32. Aladdin (1992)
Aladdin is a 1992 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Aladdin is the 31st animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, and was part of the Disney film era known as the Disney Renaissance. The film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, and is based on the Arab-style folktale Aladdin and the magic lamp from One Thousand and One Nights. The voice cast features Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman, Frank Welker, Gilbert Gottfried, and Douglas Seale.
Lyricist Howard Ashman first pitched the idea, and the screenplay went through three drafts before then-Disney Studios president Jeffrey Katzenberg agreed to its production. The animators based their designs on the work of caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, and computers were used for both finishing the artwork and creating some animated elements. The musical score was written by Alan Menken and features six songs with lyrics written by both Ashman and Tim Rice, who took over after Ashman’s death.
Aladdin was released on November 25, 1992 and was the most successful film of 1992, earning over $217 million in revenue in the United States, and over $504 million worldwide. The film also won many awards, most of them for its soundtrack. Aladdin‘s success led to other material inspired by the film, including two direct-to-video sequels, The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves; an animated television series; toys, video games, spin-offs, and Disney merchandise. A Broadway adaptation debuted in 2014.
Aladdin is a street-urchin who lives in a large and busy town long ago with his faithful monkey friend Abu. When Princess Jasmine gets tired of being forced to remain in the palace that overlooks the city, she sneaks out to the marketplace, where she accidentally meets Aladdin. Under the orders of the evil Jafar (the sultan’s advisor), Aladdin is thrown in jail and becomes caught up in Jafar’s plot to rule the land with the aid of a mysterious lamp. Legend has it that only a person who is a “diamond in the rough” can retrieve the lamp from the Cave of Wonders. Aladdin might fit that description, but that’s not enough to marry the princess, who must (by law) marry a prince.
What’s amazing about is Aladdin is that it’s one of those movies that’s both dated and timeless at the same time, mainly some of the Genie’s jokes can be dated but at the same time, it really doesn’t matter because that’s just part of the greatness of the movie.
The highlight of the movie is Robin Williams as the Genie, just excellent casting on the part of Disney and he perfectly handles that role brilliantly.
But on top of Williams’ performance, the rest of the movie is incredible too. The animation is spectacular, it’s that great contemporary Disney animation style we have come to expect from this point on.
You’ve also got great characters in Aladdin & Jasmine and a great villain in Jafar and a great sidekick in Iago, they are all what make Disney characters so memorable.
And what also makes a Disney animated film memorable is, of course, the songs by Alan Menken and Tim Rice which are once again spectacular, A Whole New World, Friend Like Me, Prince Ali, just classic Disney songs that are more than worthy to be joined as part of the greatest songs the studio has put out. There’s even one that wasn’t used in the film that’s actually really good, it was a song by the late Howard Ashman when he was working on this before his 1991 death called Proud Of Your Boy and it’s a pretty decent song, later sung in 2004 for the first time by Clay Aiken.
Once again, there really is not that much more to talk about that hasn’t been said about Aladdin already, it’s a classic Disney movie, one of the best and one of the highmarks of the second golden age of Disney animation.
31. The Lion King (1994)
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated epic musical film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. The story takes place in a kingdom of lions in Africa, and was influenced by William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The film was produced during a period known as the Disney Renaissance. The Lion King was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and has a screenplay credited to Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton. Its original songs were written by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, and original scores were written by Hans Zimmer. The film features an ensemble voice cast that includes Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Moira Kelly, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Rowan Atkinson, Robert Guillaume, Madge Sinclair, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, and Jim Cummings.
The Lion King tells the story of Simba, a young lion who is to succeed his father, Mufasa, as king; however, after Simba’s uncle Scar murders Mufasa, Simba is manipulated into thinking he was responsible and flees into exile in shame and despair. Upon maturation living with two wastrels, Simba is given some valuable perspective from his childhood friend, Nala, and his shaman, Rafiki, before returning to challenge Scar to end his tyranny.
Development of The Lion King began in 1988 during a meeting between Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney and Peter Schneider while promoting Oliver & Company in Europe. Thomas Disch wrote a film treatment, and Woolverton developed the first scripts while George Scribner was signed on as director, being later joined by Allers. Production began in 1991 concurrently with Pocahontas, which wound up attracting most of Disney’s top animators. Some time after the staff traveled to Hell’s Gate National Park in Kenya to research on the film’s setting and animals, Scribner left production disagreeing with the decision to turn the film into a musical, and was replaced by Minkoff. When Hahn joined the project, he was dissatisfied with the script and the story was promptly rewritten. Nearly 20 minutes of animation sequences were produced at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida. Computer animation was also used in several scenes, most notably in the wildebeest stampede sequence.
The Lion King was released on June 15, 1994, to a positive reaction from critics, who praised the film for its music, story and animation; it finished its run as the highest-grossing release of 1994. Following a 3D re-release in 2011, with earnings of over US $968 million worldwide as of 2011, the film is the highest-grossing hand-drawn animated film in history, the highest-grossing 2D animated film in the United States, the sixth highest-grossing animated film of all time, and the 29th-highest-grossing feature film of all time. The Lion King garnered two Academy Awards for its achievement in music and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. The film has led to many derived works, such as a Broadway adaptation; two direct-to-video follow-ups—the sequel The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998) and the prequel/parallel The Lion King 1½ (2004)—and two television series, Timon and Pumbaa and The Lion Guard.
A young lion prince is born in Africa, thus making his uncle Scar the second in line to the throne. Scar plots with the hyenas to kill King Mufasa and Prince Simba, thus making himself King. The King is killed and Simba is led to believe by Scar that it was his fault, and so flees the kingdom in shame. After years of exile he is persuaded to return home to overthrow the usurper and claim the kingdom as his own thus completing the “Circle of Life”.
I’m not even going to lie, I did enjoy this movie a lot when I was a kid, I mean, who didn’t? It was a movie I loved to death between 94 and 96 and then, I went many years without seeing it and I watched it again when they put it on DVD in 2003 and haven’t watched the film until it was rereleased in 3D on the big screen in 2011 .
So, does the movie hold up today?
Surprisingly, Yes. Granted, it does have its’ flaws and there are parts of it that rip off Bambi, my all-time favorite movie but I was amazed at how well it holds up.
I don’t think it holds up as well as some of the other Disney films that came out in between Oliver & Company and this but overall, it does hold up.
As I said it does hold up in so many ways. The animation is spectacular, some of the best animation Disney did during that period, especially in the final climatic sequence. The acting is also well done and I, personally, believe that Matthew Broderick’s best performance is in this film as the older Simba. The characters are also memorable, especially Timon & Pumbaa and best of all, the songs are still memorable. Even today, I can remember the lyrics to all of the songs. You don’t get that with movies anymore.
The film’s biggest flaws comes in the story department. As I said, there are stuff that’s ripped right out of Bambi and redone to make it look like it’s original. And if you loved Bambi and have seen it so many times, you can tell what scenes they are ripping from.
Problems aside, The Lion King does hold up to this day. I don’t think it holds up to the levels of Aladdin, Beauty & The Beast, or The Little Mermaid, but it does hold as a whole. If you really enjoy this movie, definitely check it out just to see it on a big screen.
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