Aladdin et la Lampe Merveilleuse

A 1-hour Japanese-Animated film of the beggar Aladdin, the Magic Lamp (and Ring) and a Sultan's daughter he wants to marry.

As this is rather short, there's really no space for depth and many of its elements are stripped from any additional and unnecessary details. It is very straightforward and simple (with only a couple dozen lines of dialogue). But it is also very faithful to the original tale's story beats.

It is well animated and beautifully designed, which is probably its most prominent feature! And while it is very competent and serviceable, there's little to make it truly a memorable adaptation worth watching.

As animated adaptations of the Aladdin tale go, ALADDIN AND THE MAGIC LAMP (1982), a Japanese-produced version, offers better-than-average character design and background art and a more serious, dramatic tone. It also offers greater spectacle in the climactic battle with the Wizard, including giant demon warriors, a giant bird (presumably the Roc of Arabian Nights lore), and a catastrophic fate for the Wizard's castle. The only version I've seen that surpasses it in these areas is Disney's ALADDIN (1992). However, this version suffers from making Aladdin such an unsympathetic character. When we first see him, he's a street urchin who steals from honest merchants. He shows a profound lack of respect for his hard-working mother, who seems to have spoiled him. At some point after acquiring the magic lamp, he laments the lack of "purpose" in his life, but then he never does anything about it. The riches from the lamp don't seem to change his character at all. Even after he wins the hand of the Princess by building a palace for her with the help of the genie of the lamp, he goes right back to hanging out with his no-good street buddies, with whom he's found when the Sultan's men come and get him after the palace and the Princess are taken away by the Wizard and Aladdin is blamed. For all this to work we've got to feel that Aladdin deserves his good fortune and is ready to step up to the plate. This Aladdin is simply undeserving. It doesn't help that the voice acting of the two lead characters is so lifeless.

The version I saw of this film was shown on the American Movie Classics cable channel in 1992 and features the voices of well-known American actors, starting off with Christopher Atkins and Kristy McNichol, the stars of THE PIRATE MOVIE (1982), as Aladdin and the Princess, followed by John Carradine as the Wizard and June Lockhart as Aladdin's mom. The remaining voice actors include Ardwight Chamberlain and Mike Reynolds, familiar English dubbers from many anime voice casts. Some of the other comments here mention an opening theme song that wasn't heard in the version I saw. The opening music I heard was "Angel's Flight," a New Age-style instrumental written by Chuck Greenberg and performed by Shadow Fax and released on Windham Hill, an American New Age label popular in the 1980s. According to Clements/McCarthy's "The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917" (Stone Bridge Press, 2001), this film was a co-production with the American TV production company, Rankin-Bass, which would explain the character design that looks distinctly unlike traditional anime character design. However, the version I saw lists the Samuel Goldwyn Company as the distributor and makes no mention of Rankin-Bass.

Other versions to compare this to include 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS (1959), featuring Mr. Magoo as Aladdin's uncle; ALADDIN AND HIS MAGIC LAMP (1970), a French-produced version directed by Jean Image; and, of course, Disney's musical version, ALADDIN (1992), which, in my extreme-minority opinion, suffers terribly from Robin Williams' anachronistic pop culture-infused genie, which completely destroys any semblance of original Arabian Nights flavor.

This version of Aladdin's tale is the most beautiful and well written I have ever seen. It is not just some dumbed down, mindless drivel suitable to park little toddlers in front of, it is an excellent telling of a classic tale. The movie itself flows much like the faerie tale in that it lacks the now common gratuitous violence or Disney-fied laugh-a-minute comedy; instead it just tells a good story. The animation is high quality anime, the character voices were well cast, and the music is absolutely captivating. I am sure this is a movie that will endear itself onto you from childhood to adulthood, as it has me. If you can obtain a copy, I highly recommend it.

I just revisited the old worn-out VHS copy I watched over 20 years ago as a kid, and it was watching that very tape as a kid that something hit me. When Alladin escapes from the cave he has a monologue about what a waste of his life it would have been if he'd have died in the cave. It wasn't long after that I put the pieces together and figured out that I was was (some day) going to die too. Even though no characters are actually killed on screen in this cartoon, there is a lot of talk about death, dying, and being dead... so as a 4-5 year old kid it had me uniquely depressed.

However, that said, the animation is good for Anime of the time, about on the same level as Voltron or Robotech... okay maybe a little better than that. The voice acting is so-so, but the real star of the show is the music. The opening number over the beginning credits (though in Japanese) is really exciting and I guarantee it'll be stuck in your head for years. The story is a lot simpler and moves faster than the Disney version, and manages to cram in a lot more in terms of interesting villains and monsters. Such monsters include reanimated stone snakes, a giant vulture, and some golems. It's all actually quite imaginative and well-realized, but I wish more attention was paid to Alladin and Badral's relationship... it just seems that the two fall in love immediately upon meeting each other.

Also, not once does anybody ever ask Alladin, until recently a penniless thief, HOW he built a palace in one night and where he got that dowry parade from. One last quibble - Alladin's friends are held hostage by the caliph when the princess is kidnapped, but are never seen or mentioned again afterward. Did too much time go by and they got executed? As much as the movie scarred my life and as imperfect as it is, it will always hold a place in my heart.

I'm surprised that not that many people have voted or commented on this film yet. Compared to most of the modern animated versions of the Aladin story, this one seems to be the one the is the most accurate...or at least the most believable.

Now how can I be praising this film if I only gave it a 6? Simple, this version is not for everyone. No, there are no extremely violent scenes or harsh language or sexually explicit scenes...its just that this is not a laugh fest that will keep the children interested like Disney's version. This is a serious attempt in telling a great story like Aladin while not attempting to modernize it to suit today's viewers. So to those of you who are looking for something like Disney's version, don't even bother and it is to those people that I give this film a 6.

To those who love a good story simply because it is a good story and not because of who is doing the voices or how humorous the story is, I will say check this film out...if you can find it. Animation is actually good, story is good, and the music (especially the opening song) is excellent.