Love Conquers All

Isaiah Barbour
Mrs. Taylor
English 102
29 April 2012
Love Conquers All
Aladdin was a movie of treachery, deception, lies and honor, magic and mostly one mans will to get the women of his dreams. Aladdin was a very successful movie which came out in the early 90’s drawing in a lot of money and viewers. Not all viewers were fans of this movie Aladdin had a lot of critics and with good reason too. Aladdin was one of Disney’s most popular movies when it hit the big screen and still today is a fan favorite unless you are of the Arab nation where this movie takes place. This is a movie where our hero Aladdin does whatever it takes to win the heart of the princess Jasmine including embark on a journey that nearly cost him his life. Sent by an evil sorcerer to retrieve an all-powerful lamp in return for wealth, the plan foils on the sorcerer and our hero uses this treasure to woo the unsuspecting Jasmine. As Aladdin disguised as a prince tries to win the princess the sorcerer Jafar Steals the lamp for himself and does his evil doing as he pleases. With the princess trapped the genie is now with is enemy and the sorcerer getting stronger by the minute Aladdin tricks Jafar into turning into the most powerful genie in the universe; not knowing he would be trapped forever. Whether you like Aladdin or not, for whatever reason you might have, you cannot deny the will and love Aladdin has for the princess due to the fact of everything he goes through to win her heart. In this movie Aladdin show the strength, courage and heart to become a king by marrying the princess which makes him royalty. Considering all the qualities and traits he possess one could say he’s royalty but it becomes official after the princess see’s all he’s willing to do for her love.
The two main characters Aladdin and Jasmine are very relatable; they seem ordinary enough and just like most of us, they just want to live happily ever after. Aladdin is a poor thief who feels trapped in his lower class status and Jasmine is a princess with an over protecting father and feels trapped inside the palace walls. They both long for freedom but in order to achieve their “happily ever after” Aladdin almost loses his life several times and not only does Jasmine almost get her hand chopped off, she almost has to marry the villain of the story. When our hero and princess meet for the first time Aladdin immediately falls head over heels for the beautiful princess and knows right then and there she’s the one for him. Jasmine on the other hand, wants to find love also but doesn’t want her father or anyone else for that matter telling her who she should choose. After Aladdin see’s the princess in the market he immediately knows she’s not from the slums and actually saves her from a nasty salesman who wanted to chop her hand off for stealing an apple. They scurry through the streets evading and ducking the law at every turn. They manage to get free and Aladdin takes her to his dwellings were he has a spectacular view of the palace, which the princess so desperately wants to leave behind. They almost kissed but the guards caught up to them and that’s where it ends; for now anyways because Aladdin is presumed dead by everyone including the princess and Jasmine still has to pick her groom before her next birthday. Aladdin is thrown in jail on charges of kidnapping the princess, and the princess is told that Aladdin has been beheaded for his crimes. She was actually falling for the commoner so this is a hard pill to swallow for her.
Jasmine notifies her father of this misfortune and he and his daughter have a talk with the one man in charge of keeping the city safe the sultan’s top advisor Jafar. Jafar is very crucial to the movie because he will be the main villain and has an eye on the throne and anything to make himself the ruler of all power. The same passion he has for obtaining all this power and wealth will ultimately lead to his demise. Jafar is a power hungry manipulative and sly individual which is how he rose to be the sultan’s right hand man. Theirs a staff Jafar uses to control the sultans mind and not to mention his bird and sidekick Iago does all his evil biddings as well; even comes up with a plan to help Jafar get the throne.
Once our hero is in custody and Jafar doesn’t have to worry about the princess interfering he can set his plan into motion. There is a cave of wonders and if you are the one person that can enter then you can have possession of the lamp. Now this isn’t just your ordinary lamp, no light bulbs, no plugs, no clap on, just a simple rub of the side and you can pretty much do anything your mind can think of, and by anything I mean anything. ; except three thing:

1. you can’t make people fall in love
2. You can’t bring people back from the dead
3. You can’t kill anyone
Remember you only get three wishes so choose wisely. The man behind all the magic is the genie, he is all powerful and with a flick of his finger the world is at your control. The genie brings magic to life he can fly, teleport, grant wishes and anything else your imagination can handle, but he has to serve the person who is in possession of the lamp and he also is forced to live there until his master uses one of the three wishes to set him free. Under normal circumstances people would wish for wealth, cars and clothes I guess, but Aladdin still has Jasmine on the brain. His first wish is too make himself a prince to impress the (belly dancing) princess. What he doesn’t know is she was actually falling in love with him just as he was just regular old Aladdin and not Prince Abywa as he portrays himself to be.
Sinister Jafar always has a backup plan and that’s to actually marry the princess, since she can’t find Aladdin and doesn’t like any of her other suitors. After marrying the princess, Jafar would use his new kingship to rule the lands. Iago came up with that plan which also included killing the sultan and the princess after it’s all said and done. This plan almost works until Aladdin armed with a genie, a new flying carpet and his sidekick Abu burst into the palace in an attempt to woo the princess Jasmine in disguise as Prince Ali Abwya. As Jafar’s plan begins to unravel he successfully steals the lamp from Aladdin making genie and all his powers loyal the dark and twisted minds of its new owner. As Jafar uses a wish to rule the kingdom he sees his powers increase, but our hero still has one more trick up his sleeve. Aladdin thinks of a plan to use Jafar’s power hungry greed against the newly powerful sorcerer and ruler of the land, by tricking him into wishing himself into an all-powerful genie. Jafar not knowing of Aladdin’s plan uses a wish to become an all-powerful genie and ruler of the universe, and got a lamp which comes with it. Bound to the rules of a genie and forced to live in a lamp Jafar is no longer a threat and the genie tosses the evil Jafar and his lamp far into the desert.
After Jafar had been dealt with it was time for the Princess to finally get her man and the sultan gave them his blessing. Before they could go and be together Aladdin had to make his final wish and he did so by wishing the genie free. The genie had been forced to live in the lamp for so long he was ecstatic when Aladdin finally wished him free. So in the end, the sultan was happy his daughter was happy, Jasmine and Aladdin were together and the genie was free to travel the world. This movie leaves you thinking about real love and what you would do for it. Would you go through the things Aladdin put himself through for his love or would you say “hey; I’ll find another one.” Aladdin wasn’t willing to take that chance. He found his true love and made it happen. Maybe we can all learn a little something from the actions of Aladdin.

Works cited
“Aladdin.” Writ. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. Dir. Ron Clements Dir. John Musker. Walt Disney Pictures, 1992. DVD.