 |
||||
|
Aladdin [1992] The real inspirations for the latest Disney cartoon feature are not the lyrical, fairy tale hits it follows into cinemas, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, but such frenetic, aggressive skits as Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor or the Mr Magoo version of 1001 Arabian Nights. The technical innovations of Mermaid and Beauty, intermingling of traditional character animation with glowing computer trickery, and their Broadway-style musical scores - lyricist Tim Rice augmenting the unfinished work of the late Howard Ashman in collaboration with composer Alan Menken - are well in evidence, but the pace is very different. Unlike Mermaid and Beauty, Aladdin will appeal to boys rather than girls and, indeed, fathers rather than mothers. The Aladdin story has been kicked around so much by pantos that the script ditches many of its best-remembered moments [the villain does not disguise himself as a pedlar and shout 'new lamps for old'] and opts, somewhat sneakily, to be a thinly-disguised remake of the 1940 Alexander Korda-Michael Powell classic The Thief of Bagdad. Aladdin, whose face has been streamlined so he looks like a kind of Iraqi Tom Cruise, is a thief in the 'mythical kingdom of Agrabah' [evidently Uncle Walt wouldn't want to be associated with Bagdad these days]. As a hero, he scrambles the characteristics and plot functions of upstart thief Sabu and disguised Prince John Justin from the old movie. Most of the supporting cast are explicitly modeled their 1940 counterparts, with the villainous sorcerer Jaffar borrowing his name, character and face from Conrad Veidt. Princess Jasmine, the heroine who must be married to a Prince by the end of the week, and her blubbery Sultan father, also look a lot like June Duprez and Miles Malleson. Given that there's no such thing as a new idea, this hommage-cum-plagiarism was probably a very good idea; The Thief of Bagdad is watchable 50 years after it was made, and there are aspects of The Little Mermaid [the heroine's selfish yuppie I-want-it-now-and-I-want-it-free attitude] that look hideously dated only five years on. Besides, the one new idea comes perilously close to swamping the whole film, the casting of the voice of Robin Williams as the genie of the lamp. A big blue goon who seems possessed by the spirit of Tex Avery, the genie free-associates through his scenes with snappy patter laced with contemporary references, while the animators keep up by stretching and malforming his elastic body to fit whatever he happens to be saying that very half-second. There are in-jokes about earlier cartoons [a monkey with a Donald Duck voice, the genie pulling a Pinocchio face, Fantasia-ish dancing elephants and a Jungle Book tiger] that are tromped all over by the Williams juggernaut, but which give Aladdin a pleasant sense of its own prehistory. Your basic plot is that Jaffar is after the lamp, Aladdin [kitted up as a prince by magic] is after the girl and the genie is after fast laughs. Some of the square morality of old returns [it's better to be an honest street rat than a bogus thief] but not all of it [it's okay to filch from street stalls if you share with orphans]. There is an undercurrent of post-Spielberg spectacle, especially when Aladdin ventures through a snake-headed enchanted cave into a living treasure chamber. Animation fans and wide-eyed kids will be charmed by some subliminally perfect character work, like the personality-filled magic carpet, the non-weedy girlie heroine and Jaffar's traditional Muttley-style snickering sidekick. Alan Menken retains his weakness for rewriting 'Somewhere That's
Green', the hit from Little Shop of Horrors, and
does it again here, also pillaging 'Under the Sea' from his
The Little Mermaid for Williams' big number, 'Prince
Ali'. Though pleasant, there's nothing on the soundtrack album
to match even the songs of The Jungle Book let alone
Snow White or Pinocchio. Despite its
fantasy setting, this is a hip, contemporary, '90s kind of cartoon,
as likely to appeal to fans of Wayne's World as Bambi,
which may not turn out to be a survival trait. Dumbo
and Pinocchio are still playing in cinemas around the
world, but when was the last time Disney re-released The Three
Caballeros, their hip, contemporary '40s kind of cartoon? Bursting
with entertainment and fun, this may be the sort of movie you'll have
to love now because, unlike Beauty and the Beast, it
may not be around later. First Published In: Film Monthly, issue not known Visit Kim's Official Website at www.johnnyalucard.com
|
||||