Aladdin (cartoon, 1992)

The power-hungry Jafar, the vizier of Sultan Agraba, learned of the existence of a magic lamp in which a powerful Djinn is sharpened , capable of fulfilling any three desires of his master. Finding a place to keep it - the Cave of Wonders, Jafar bribes thief Gazim to bring a lamp, but the cave keeper does not let Gazim in and kills him. He also tells Jafar that only one person can enter the cave.

Later, Jafar with the help of magic learns the name of the elect - it turns out to be a burglar named Aladdin. Jafar orders the Sultan's guard to seize him and throw him in jail. The guards led by Rasul find Aladdin, and in the company of Princess Jasmine, who had fled earlier from the palace. Later, Jasmin tried to challenge the order of arrest from Jafar, but could not - the cynical vizier lied to her that the young man was allegedly executed, which he very much upset the princess.

That same night, Jafar, disguised as an old prisoner, made his way into Aladdin’s cell and told him about the lamp and the treasure in the Cave of Wonders. However, everything goes wrong, and because of the greed of Aladdin's friend, Abu's monkey, the cave begins to close. When Aladdin tries to get out of the cave, Jafar demands a lamp from him, but, having received it, he throws the young man and his monkey back into the cave.

Aladdin realized that he could not get out, but it turned out that Abu had stolen a lamp from Jafar, in which there is still the same Djinn. With his help, the main character and his friend are tricked out of the cave, and then, at first, Aladdin becomes Prince Ali, so that Jasmine will marry him. At first, everything is going well, but Jafar needs Jasmine to marry her and become a sultan. The palace guard on the orders of the vizier gets rid of Prince Ali, but he manages to use the second desire, and the Djinn saves him.

Aladdin returns to the palace and informs the Sultan about the treachery of Jafar. The latter orders the guard to arrest the vizier, and the young man smashes his hypnotizing staff. But Jafar escapes with the help of witchcraft, before that he sees a magic lamp in Aladdin’s pocket. Then his parrot, Iago, kidnaps the lamp, and Jafar becomes the new master of Jinn, taking the place of Sultan Agraba. But this did not break the pride of the present Sultan and Jasmine, and the latter refused to bow to the villain. Therefore, he wished to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world.

After that, Jafar teleports Aladdin to the tower of the palace and sends him to the icy desert, and subordinates the rest to himself and seizes absolute power. In the meantime, Aladdin gets out of the desert with the help of a plane-carpet and returns to the city. Jafar is trying to persuade Jasmine to marry herself, to which she refuses him. In the end, Jafar pushed her, but wished that the Djinn could make Jasmine love him. She, noticing Aladdin, is trying to charm the sorcerer and let Aladdin steal the lamp and become the master of Jinn again.

However, Jafar exposes her game and imprisons the princess in the hourglass, and also neutralizes Abu and the flying carpet. Aladdin is forced to engage the sorcerer. During the battle with Aladdin, Jafar turns into a giant snake and attacks his opponent. Aladdin, the loser in the fight and worried about Jasmine, reports that Jafar is not the most powerful sorcerer after all - he cannot be stronger than the genies. Jafar comes across these words and with a third desire he orders Jinn to make him an almighty genie.

He submits, and Jafar becomes a genie. But since all the jinn are prisoners of their lamps, therefore a lamp appears for him (that is, Jafar), into which he was immediately sucked in, and with Iago. Djinn throws the lamp of Jafar far away, and the good sultan cancels the old law on the possibility of marriage, Jasmine, only with a representative of a noble family, which allows the couple to find happiness together.

• Aladdin ( eng. Aladdin ) - the main protagonist of the cartoon, an 18-year-old beggar and street kid from the city of Agrab. Heather, dare, noble. He is a market thief, but he steals food only, without attempting to encroach on valuables and money. He has a best friend, the monkey Abu, and soon, by coincidence, he finds himself in the Cave of Miracles, where he finds the magic lamp and the prisoner Jeanne, who becomes his executor of desires, and later his friend. In love with princess Jasmine.
• Princess Jasmine ( Eng. Jasmine ) - 16-year-old independent and proud princess Agraba, the daughter of the Sultan. Often he gets tired of life in the palace (which Aladdin lacks), which is why one day, disguised as a beggar, he escapes from the palace and in the streets of Agraba meets Aladdin, who rescues her from an angry merchant, and soon there is mutual sympathy between them. Her dream is to find her true love, and not to get married according to royal law.
• Genie ( Eng. The Genie ) - a kind, very gullible, funny blue genie . A slave to the magic lamp that Aladdin found in the Cave of Wonders. It has phenomenal cosmic power and can change its appearance and size. In general, a genie is capable of almost everything, except for three things: to kill (otherwise only to punish, since genies cannot kill, but only can punish or punish worse than horror), resurrect or fall in love with someone else. At the end of the cartoon, thanks to the desire of Aladdin, becomes free from the lamp and sent to travel the world.
• Abu ( born Abu ) - Aladdin's tame monkey, his best friend. Usually it helps the owner to steal food, although he is a kleptomaniac and fundamentally steals not only food, but also valuable things, which Aladdin himself does not approve of. In contrast, Abu is a more pragmatic character, however, he is often able to show sympathy and give his booty to someone else.
• Jafar ( eng. Jafar ) - the main antagonist of the cartoon and the Sultan Agraba's vizier. Power-hungry, cunning and cruel man, but not without a sense of humor, even if it is rather gloating. Tall, thin, with an unhealthy complexion. Jafar, moreover, is also a sorcerer , wielding a magic rod in the form of a copper cobra , who is often hypnotized by the “simpleton” of the Sultan. He also tried to find a magic lamp to become the new sultan and the most powerful sorcerer. At the end of the cartoon, Jafar makes his last wish with Jinn: become the most powerful genie, and turns out to be a slave of his own lamp.
• Yago ( eng. Iago ) - rude and arrogant talking parrot, assistant Jafar. He is perfectly able to copy voices (which he used to distract Aladdin and steal a lamp from his room). When working on the appearance and manners of Iago, character animator Will Finn tried to copy what he saw in the actor Gilbert Gottfried - "always half-closed eyes" and "always protruding teeth."
• Sultan ( English The Sultan ) - father Jasmin, sultan Agraby. A short, fat, grandfather, a simpleton with features of infantilism .
• The Magic Carpet , or simply Carpet, is not just a magic thing ( a plane-carpet ), but a rational being, although it cannot speak. It seems to be an old friend of Jinna, initially quarreling with Abu, but later they become best friends.
• Raja is a tiger hand Jasmine and her bodyguard.
• Rasul is the chief of the guard, submitting, like his entire department, to Jafar. Got his name in honor of the Disney studio animator, Rasul Azadani. We have to deal with the homeless child Aladdin (even when from the very beginning he tried to catch him).

• Scott Wanger / Brad Kane (vocal) - Aladdin
• Robin Williams - Genie / Trader
• Jonathan Freeman - Jafar
• Linda Larkin / Lea Salonga (vocals) - Princess Jasmine
• Frank Welker - Abu / Rajah / Miracles Cave
• Gilbert Gottfried - Iago
• Douglas Seale - Sultan
• Jim Cummings - Rasul / Apple Trader
• Bruce Adler - merchant (vocals)
• Corey Burton - Prince Ahmed / Necklace Merchant
• Charlie Adler - Gazim / watermelon dealer / walnut trader

The film is duplicated by the Nevafilm film company commissioned by Disney Character Voices International ^[6] in 2004 ^[7] .

• Dubbing director: Lyudmila Demyanenko
• Translator: Olga Voeikova ^[8]
• The author of the synchronous text and poems: Elena Stavrogin
• Assistant Director: Galina Dovgal
• Sound producer: Oksana Strugina
• Music Director: Alexey Nefedov
• Creative Consultants: Magdalena Snopek, Mariusz Yavorovsky

Roles Duplicate

• Andrey Kuznetsov - Aladdin (speech)
• Andrey Kuznetsov - Aladdin (vocal)
• Gennady Bogachyov - Genie (speech)
• Victor Krivonos - Genie (vocals)
• Evgeniya Igumnova - Jasmin (speech)
• Anna Pozdnyakova - Jasmin (vocals)
• Vadim Nikitin - Jafar (speech)
• George Traugot - Jafar (vocals)
• Andrey Moshkov - Iago
• Vadim Yakovlev - Sultan
• Andrey Shamin - Rasul
• Alexey Fedotov - merchant (speech)
• Yuriy Davydenko - merchant (vocal)
• Andrei Tenetko - Prince Ahmed
• Alexey Guryev - Gazim / necklace dealer

In the episodes

• Anatoly Azo
• Anatoly Dubanov
• Ivan Parshin
• Svetlana Repetina
• Elena Stavrogin
• Alexey Titkov
• Nikolay Fedortsov

Vocal parts

• Ruslan Yakubov
• Ekaterina Polezhaeva
• Elona albiter
• Camilla Mirsaidova
• Violetta Aktischeva
• Roman Itskov
• Alla Solodkina

In 1988, the songwriter Howard Ashman invited Walt Disney Pictures to create an animated musical based on the story about Aladdin . When he wrote a few songs with his colleague Alan Mencken ^[9] , Linda Woolverton, who had previously worked on the cartoon “ Beauty and the Beast, ” wrote the script for the planned cartoon ^[10] .

Ashman sent a script application and songs written by Alan Menken, the head of the studio, Jeffrey Katzenberg , who found the script “unimpressive” and approved it only after Ron Clements , John Masker and screenwriters Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio made their changes.

Among other things, the mother of Aladdin disappeared from the script. Princess Jasmine became a more volitional character, Aladdin - “a little rougher, like a young Harrison Ford, ” and the parrot Iago, conceived as a British imperturbable serious character, became a comic image inspired by Gilbert Gottfried in the film “ Beverly Hills Cop 2 ". Later, the original idea of ​​the character Iago was embodied in the character of Zazu from “ The Lion King ”.

Design and animation

One of the first problems that animators faced during the production of "Aladdin" is the image of the title character. Director and producer John Musker explained:

In earlier versions, we played with him, making him a bit younger, and in the story he had a mother. [...] In development, he became more athletic, larger, with the makings of a young leader and more youthful attractiveness than before.

Original Text (Eng.)

In the early screenings, we were a little bit younger, and he had a mother in the story. [...] In the design of a young adult man, he was more than a teenager leading a teenager.

- John Musker ^[12]

Initially, according to the plot, Aladdin was supposed to be 13 years old, but in the end his age was changed to 18 ^[12] . Aladdin’s design was developed by a team led by lead animator Glen Keane, and initially it looked like actor Michael Jay Fox ^[13] .

However, as a result of the work, it was decided that the image of Aladdin was too boyish, but not attractive enough. Then the character design was changed and found the features of Tom Cruise and male models from the company Kelvin Klein ^[14] .

The design of many characters in the film, with the exception of Jafar, was based on the works of cartoonist El Hirschfeld ^[13] . Andreas Deja , responsible for the animation of Jafar, wanted this character to stand out from the crowd ^[15] .

Computer animation was applied in a series of scenes such as episodes with a sandy tiger's head, in whose mouth is the entrance to the Cave of Miracles, and a scene in which Aladdin tries to get out of the collapsing cave, as well as when applying complex ornaments on the carpet-plane. John Masker and Ron Clements invented Genie with an eye on Robin Williams .

Even when Jeffrey Katzenberg proposed John Candy , Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy , Williams had better chances, and finally approved him. Williams came to the recording sessions in between the filming of two other films. Contrary to well-established practice, many of his dialogues were a real improvisation: for some scenes, he was only asked topics, without unnecessary instructions.

Composer Alan Mencken and songwriters Howard Ashman and Tim Rice were praised for creating the soundtrack as "consistently good, competing with the best Disney animated musicals of the 1990s." Mencken and Ashman began working together on the cartoon, Rice took over the lyrical part after the death of Eschman from AIDS-related complications in early 1991. Despite the fact that 14 songs were written for Aladdin, the film has only 6, 3 of which every lyric. Released in 2004, the DVD Special Edition includes four songs in the early animation tests and a music video from one of “Your Boy's Pride”, performed by Clay Aiken, which also appeared on the DisneyMania 3 album.

The creators of the cartoon thought that the original idea of ​​the film would have been inappropriate, and decided to “put on top of the plot” the process of fulfilling the desires, considering it to be an excellent solution, but in the end it became a problem. The other main topic was avoiding both heroes trying to be different from who they are - Aladdin and Jasmine get into trouble trying to be different people, and Prince Ali cannot impress Jasmine. She fails like Aladdin, when Jasmine finds out who he really is.

Becoming a "hostage in prison", he regrets his accomplishment. The fate that most characters have - Aladdin and Jasmin are limited by their own way of life, the Djinn is chained to his lamp, and Jafar to the sultan - and visually depicted in the prison walls and in the palace of Sultan Agraba, as well as a scene with birds in a cage, which jasmine later releases.

Also, Jasmine is depicted as another Disney princess. Being rebellious and against royal life and social order, she tries to decide her own destiny, unlike other princesses who are just waiting for salvation.

The film has more than 30 awards and nominations. Among them:

• " Grammy " for the song of the year - " A Whole New World ", authors - Alan Menken and Tim Rice
• Two " Oscars " in the nominations "Best Song" and "Best Original Soundtrack"
• MTV Channel Award for Best Comedy Robin ( Robin Williams )

• On the role of genie tried:
  • John Candy ;
  • Steve Martin ;
  • Eddie Murphy ;
  • Martin Short ;
  • John Goodman ;
  • Albert Brooks ;
  • Matt Frewer .
• For the role of Iago, Danny DeVito and Joe Pesci tried, while Jafar could be:
  • Tim Curry ;
  • Kelsey Grammer ;
  • John Hurt ;
  • Christopher Lloyd ;
  • Ian McKellen .

The Islamic Human Rights Commission criticized the cartoon for creating a negative image of Muslims. In her opinion, the Arabs in the film (except for the “progressive” and “liberal” Aladdin) are generally represented as malicious and greedy people, striving for wealth and power. That is, all the cartoon characters that have typical Arab features, dark skin and speak with an oriental accent - are distinguished by greed or anger, are presented in a negative light.

In addition, in one of the verses of the song “Arabian Nights”, representatives of the US-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee saw attempts to form a negative stereotype about the inhabitants of Muslim countries. As a result, the lyrics of the song were changed to more tolerant ones.

The site aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that critics gave 94% positive reviews based on similar 68 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1 / 10. The consensus of the site reads “Disney’s highest entertaining entrance to the Renaissance, Aladdin is beautifully drawn, with almost classical songs and acting characters” Janet Meslin from The New York Times stated that the children “It’s not necessary to know exactly who Robin Williams is, he calls understanding how funny he is. ”Director of Warner Bros. Cartoons Chuck Jones even called the cartoon "The most fun ever created." Moreover, the English-Irish comedian Spike Miligan considers the cartoon the greatest of all time. James Berardinelli gave the cartoon a 3.5-star of 4 possible, admiring "fresh visual effects and beautiful numbers consisting of dances and songs." Rolling Stone's Peter Travers said that the comedy made the cartoon accessible to both children and adults, the same vision shared by Desson Howe from The Washington Post , who also said "the children will still be fascinated by magic and adventure." Variety's Brian Lowry praised the characters, describing the expressive magic carpet as "the most remarkable achievement" and believe that "Aladdin overcomes most of the historical flaws through purely technical virtuosity."

• Bob Thomas. Chapter 9: A New Tradition // Disney's Art of Animation: Mickey Mouse to Hercules. - 2017. - 224 p. - ISBN 978-0786862412 .