Aladdin (1992 Disney film)/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Movie

  • Disneyfication: Oh, geeze, where to start? As well done as it is, the film is drastically different from the original tale. First off, in the story as presented in the Arabian Nights, Aladdin is Chinese, and the action all takes place in China. He had two genies - a weaker one in a ring, and the stronger one in the lamp - and had no limit on the number of tasks he could set them to. Yes, he won the hand of a princess -- her name was Badroulbadour, not Jasmine, and to do it he had to foil a wedding between her and the son of an Evil Vizier. But that was barely the midpoint of the story; the evil wizard who had first used Aladdin to try to retrieve the lamp (and who was not the Evil Vizier, nor had any connection to the princess in any way) was not quickly disposed of but instead discovered Aladdin's success, and successfully stole the lamp (and the princess, and Aladdin's palace, and almost everything else) with the clever ruse of "New lamps for old!" Aladdin had to win everything back from the wizard using his wits and the lesser genie he still had in his ring. There weren't any cute animal companions, magic carpets hadn't been thought up when the story was written, and the princess didn't have much of a part - she ranged from ruining everything by giving away the lamp, all the way down to being eye candy only present for Aladdin to marry.
  • Executive Meddling: One of the contractual agreements Robin Williams had was that they not make a big deal about him being in the movie (Toys was coming out the following month, and he didn't want this film to overshadow Barry Levinson's pet project), which included the requirement that the poster not have the Genie take up more than 25% of merchandise. Just look at the image. While he doesn't technically exceed the maximum allowed amount of space, he's still by far the most obvious character. Robin Williams sued, and won.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!:
    • Frank Welker voices the Cave of Wonders using a voice strikingly similar to Dr. Claw of Inspector Gadget. He's also Abu AND Raja, which makes certain scenes of them together... interesting.
    • Title character's voice is Steve Hale (D.J.'s boyfriend).
    • Razoul (the head guard) is Pete.
      • In the French version, Jafar is also House.
      • In Brazil, Jafar is also Scar. And the announcer of every single TV spot for a movie.
      • In Italy, Jafar is also Shan-Yu, Ruber, Steele and Thrax.
    • In Japan, Akira Kamiya is Iago and Koichi Yamadera is the Genie.
    • An interesting variation in the German dub, crossing over into a Woolseyism: while Robin Williams might have quit after the first movie, his German voice actor Peer Augustinski certainly didn't.
    • In Spain this was also the film that initiated star casting for dubs. Basically after hyping for months that Robin Williams was the Genie, instead of hiring Robin's usual voice actor they did a second dose of star power marketing and cast Josema Yuste of comedic duo Martes Y Trece as the Genie.
      • Speaking of Spain, Ángel de Gracia (Aladdin) wound up on Total Drama Island 20 years later... as Noah!
  • Mean Character, Nice Actor: Jonathan Freeman, Jafar's voice actor, on the DVD extras appears as the total opposite to his evil character: he's funny, nice, gentle, and nowhere near as tall! And also terrified of birds, which became something of a "Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?" moment when the live parrot was brought into the studio so animators could sketch it.
  • The Other Marty: Aladdin himself: Aladdin was originally drawn as a scrawny 12-year-old. (Or thereabouts.) It was only after animation had begun that they realized they needed a more buff look for their hero. However, it was too late to re-do the animation that had been done already, and the 'scrawny' Aladdin can be seen in the Friend Like Me sequence.[1] In fact, Aladdin's original design was based on Michael J. Fox, which would make him an Other Marty for the original Other Marty.
  • Throw It In: Many scenes are Robin Williams ad-libbing, particularly the opening one with the peddler. Gilbert Gottfried also did it at times, a notable example being the line "gotta pack up the guns, the weapons, the blades, and let's not forget this picture. I intend to draw a face on it." line shortly after Ali Ababwa/Aladdin unveiled Jafar and Iago's treacherous ambitions to the Sultan.
  • What Could Have Been: Patrick Stewart was up for the role of Jafar. He wanted to do it, too, but fitting it into his schedule (which included the weekly Star Trek: The Next Generation) proved too difficult. He considers not voicing Jafar one of his biggest career regrets.

Sequels

TV Series

  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Abis Mal is George Costanza (Jason Alexander).
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes
    • Some Jasmine centric episodes were released on VHS as Jasmine's Enchanted Tales[2] with this intro. The inclusion of episodes like "The Secret of Dagger Rock" resulted in some Mood Whiplash.
  • The Other Darrin: Mozenrath is voiced by Jonathan Brandis in many episodes except one, where he is voiced by Jeff Bennett.
  • Word of Dante: Just about everything you think you know about Mozenrath:
    • A common bit of fanlore has it that the creators planned to make Mozenrath Aladdin's brother or half-brother. During production of the third film, Disney considered Mozenrath as a villain, but for various reasons "replaced" him with Cassim. Fan speculation that followed Disney's changes to the third film resulted in this rumor. The fact that they look so damn alike only adds fuel to the rumor.
    • The bit about Mozenrath being Destane's apprentice. While it makes sense, it was never actually stated.
    • Many fans assume that Mozenrath's gauntlet was directly responsible for his skeletal arm. This makes sense, but all Mozenrath says on the matter is "I gave my right hand for power." While this implies that the gauntlet ate it off, it's equally possible that he lost the flesh on his hand getting to the gauntlet and used his mad necromancy skills to reanimate the bone.
  1. ↑ Pay attention to Aladdin during the lines "You gots power in your corner now" and "you ain't never had a friend like me" just before "yes, sir, we pride ourselves on service", where it's particularly obvious
  2. ↑ Not to be confused with the later DVD Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams.
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