Comperative Essay Sample: Aladdin 1992 and 2019 Movies

In the last five years companies have begun recreating popular movies from our childhood in hopes of engaging in both the older and younger audiences. One of those being a remake of the 1992 Aladdin in 2019. The remake basically sticks to the original theme and follows the story, however, this movie took a lot of creative freedom causing several differences from the original movie audiences grew to love. In 1992, Aladdin grossed 504.1 million worldwide and in the first week after its VHS debut, it sold over 10.6 million copies from just over 100,000 retailers, eventually selling over 25 million copies. The original movie also got five Academy Award nominations, and won Best Original Song, “A Whole New World.” The 2019 classic remake grossed over one billion dollars, becoming the ninth highest during that year. The movie did not receive any major awards. 

In the 1992 version, Aladdin follows a street kid in the city of Agrabah, who meets Jasmine, a princess who has snuck away from her sheltered life in the palace. Jasmine wants to marry for love and herself rather than having her father choose who she marries. Meanwhile Jafar, the grand vizier, wants to overthrow and become the Sultan. To do this he seeks a magic lamp hidden in the Cave of Wonders, that only "the diamond in the rough (Aladdin)" may enter. Jafar captures Aladdin after this. In exchange for retrieving the lamp, he promises to make Aladdin wealthy enough to please Jasmine, but warns him not to steal anything else. Aladdin discovers the lamp within the cave, but his sidekick, Abu, can't resist touching the treasure and the cave collapses. Aladdin hands the lamp over to Jafar, who then betrays him and kicks him and Abu back into the cave not before Abu steals the lamp back though. Aladdin eventually rubs the lamp, releasing the Genie trapped inside. Aladdin is granted three wishes by the Genie. Aladdin uses his first wish to become a prince to court Jasmine, pledging to use his third wish to release the Genie. 

When Aladdin enters Agrabah as "Prince Ali Ababwa," with a parade, he enrages Jasmine by discussing her fate with her father and Jafar without her present. After apologizing he takes Jasmine on a trip on the magic carpet. When she discovers his actual identity, he convinces her that he disguises himself as a peasant in order to get away from the harsh royal life. On Jafar's orders, the palace guards kidnap Aladdin and attempt to drown him as he comes home with Jasmine. Aladdin's second wish is taken away when the Genie comes and saves him. Aladdin then returns to the palace to reveal Jafar's diabolical plan. After finding the lamp and realizing Aladdin's actual identity, Jafar escapes the palace.

From his first two wishes, he becomes Sultan and the world's most powerful magician. He then discloses Aladdin's true identity and exiles him to a freezing wilderness, from which he eventually returns. Jasmine tries to assist Aladdin in retrieving the lamp, but Jafar notices them and disables them with his magic. He mocks Jafar for being weaker than the Genie and convinces him into making his final wish to transform into a genie. Bounding him to his own lamp, Jafar is then thrown far into the desert by the Genie, condemning him to the Cave of Wonders. The film ends with the Sultan altering the marriage law, Aladdin and Jasmine get married, and Aladdin's final wish releasing the genie.

The biggest, most obvious difference in these two films is the fact that the recreation was made into a live action movie, differing from the original animation movie. However both movies incorporated both big name actors such as Robin Williams and Will Smith as the genie as well as incorporating newer names such as Mena Massoud as main character Aladdin in the remake and Lea Salonga and Brad Kane as the singing voices of Aladdin and Princess Jasmine in the original. The remake includes all of the songs from the original movie plus the addition of Jasmine’s new song. Each song while doing the original justice was unique and different. One of these differences took place in the song “Friend Like Me.” In this song, the Genie (Will Smith) adds a tribute to his Fresh Prince roots and adds a hip hop feel. 

The original Aladdin ended up being one hour and thirty minutes long. The remake surpassed the original movie and ended up being two hours and eight minutes long. 

The remake followed the story while also taking creative liberty to help the movie stand out from the original. A lot of these changes involve Jasmine and her backstory. In the remake Jasmine appears to be much stronger of a person. In the first movie she just wanted to marry for herself rather than her father but in the remake she wants to be the Sultan. In the remake, audience members also learn that the reason Jasmine isn’t allowed out of the palace is because her mother was killed and now her father is cautious and overprotective. 

Something the movie added was new characters, whether these be brand new characters or ones that served in order to replace others, such as Dalia, Princess Jasmine’s best friend/handmaiden. Examples of replacements are in the beginning, film makers decided to cut the lamp vender at the beginning of the 1992 movie and make Genie the story teller instead.  Another replacement character is one of Jasmine’s suitors, Prince Anders who replaced Prince Achmed. 

The remake was also an empowerment movement of feminism for many reasons including the inclusion of the song, Speechless, not just once but twice; “I think the message is so powerful, the idea that she’s not going to go speechless and you do have a voice and you should speak up against injustice.” says Jasmine actress Naomi Scott. Movie makers wanted to make the princess someone younger audiences could look up to so they gave her a larger and more dominant role. Another pro-feminist movement is once again the adding on of Dalia because in the original movie there was only one female speaker and directors wanted not add another female prospective and also make the Jasmine more relatable.

Something else that the remake had was more accurate depiction and diversity in the characters as well as the actual cast. In the animated version, middle easterner males were perceived very stereotypically with over-exaggerated facial features, turbans and headpieces while the women are either overly sexualized or given harsher “ugly” features to show age. The remake shows a more diverse aspect of not just people but cultures. The men are wearing more accurate articles of clothing and women of all ages are seen in various outfits and accessories with most of their bodies covered up without exaggerated characteristics to make them appear better or worse. 

Despite their differences, both films appealed to large audiences and included something for both older and younger generations because they chose to remake a classic Disney movie. To appeal to older audiences, film makers included most of the original story and songs that people have grown up loving. They also included beloved actors such as Will Smith and Robin Williams. For younger audiences, film makers use bright colors, big dance numbers and catchy songs to move the story along and make it easier to follow. Either way both are good movies that help portray the story to audience members.