Rating: B-
Introduction
I watched the original Aladdin (1992) movie and it’s been about 5 years since I’ve seen it. Back in middle school I participated in the musical Aladdin Jr. and played the parrot (Iago). He’s a strange character and throughout the movie, I loved and hated him all at the same time. While watching, I began reminiscing about the old days of being in musicals and found myself singing along to all the songs we sang
Parts I forgot
I completely forgot there was a narrator present at the beginning of the movie. In fact, there are numerous parts of the movie that I forgot happened. I was reminded of the fear I once had of the lion/tiger cave and its extremely deep voice. For some reason, super deep voices were scary as a kid.
Jafar
Jafar was even scarier though. He had no mercy when it came to others and was even willing to nonchalantly drop Aladdin to his death down the bottomless sandpit cave. He’s also madly in love with Jasmine which is super creepy because he’s forcing her to be in love with him when she doesn’t want to. It made me want to shave his beloved beard off and smash his magic staff (thanks Aladdin).
Jasmine
Has anyone noticed that every main character in Disney movies has an animal sidekick? How cool would that be! They can do things for you and reflect on your own personality. Take Jasmine as an example; she’s fierce, powerful, and wealthy. A tiger is the perfect sidekick/best friend for her. When I saw her and Rajah having their moment together, I was reminded of Tiger King. Just last night I started watching that show and the fact that Jasmine has a tiger as a pet is amazing, good for her! Jasmine’s a bad apple who does what she wants when she wants to… Before watching the movie, I thought of her previously as a weak, helpless girl who only wants a man in her life. After watching the movie my mind was completely changed.
Violent
The movie was much more violent than I thought it would be with the threats and swords being used on people. There was one incident where it showed an old man sleeping on a bunch of nails and the guards with swords stomped on him. I instantly flinched thinking about how painful that would be. As a kid, I guess you’re not as aware of the actions going on because you’re so focused on the song, the story, and the extravagant outfits characters wear. Being an adult can change your perspective of what goes down in Disney’s movies.
Kudos to Disney
I love how Disney movies secretly incorporate characters from other movies in some of the scenes. Throughout the movie, Genie either looks like or mentions other Disney characters: Pinocchio, Sebastian, Dumbo, and Goofy. It’s like Marvel when they have Stan Lee cameos in each production. There are so many conspiracy theories behind Disney movies and how they purposefully link certain stories together. Their corporation is super successful and there’s no doubt about why that is. Disney creates a fun, energetic, and musical environment for people of all ages and I enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane.
Hi everyone! The writer of this article is Cyan Fuehr. She is currently a freshman at CWU who is planning on majoring in Business administration/marketing and minoring in nutrition + entrepreneurship. Cyan has a huge passion for music, nature, volleyball, working out, and dogs. We hope you have a wonderful day! :)
-4/26/2020-
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