clements, John Musker
Writer: Ron Clements, John Musker, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio
Cast: Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman, Frank Welker, Gilbert Gottfried, Douglas Seale
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios
Rated G | 90 Minutes
Release date: September 10, 2019

Disney adapting their animated classics into live-action films are sometimes predicated on the critical and commercial success of the predecessor, though the studio’s recent wave of live-action adaptations has been met with varying degrees of success. But what matters most is how these films perform at the box office, and as long as they at a hit, the studio will come out with more and more. And, of course, none of these live-action films would be here without their animated origins.

Take, for instance, 1992’s Aladdin, before we can get into reviewing the live-action film from Guy Ritchie (to come soon), we must look back at the animated film by Ron Clements and John Musker. Considered to be one of the best from the Disney film era known as the Disney Renaissance, Aladdin is a beautifully animated musical that continues to hold up well. But with new technologies and televisions bringing us higher definition and better picture quality, it was only a matter of time before Disney started to go back in their vaults to release upgraded versions of their greatest hits.

Back in May, Disney gave their classic animated hit Aladdin a live-action makeover by director Guy Ritchie. Now, both versions of the film will be getting a release on Digital, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD this Summer.

Both versions of the film will be released to Digital and Movies Anywhere on August 27, 2019 and in 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD edition on September 10, 2019. The 1992 animated film will be a part of the studio’s Walt Disney Signature Collection, and will be available for the first time in 4K Ultra HD.

Garry Marshall, who brought some of the most remembered and successful sitcoms of the 1970s to American television and directed some notable films such as Pretty Woman, died on Tuesday in Burbank, CA, of complications from pneumonia following a stroke, according to Variety. He was 81.

Marshall’s programs, which pretty much dominated ABC-TV for the entire decade of the 1970s, consisted of The Odd Couple and Happy Days and its spinoffs, Laverne and Shirley and Mork and Mindy. With each of them came a kind of innocuous hilarity that had healthy doses of mild slapstick, easily resolved narratives, and always an emphasis on a slight surreal aspect of fun. Unlike say the socially conscious programs of the time that were being churned out by the stable of TV pioneer Norman Lear (like All in the Family and Maude), Marshall’s sitcoms, although they were rather perfunctory and innocuous by way of social redemption or awareness, held almost equal footing in terms of ratings success. And indeed, like many of the characters on Lear’s programs (Archie Bunker, Maude, Fred Sanford), Garry Marshall also helped create and was instrumental in bringing characters that were and have remained almost as iconic, such as The Fonz, Mork from Ork, Laverne, and Shirley.

Last year, I shared with you readers some of my favorite editions of Disney In Depth over the course of the past several years. But those selections only scratched the surface. I take pride in each piece I write, though some, of course, especially excite me. Let’s revisit some more editions that take us from Disney-related destinations across the country, to areas within our own lives and recollections.

More below.

Following the showdown of live-action Disney films from the 2000s, we harken back to a separate decade with a different set of movies.

These are films we all return to again and again because of their impact on The Walt Disney Company. Here are some my favorite characters, scenes, and elements in a Disney 1990s Animated Films Showdown.