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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


                  ------------------------------------------

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

