"A whole new world ..."
Hello everyone!
To be fair, however, I'm looking back through ALL my blogs, and somehow, not many of the classic animations even made it on here?!
I've apparently been sleeping on these!
Dishonour on my cow LOL.
ANYWAY.
Without further ado, let's go change that right up, shall we? Just like they say in the opening song:
Come on down, stop on by, hop a carpet and fly to another Arabian night!
And this time, it'll be a hot one, because it's going to be with this street rat named Aladdin.
Our story begins with a peddler trying to sell us absolutely ridiculous wares, until he bring out a gleaming lamp; this, he says, once changed the destiny of a young man, so why don't we sit down and listen?
In the middle of the desert, a very fork-bearded individual, who we learn is named Jafar, puts two pieces of a golden scarab together and they lead him to this ginormous tiger head sculpted of sand. It's the entrance to the Cave of Wonders and, to the dismay (and end) of a thief that Jafar brought along, only a "diamond in the rough" can enter here.
So Jafar's like ... alright, fine then. I'll find this guy ASAP.
Meanwhile, Aladdin's up to no good in Agrabah, stealing food trying to survive on the streets, while yet another prince comes a-visiting to see whether or not Princess Jasmine will accept him as her suitor.
She definitely doesn't, nor does her pet tiger, Rajah. She wants to make the decision who she marries for herself, since every other has been made for her, though unfortunately time is running out for her. Per decree, she MUST be married before her next birthday, or else the Sultan will choose her husband for her.
Unwilling to play this game anymore, Jasmine sneaks out in the night, and almost gets her hand cut off at the city market, because she isn't used to paying for anything, but luckily Aladdin likes the look of her and rescues her.
They hit it off immediately, much to the dismay of Aladdin's monkey buddy, Abu, but just when you think all's well, since they seem to have a lot in common, the royal guards corner them, and no matter what Jasmine orders, Jafar's orders supersede hers.
The vizier mournfully explains to Jasmine that, thinking Aladdin had kidnapped the princess, he had the boy beheaded, when in actuality, he's held captive in the dungeon. Disguising himself as an old prisoner, Jafar tricks his "diamond in the rough" into entering the Cave of Wonders, where he and Abu meet a magical flying carpet, who then proceeds to take them to the lamp.
Abu, having sticky fingers,, gets them all trapped because he touches something that's not the lamp, but while Aladdin's annoyed the old prisoner left them there to rot, worrying only about the lamp, the monkey's sticky fingers prove useful, as he stole the lamp right back from Jafar on the spot.
Rubbing the thing reveals Genie, who'd been locked up for ten thousand years, and will now serve Aladdin with three wishes (some caveats included). Aladdin tricks the Genie into getting them all out of the Cave, after which his first official wish is to become a prince so he can go woo Jasmine. This goes horribly, as you can imagine, because Jasmine isn't a prized object to be won, but Aladdin goes to meet with her again after nightfall, and she figures out he's Aladdin during the 'A Whole New World' sequence.
Put on the spot, Aladdin invents more lies about his princely status and whatnot, but Jasmine's mollified enough that she chooses him as her suitor, right as Jafar hypnotizes the Sultan to declare that JAFAR will be marrying Jasmine.
Aladdin, always quick on his feet, breaks Jafar's staff and thus breaks the magical hold as well - but Jafar spots the lamp, and recognizes the street rat he sent into the Cave after it.
This all happens, mind you, after Jafar already tried getting rid of "Prince Abubu" one time, tossing him all chained up into the water, from which the Genie saved him using the second wish.
Now firmly caught in his web of lies, Aladdin argues with all of his friends, hurting their feelings, then leaves the lamp unattended so Iago, Jafar's parrot, steals it for Jafar himself.
After this, things go from bad to worse, because Jafar makes himself Sultan, exposes Aladdin to Jasmine, and then sends him off to the coldest corner of the globe. With Abu and the Carpet, however, Aladdin flies right back, only to find Jafar is now the mightiest sorcerer in the world, which really doesn't help during their little back-and-forth.
Finally realizing he'll never beat him with brute strength, Aladdin tricks Jafar into using his final wish to become a Genie himself - what he conveniently leaves out is that a Genie is inherently cursed to reside in and be connected to a magic lamp, which is where Jafar and Iago get sucked into.
Apologizing to everyone once the dust settles, Aladdin decides to use his last wish the way he'd originally intended to do it, despite Genie urging him to use it once more for princely status - but with Jasmine's support and approval (she really wouldn't have even loved him anymore if he had been THAT selfish), he sets Genie free.
Emotional, the Genie says farewell and zooms off, while the Sultan finally remembers HE can change laws, so he changes the annoying one about marriage and suitors, and Jasmine chooses Aladdin for her husband.
The movie ends on a very hopeful note, though there are two sequels that followed after it, but I don't know if I'll watch (I have fond memories of the Forty Thieves one with Aladdin's father, so maybe ... I'm not sure yet). Either way, it teaches us about selflessness, about holding true to your word, and how often what we seem to want isn't really helpful for us at all, but rather, what we've always had is more than enough.
It's just one of those movies that highlights how always wanting more, more, more can be more detrimental than anything else, and I'm here for it.
Also, the music, as always, is brilliant.
Absolutely recommend!
xx
*images and video not mine
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