36 interesting facts about the Disney cartoon "Aladdin" (33 photos)

The cartoon about a guy who found a lamp with a Genie and managed to win the heart of a princess by defeating the evil vizier Jafar left a simply great impression, largely due to the plot, bright and interesting characters, action, etc.





1. In 1988, writer, composer and musical director Howard Ashman, who had already worked on the Disney cartoon “Oliver and Company,” came up with the idea to film the famous fairy tale about Aladdin, who found a magic lamp with a genie.



Howard Ashman

He even wrote a 40-page script proposal, which described how a 15-year-old Baghdad boy decided to prove to his mother, who raised him alone, that he was not a dunce who could only hang around with his friends. Well, as the plot goes, he finds that very treasured lamp with the Genie, and the lamp’s slave makes him a prince in order to get close to the princess. But in the end, he still fell in love with his childhood friend.





Moreover, specifically for this script, Ashman and Alan Menken wrote almost 15 compositions for the future project.

And when Ashman brought his application to Jeffrey Katzenberg, who at that time was a producer at Disney, he was simply delighted with this idea, but still he refused to film Aladdin, since the studio had many other plans, in particular a cartoon "The Little Mermaid", directed by John Musker and Ron Clements.



John Musker and Ron Clements

Only after the success of “The Little Mermaid” did John Musker and Ron Clements see that same script from Ashman, and decided that adapting “Aladdin” was a very cool idea. Firstly, unlike “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast,” the cartoon “Aladdin” should have been aimed more at a male audience than a female one. And secondly, they really wanted to try themselves in a film adaptation of an oriental rather than a European fairy tale.



2. Musker and Clements really liked the image of Aladdin that Ashman came up with, but they decided that it would be nice to make the Genie not just a wizard, but a kind of funny joker who would change his form every now and then, because after 10,000 years in the lamp he very tired of loneliness and idleness.

Well, besides this, the directors decided that it would be nice if Jin periodically showed some things from the future, for example from the Middle Ages or the then modern 20th century.



But the bosses didn’t like this idea, because in Disney cartoons humorous characters were given supporting roles, and Gene was essentially one of the main characters. But still, the directors managed to convince the bosses that this would be an excellent solution.

3. When it came to who would voice the Genie, Musker and Clements had no doubt that the famous comedian Robin Williams should get the role (although there were other options).



And it’s worth noting that this was the first time in Disney history that a famous film actor was invited to play the role of a voice actor. Moreover, the Genie himself was eventually drawn with Robin Williams' facial features.

In addition, Williams voiced the salesman from the beginning of the cartoon. The creators gave the actor various utensils, and Robin simply improvised, describing the whole thing.



Robin Williams recorded a total of 16 hours worth of phrases. He recorded the same phrases using different emotions, and also improvised a lot. Well, then the most suitable and interesting phrases and jokes were selected. The job was difficult because Robin was excellent at what he did and every one of his lines was just perfect, so much so that it was difficult to choose which one to take. Well, when the most interesting and juicy phrases were chosen, animator Eric Goldberg drew the Genie to match Williams’ specific phrases.



The first variants of the Genie.

4. Robin Williams cogI took on this role with great pleasure, and for a relatively small amount. However, the actor set one condition in which the Disney company did not have the right to use his name during the advertising campaign for the cartoon. The bosses agreed to this condition and later broke it. Yes, yes, they still used his name, which is why Robin Williams refused to voice this character in subsequent parts of the film.

Therefore, in the second part (“The Return of Jafar”) and the animated series, Genie no longer speaks in the voice of Robin Williams, but in the voice of voice actor Dan Castalanetta, who is best known for voicing Homer Simpson. However, in 1995, Robin Williams returned to voice the Genie for the animated film Aladdin and the King of Thieves.

5. When work on the script began, Musker and Clements were guided by Ashman's idea. Except that Aladdin’s friends and his childhood friend were removed from the plot, giving her character traits to Princess Jasmine.



First sketch of the princess

It just took a year and a half to write the first version of the script (including its graphic part).

6. When the script and storyboard were ready, Katzenberg was dissatisfied, since the then Aladdin was too young (he looked about 13 years old) and was presented as a mama's boy. Because of this, he could not possibly be considered a romantic hero.



Katzenberg immediately stated that Aladdin should be like Tom Cruise from the movie "Top Gun". Therefore, it was decided to draw Aladdin as a sort of muscular guy with the appearance of Tom Cruise. In addition, the guy was given the features of Michael Jay Fox and the pants of rapper MC Hammer.

Katzenerg also demanded that Aladdin's friends and his mother be removed, since they only interfered with the plot, which was done. Well, so that Aladdin would not be lonely, they left him one friend - a monkey named Abu.



In order to rework the script as quickly as possible, two more screenwriters had to be hired - Ted Elliott and Terry Rossi. But even despite this, the script still had to be adjusted several more times.

7. Well, a little about Aladdin’s mother. In the original story, Aladdin's mother was given a lot of time and even an entire personal song, "Proud of your boy", written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.



But since the mother was cut out, the song was not needed. However, this composition has not been lost. It is used in official Disney theatrical productions of Aladdin.

However, a woman similar to the concept of Aladdin's mother can be seen early in the film when she tells him, "It's a little early for you to get into trouble today."



8. In order not to get involved in politics, the authors decided to abandon Baghdad as the main location in the cartoon. Instead, they came up with the city of Agrabah.

9. The previously mentioned Alan Menken became the composer and author of the music for all the songs in the cartoon. And the lyrics to the songs were written by Howard Ashman, who once proposed the idea of ​​making “Aladdin” and wrote his own script ideas.

But the problem was that Howard Ashman had AIDS, and while working on the film he was already very ill. The last song Ashman composed was “Prince Ali.” He was already dying and could hardly speak, but nevertheless he was immersed in work until his death.



After Ashman's death, he was replaced by another author, Tim Rice, who wrote the lyrics for several other compositions.

10. Aladdin violated all Disney canons, since in Disney cartoons the main characters were princesses, and princes were boring and faded tertiary characters. Here, the main character became a perky and cheerful young man (one might say a prince), and the princess faded into the background. And the princess is not presented here as some kind of fragile girl. Jasmine is that little thing that has character.



This, by the way, is one of the reasons why Aladdin became my favorite Disney cartoon, and remains so to this day.

11. A separate animator worked on each main character. They only consulted with each other so that the characters would interact normallyinteracted with each other.

Mark Henn, who was responsible for Princess Jasmine and her animation, could not come up with a suitable image for his heroine for a long time, until he got the idea to draw the princess in the image of his younger sister. According to Henn, a character turns out to be more alive and interesting when you draw it with love.

12. As you know, Disney loves to insert Easter eggs related to Mickey Mouse into its cartoons. The cartoon "Aladdin" was no exception. Towards the end, when Raja transforms from a tiger cub back into an adult tiger, he has Mickey Mouse ears and a nose for a split second.



13. After Aladdin frees the Genie, he gets ready to go on a trip, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a Goofy cap. This image was taken from the movie "Return to Wonderland". These were the items worn by Robin Williams' character.



14. In order to better understand how the characters will move in the cartoon, live actors and gymnasts were invited to act out scenes from the future cartoon. This practice was very popular when creating cartoons in the 20th century.



15. The cartoon contains a small reference to the previous Disney cartoon "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). If you look closely, you can see that same monster among the Sultan’s figures.



16. Despite the fact that the cartoon was created in the style of classical animation, and the year was 1991, the creators used 3D technology in some scenes. We are, of course, talking about the Cave of Wonders.



Also, 3D technologies were used during the attempt to escape from the Cave of Wonders on the carpet. The creators wanted to create a kind of roller coaster effect so that the viewer would be immersed in this process. Naturally, this would be impossible to do using classic 2D animation.



17. The Sultan was partially inspired by The Wizard of Oz. And yes, Disney once again used the cliche that the princess has no mother.



18. The creators of the cartoon introduced some special features for Aladdin in the form of Prince Ali. When Ali lied, his turban feather always fell down.



19. The film artist developed a certain concept in which a certain color should be responsible for the character of the character and for the overall tone of the picture. For example, the blue color and its shades symbolize something kind, gentle and good (Aladdin's vest, Genie, Jasmine, carpet), while red is the color of evil, danger, arrogance and greed (Jafar, Iago, the prince from beginning, gem).

20. The Islamic Association was unhappy with the cartoon because, in their opinion, Muslims were shown as evil and greedy people.

21. Patrick Stewart was invited to voice Jafar, but he refused due to his busy schedule, as he was actively filming the Star Trek series. And in fact, this is not the first and not the last attempt to drag the actor into a cartoon. Before that, he was offered the role of Cogsworth in the cartoon "Beauty and the Beast", and then the role of Scar in the cartoon "The Lion King".

22. Joe Pesci and Denis DeVito were invited to voice Iago, but both of them turned down the role. Then actor Gilbert Godfrey, best known for his role as Principal Peabody in the film Problem Child, was invited to play this role.



Everyone liked the way Gilbert voiced the parrot so much that the creators decided to give the character the actor’s signature smile. This is why Iago has teeth in the cartoon.

23. Directors Ron Clements and John Musker also appear in the cartoon as two townspeople at the very beginning who observe the impudent prince who has come to see Jasmine.



24. Jafar was loosely based on another famous Disney villainess, Maleficent. The same cold look, manners, staff and bird as a servant.



25. Many games were released based on the cartoon Aladdin both in the 90s and 00s. Perhaps the most famous of them was, of course, the game "Disney's Aladdin", released on the Sega Mega Drive 2 console and on computers running DOS.

26. In the film "The Princess and the Frog" (2009), which was the last Disney cartoon made in the style of classic 2D animation, there is a reference to "Aladdin", or more precisely to the carpet. In one of the scenes we can see how a woman on the balcony is knocking out that same carpet.



27. For a long time, there was a theory among fans that that same merchant was a Genie in disguise. This idea was prompted by the fact that he has a lamp, is voiced by Robin Williams, and has the same signature Genie antics. Well, in 2015, one of the directors (John Musker) confirmed this theory.

28. In 2016, the animated film “Moana” was released, which was also directed by Musker and Clements. And of course, they simply could not help but make a reference to Aladdin. In one of the scenes we can see the Genie's lamp.



29. Initially, in the song “Arabian Night” there was a line that can be translated something like this: “Here they will cut off your ear if someone doesn’t like you.” But in the end, it was decided to abandon such a wild and cruel line after complaints from representatives of the American-Arab Committee.

30. With a budget of $28 million, the cartoon "Aladdin" earned a record $504 million at the box office (of which $286 million in the United States). This allowed it to become not only the highest-grossing cartoon, but also the highest-grossing film of 1992.



31. Aladdin received four Oscar nominations. True, they all turned out to be related to sound: “Best Song” (2 songs), “Best Sound Editing”, “Best Music for a Film” and “Best Sound”.

But in the end, the cartoon "Aladdin" received only 2 Oscars, namely for best song ("A whole new world") and "Best music for a film."

32. Many of the character designs were based on the work of famous cartoonist Al Gerschild.

33. To depict the realistic movement of the carpet, animator Randy Cartwright folded a piece of fabric and then redrew it. According to Cartwright, it was necessary and very difficult work. Well, then the animation was transferred to the computer, after which work continued on the character’s surface design.



34. After the success of the cartoon, a real conveyor belt started working. Aladdin received two full-length sequels and a separate animated series. In addition, a variety of comics, toys, video games, sticker albums and much more were released.



Well, let's not forget about the full-scale film adaptation of the cartoon "Aladdin", released in 2019 and directed by the famous director Guy Ritchie.

35. Initially, there was no sign “Applause” after the Genie’s song. But after test screenings, producer Jeffrey Katzenberg became outraged that no one was clapping after the songs. The animators then jokingly decided to add the sign "Applause" after Jin finished singing.



36. Also, the cartoon "Aladdin" has several similarities with the game "Prince of Persia" (1989). The main character finds himself in prison and he must save the princess from an evil vizier named Jafar. In addition, the game contains a large hourglass, which will also be in the cartoon.