

Robin Williams was a big-name star, and animated movies did not usually have big-name stars in them. Doing a mean Jack Nicholson impression? A must-have moment.Īt the time, this was a huge risk. The Genie turning into Arnold Schwarzenegger? It's in. He recorded almost 16 hours of material for the film, even though the writers and animators could only fit in a fraction of that. That's right: almost all of the dialogue that he did for the Genie came straight from him. Robin Williams also did something totally unheard of for an animated movie. Williams loved it, and a big blue star was born. He needed to defy time, space, and physics, so who better than the manic and brilliant Robin Williams to play him? The screenwriters wrote the part for him, and the artists created sample animations of his stand-up routines to convince him of what the Genie could look like on the big screen.
ALADIN MOVIE MOVIE
Their movie called for a genie who was larger than life. For then.īut the folks who worked on Aladdin had a different idea.

That's because they're all done by the late, great Sterling Holloway. You might notice, for example, that Winnie the Pooh, the Cheshire Cat, and Kaa from The Jungle Book all sound a bit alike. Classic Disney movies often featured the same voice actors doing all kinds of different characters.
ALADIN MOVIE PROFESSIONAL
See, before Aladdin, full-length cartoons mostly followed a formula-timeless stories told by professional voice actors. Sure, he's funny, but what's the big deal?Īnswer: the Genie pretty much single-handedly changed our idea of what animated movies could be. He's a big, blue, wisecracking, wish-granting, song-and-dance man who rips through impressions and jokes at the speed of light. How about "Robin Williams as the Genie"? If you've seen Aladdin, you probably know that the Genie is one of the most memorable characters from this movie-from any Disney movie, really. What is Aladdin About and Why Should I Care? It may be a Disney princess's world, but Aladdin can hold his own.

We think the fact that it earned over $200 million in theaters and was nominated for five Oscars probably helped Disney's case. Like its Renaissance siblings, this film was yet another blockbuster, and it cemented the narrative that the House of Mouse was back on top. Oh, if only life with a magical wish-granting genie were that easy.Īladdin was the third movie produced as part of the Disney Renaissance, which began with The Little Mermaid back in 1989. Now all he's got to do is wish for fame and fortune and woo the princess, right? Our hero figures it's an impossible crush until he finds a magic lamp with a genie inside who will grant him three wishes. One day, he saves a princess in disguise and falls in love with her. The story is all about this guy Aladdin, a poor orphan who grows up on the streets of Agrabah. Hey, you don't totally break up a winning formula. This 1992 film would give us a story about a strong hero facing adversity to win the heart of the woman he loves…all while keeping his hair perfect and talking to animals. This was a chance to do for princes what The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast had done for princesses. But what about their princes? Yeah, things may have improved since the days of waiting for some random royal hunk to sweep you off your feet at a ball, but the folks at Disney couldn't shake the feeling that it was time for another change. Sure, Disney had done the princess thing, and it had done it well. Stars: Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman

Writer: Ron Clements, John Musker, Ted Elliott, and Terry Rossio Genre: Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy, Romance
