10 Magical Facts About Aladdin You Won’t Know

Aladdin (1992) is an animated movie that tells the tale of a street urchin who falls in love with a beautiful princess. If you haven’t seen this fantastic film, you have to watch it right now. If you have, take a look at 10 magical facts about Aladdin you won’t know.

1. Genie

The late, great Robin Williams improvised so much during voice recording they had 16 hours of material to work with for the animated movie.

While his improvisation took the movie to a whole new level, it also resulted in Aladdin being turned down for a Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award nomination as Robin had ad-libbed so many lines.

2. Jafar

Patrick Stewart was originally supposed to voice the character Jafar, but he had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts with Star Trek: The Next Generation. He has since stated this was his biggest regret.

Jafar was also initially scripted as a hot-tempered character, with Iago being a cool, calm British type. However, the film-makers later came to the conclusion that Jafar would be more menacing if he was calm and collected.

3. Hidden Mickey Mouse

You can spot a hidden Mickey Mouse on Rajah’s head during his second transformation. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it!

4. Applause

Nobody applauded the big song numbers during the preview screenings of Aladdin. Animators really wanted applause and so placed an “applause” sign above Genie’s head at the end of ‘Friend Like Me‘. It worked and the sign was included in the movie.

5. Arabian Nights

The original recording of ‘Arabian Nights’ included the lyrics “where they cut off your ear, if they don’t like your face“. However, the line was changed to “where it’s flat and immense, and the heat is intense”, as Arabic Americans took offence to the original line.

Listen closely and you will hear a vocal change from the line “it’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home!”

6. Jasmine

Jasmine was originally supposed to be a strong, powerful woman who stood up for herself. It was planned for the princess to confront the Sultan and angrily declare that they needed to talk – but the idea was scrapped as the animators knew they would have to design an entirely new room in the movie. They therefore reluctantly included Jasmine crying.

That’s not all! When Jasmine is trapped inside the hourglass, she was mean to use the jewel in her headpiece to cut herself free, but animators changed this to a last-minute rescue by Aladdin.

7. Aladdin

Aladdin originally resembled Michael J. Fox in the visual development, but he was later beefed up to look more like Tom Cruise so he appealed more to women.

8. Two Genies

There was almost two genies in Aladdin. In the early movie script, one genie occupied the lamp, whilst the other occupied the ring. The genies could also grant an infinite number of wishes.

9. Game Show Host

The game show host in Aladdin was replaced with a cricket commentator for its Indian release.

10. Take Your Clothes Off

A rumour circulated in the 1990s that Aladdin says the words “take off your clothes” during the balcony scene. What he actually says is “Nice Kitty, take off and go, go on“. The scene was, however, cut from the 2004 Platinum Edition DVD.

Want to read more about classic animated movies? Head on over to The List Love’s animated movie facts page.

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