Aladdin

Dir: Ron Clements, John Musker

1992

*****

By 1992 Disney animation studios were enjoying something of a second wind. The last of the classics was The Jungle Book made in 1967, and while I love films like The Aristocats, Robin Hood, The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron, none of them are real classics and 1989’s The Little Mermaid began a spate of modern classics. The Little Mermaid was followed by Beauty and the Beast which was a huge success, I can’t help but think they really went for it then with Aladdin. While I thought The Little Mermaid was fun, I found Beauty and the Beast a little too serious, and perhaps they did too, because Aladdin remains the most fun a Disney film has ever been, in my most humble opinion. The catchy songs are a big part of this, as are the characters, but the main reason is Robin Williams and the freedom he had with his character - not that things ran smoothly for Williams. The original idea was first pitched in 1988 by lyricist Howard Ashman. Ashman had written a 40-page film treatment remaining faithful to the plot and characters of the original story, but envisioned it as a campy 1930s-style musical with a Cab Calloway/Fats Waller-like Genie. Along with partner Alan Menken, Ashman conceived several songs and added Aladdin's friends named Babkak, Omar, and Kasim to the story. However, the studio was dismissive of Ashman's treatment and removed the project from development. Ashman and Menken were later recruited to compose songs for Beauty and the Beast. Linda Woolverton, who had also worked on Beauty and the Beast, used their treatment and developed a draft with inspired elements from The Thief of Bagdad such as a villain named Jaf'far, an aged sidekick retired human thief named Abu, and a human handmaiden for the princess. Then, directors Ron Clements and John Musker joined the production, picking Aladdin out of three projects offered, which also included an adaptation of Swan Lake and King of the Jungle – that eventually became The Lion King. Before Ashman's death in March 1991, Ashman and Menken had composed "Prince Ali" and his last song, "Humiliate the Boy". I wonder whether he really received his due credit. Musker and Clements wrote a draft of the screenplay, and then delivered a story reel to studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg in April 1991. Katzenberg thought the script "didn't engage", and on a day known by the staff as "Black Friday," demanded that the entire story be rewritten without rescheduling the film's November 25, 1992 release date. Among the changes Katzenberg requested from Clements and Musker were to not be dependent on Ashman's vision, and the removal of Aladdin's mother, remarking, "Eighty-six the mother. The mom's a zero." Screenwriting duo Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were brought in to rework the story and the changes they made included the removal of Aladdin's mother, the strengthening of the character of Princess Jasmine, and the deletion of several of the Ashman-Menken songs. Aladdin's personality was rewritten to be "a little rougher, like a young Harrison Ford," and the parrot Iago, originally conceived as an uptight British archetype, was reworked into a comic role after the filmmakers saw Gilbert Gottfried in Beverly Hills Cop II, who was then cast for the role. By October 1991, Katzenberg was satisfied with the new version of Aladdin. As with Woolverton's screenplay, several characters and plot elements were based on the 1940 version of The Thief of Bagdad, though the location of the film was changed from Baghdad to the fictional Arabian city of Agrabah. Another reason the film was such a success, like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast before it – was due to the brilliant songs written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Sadly Ashman died of AIDS-related complications part way through the production of Aladdin in early 1991 and Tim Rice took over as lyricist. I’ve always found The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin to be the best of Disney and Menken and Ashman are a big reason why. The character design was superb, with each character as strong as the next. The Genie, who was created with Robin Williams in mind, does get all the laughs but never has a Disney film had so many great side-kicks; Abu the monkey, Iago the parrot, Rajah the tiger and of course the magic carpet. John Candy, Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy were supposedly considered but Robin Williams was always favourite. 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 many scenes, Williams was given topics and dialogue suggestions, but allowed to improvise his lines. It was estimated that Williams improvised 52 characters in total. Eric Goldberg, the supervising animator for the Genie, then reviewed Williams' recorded dialogue and selected the best gags and lines that his crew would create character animation to match. However, Disney treated Williams poorly. Out of gratitude for his success with Touchstone Pictures' Good Morning, Vietnam (Touchstone being a Disney owned studio), Robin Williams voiced the Genie for SAG scale pay -$75,000 - instead of his asking fee of $8 million, on condition that his name or image not be used for marketing, and his supporting character not take more than 25% of space on advertising artwork, since Williams' film Toys was scheduled for release one month after Aladdin's debut. For financial reasons, the studio went back on the deal on both counts, especially in poster art by having the Genie in 25% of the image, but having other major and supporting characters portrayed considerably smaller. Disney, while not using Williams's name in commercials as per the contract, used his voice for the Genie in the commercials and used the Genie character to sell toys and fast food tie-ins, without having to pay Williams additional money; Williams unhappily quipped at the time, "The only reason Mickey Mouse has three fingers is because he can't pick up a check." Williams explained that his previous Mork & Mindy merchandising was different because, "the image is theirs. But the voice, that's me; I gave them myself. When it happened, I said, 'You know I don't do that.' And they apologized; they said it was done by other people."  Disney attempted to assuage Williams by sending him a Pablo Picasso painting worth more than $1 million at the time, but this move failed to repair the damaged relationship, as the painting was a self-portrait of the artist as Vincent van Gogh which apparently really "clashed" with the Williams' wilder home decor. Williams refused to sign on for The Return of Jafar so it was Dan Castellaneta that voiced the Genie. When Jeffrey Katzenberg was replaced by Joe Roth as Walt Disney Studios chairman, Roth organized a public apology to Williams. Williams would, in turn, reprise the role in the 1996 direct-to-video sequel Aladdin and the King of Thieves. I do love Aladdin but looking back there are a few glaring problems with it. There are several uncomfortable stereotypes and the original lyrics to some of the songs will make your toes curl. However, for me it marked the end of a very short peak in quality from Disney, sure the Lion King was good but I found it a little too serious. Aladdin was the satisfying climax to a great trio of films.