Ron Clements
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Guy Ritchie, he of the fast-talking cockney crime films, would seem an inspired (if, on the surface, unconventional) choice to helm Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin , its beloved 1992 animated fable based on One Thousand and One Nights ’ Aladdin and the Magic Lamp .
It would be too easy to compare Will Smith’s casting of the Genie to the legendary portrayal by Robin Williams in the 1992 animated Aladdin .
There is a lot of Aladdin that flounders on its own, and even more so when inevitably compared to the 1992 animated version.
The cartoon Aladdin (1992), directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, owed a great deal to Alexander Korda’s version of The Thief of Bagdad (1940), to the extent of borrowing its villain (Conrad Veidt’s sorcerer Jafar) and replacing the ‘new lamps for old’ business with special-effects sorcery.
Some character choices feel distracting more than inspired, but that could be said about a lot of "Aladdin."
Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Directed by Dean DeBlois
influenced Moana (2016), Aladdin (1992)
Visuals Characters Themes
As both a gentle ecological parable and the first Disney cartoon showcase for a Polynesian cast since “Lilo & Stitch” (2002), it could scarcely be otherwise.
The Hawaiian tropics that Disney painted several years back in the cute but slight “Lilo & Stitch” can’t compare.
There’s the welcome cultural aspect of the female explorer, of course, plus the fact that the film gives its heroine a healthy, more realistically proportioned physique (reminiscent of the Hawaiian characters in “Lilo & Stitch”), rather than forcing Moana into the mold of past princesses.
On the plus side, the filmmakers have drawn inspiration from a new cultural setting — indigenous Polynesian culture and mythology — a move crucial to the success of Lilo & Stitch and The Princess and the Frog , which also featured brown-skinned heroines.
In contrast to the sylph-like figures of Frozen , Moana has a sturdiness that recalls the Hawaiian heroines of 2002’s Lilo & Stitch .
It’s been a slow road to self-realization for Disney heroines, but the old tropes have steadily been strengthened through films like Mulan , Lilo & Stitch , The Princess a nd t he Frog , Tangled , Zootopia , and Frozen .
Williams' volatile delivery has never been more suited to a character--and in enabling the animators' sense of mischief (it's doubtful they would have made those po-mo references isolated from Williams' contribution (including killer homages to Raiders of the Lost Ark , Cleopatra , and the "Night on Bald Mountain" segment from Fantasia) without the spectre of his manic performance to goad them), he honours Mel Blanc's legacy better than latter-day Looney Tunes have.
Pinocchio even makes a cameo appearance, along with Sebastian from "The Little Mermaid," and there's even a reference to "Fantasia."
The first of these was Swan Lake, a never-realised project that would have completed the studio's adaptations of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's three great ballets (following "The Nutcracker Suite" in Fantasia , and Sleeping Beauty ); King of the Jungle, later renamed The Lion King ; and the Ashman/Menken/Woolverton Aladdin.
Reminiscent of the classic original Disney adventures “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” and “Treasure Planet,” the Mouse House’s latest, an homage to 1950s science fiction called “Strange World”, is a fitting lesson on the ethos of climate change and humanity’s ability to protect their homestead.
There’s a painterly feel to the landscape, which, combined with the film’s sci-fi bent, might trigger memories of Disney’s Treasure Planet.
Not since the back-to-back years of 2001’s “Atlantis” and 2002’s “Treasure Planet” has Disney crafted a throwback, Jules Verne-esque venture this fun and rousing.
The Mouse House's Treasure Planet springs to mind, too, as do Jules Verne's contributions to literature.
Those who came of age (including this critic) right at the moment Disney, like every other major American production studio, gave up on hand-drawn two-dimensional animation and who hold those last unloved movies (“Treasure Planet,” “Titan A.E.,” “The Iron Giant”) as a final glimpse of an era that never was, may see in “Strange World” an attempt to recreate some of that lost magic.
Even outside the limited scope of Disney adventure films dating back to Atlantis and Treasure Planet , or well outside the mouse house to the film’s most obvious influences, which include but aren’t limited to Raiders of the Lost Ark and Journey to the Center of the Earth .
Pocahontas (1995)
Directed by Mike Gabriel
influenced Moana (2016), Treasure Planet (2002)
Characters Themes Visuals
Moana’s grandmother, the human equivalent of that mystical old chanting tree in Pocahontas, knows the cause of this curse: It all goes back to Maui (PEOPLE Sexiest Man Alive 2016 Dwayne Johnson ), demigod of wind and sea, and his betrayal of Te Fiti, who outranks him as a full-fledged nature goddess.
"Moana" reminds of countless past Mouse House musicals, from 1989's "The Little Mermaid" to 1995's "Pocahontas" to 2013's " Frozen ," and on those terms it is decidedly commonplace, likable but without those extra shots of imagination and inspiration that turn a good picture into something truly special.
Disney loves their non-talking animal sidekicks ( Tangled , Frozen , Pocahontas ) and Alan Tudyk’s cowardly chicken is also responsible for a lot of laughs.
Moana also draws on a wrinkle familiar from films like Mulan and Pocahontas : The heroine isn’t just buoyed by her own inner strength, she’s drawing on the teachings and traditions of her culture as well.
As a depiction of foreign culture and legend, this is “Pocahontas,” without being patronizing, “Mulan” with funnier combat.
And it turns out when you use Deep Canvas indiscriminately, it starts to look really obvious, making Treasure Planet a throwback in another way: not since Pocahontas has a Disney film suffered so from CG effects that aren't properly integrated with the hand-drawn animation.
The Lion King (1994)
Directed by Roger Allers
influenced The Princess and the Frog (2009), Moana (2016), Treasure Planet (2002)
Characters
"Princess and the Frog" isn't the second coming of "Beauty and the Beast" or "The Lion King."
The Princess and the Frog could fit squarely in the resurgence of Disney that happened with The Little Mermaid , Beauty and the Beast , Aladdin , and The Lion King .
Lead females have included an Arab (Jasmine, Aladdin ), a lioness (Nala, The Lion King ), a Native American ( Pocahontas ), and a Chinese girl ( Mulan ).
The Princess and the Frog may not be in the same league as those gems, but it’s the first Disney film since The Lion King that feels like a real heir to this tradition.
Their heyday was undoubtedly 1991-1994, with the incredible combo of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King -- a streak that's unmatched, I dare say, even by Pixar.
Compare that to the marketing surrounding "Tangled" 16 years later as the first classic Disney film to use a fairy tale again, or "The Princess and the Frog" as the first classically-animated film in a similar amount of time and it's obvious what a big change the industry has gone through in a short time.
I like the film much more when it's content to steal unashamedly from the 1940 The Thief of Bagdad : adventure, spectacle, good humor and adventure, leading me to suppose that if Aladdin wasn't going to commit to being a dramedy like Beauty and the Beast, it should at least have gone for being a straight-up comedy swashbuckler that didn't take its romantic subplot seriously at all; as it stands, it's awfully close to being a great story, but it keeps having to settle for pretty damn good.
A lot of early exposition time is also used to explain the chicanery of Jafar (voice by Jonathan Freeman), the Sultan's evil vizier, whose chilling, bony features suggest a composite of Nancy Reagan (the animators have mentioned this as a deliberate reference, along with a more pointed one to Conrad Veidt in "The Thief of Bagdad") and Captain Hook.
Families today will note how heavily Disney’s Aladdin borrowed from this version of The Thief of Bagdad: Disney’s treacherous grand vizier Jafar is overtly modeled on Veidt’s Jaffar, who similarly plots to marry a princess who is in love with a beggar who claims to be a prince, and whose dwarfish, childlike sultan father (Miles Malleson) is the archetype for Jasmine’s father.
The same low-flame romance was mirrored in Disney's " Aladdin " (1992), greatly influenced by both versions of the "Thief," combining Abu and Ahmad as "Aladdin."
Anticipating the swashbuckling fare of Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power, not to mention the Disney-ride silliness of Pirates of the Caribbean (and an animated Aladdin that seems to lift whole segments from Thief) this star vehicle for Douglas Fairbanks was a sensation in 1924.
Aladdin this is not.
…arriving 10 years after the OG cartoon Moana, considered a new Disney classic…
Thomas Kail’s Moana is Disney’s latest act of artistic duplication, remaking John Musker and Ron Clements’ 2016 animated classic…
The 2026 “Moana” is basically a duplicate of the 2016 “Moana” with real bodies in place of the computer-generated drawings.
Original voice of Moana, Chloe Auliʻi Cravalho…
It's been a decade since Disney introduced audiences to the Chief's daughter in the animated feature, Moana.
When Disney announced that their 2016 animated hit Moana would be remade as a live action film and released just under a decade after the original…
Maybe it's just because of the pleasant nature of so many of the jokes, rather than the calculated snarkiness of a DreamWorks film: playful references to other Disney characters (I think it has more cameos than any other Disney film), and a gag in the "Friend Like Me" number stretching all the way back to the 1936 Mickey short "Thru the Mirror" for its winking reference.
Además de las inevitables alusiones (conscientes e inconscientes) a su propia obra, ambos directores han referido al western Temple de acero ( True grit , 1969) como una importante fuente de inspiración para Moana .
It still boggles my mind that nearly all the studio’s directors venerate the work of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki (there are a horde of masked coconut beasties in this film which are clear homages to the kodama of Princess Mononoke), yet can’t find time in their own films to simply appreciate silence or stillness for a minute or so.
Maui hollers as they go into battle against a tribe of malevolent coconuts (just go with it; it’s an homage to Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke) — but in Moana’s case that’s clearly not true.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
Directed by Carlos López Estrada
influenced by Aladdin (1992), Moana (2016), Treasure Planet (2002)
Plot
Directed by Carlos López Estrada and Don Hall from a script by Adele Lim and Qui Nguyen, Raya and the Last Dragon plays like a greatest hits record of Disney princess past, borrowing most specifically from Moana and Frozen.
Raya and the Last Dragon directors Don Hall (Big Hero 6 and Moana co-director) and Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting) borrow and blend visual elements from several Southeast Asian cultures, creating a world that's beautifully realised, feels lived in, and features some gorgeous landscapes.
In fact, it perhaps shouldn’t surprise that Raya and the Last Dragon is directed by Don Hall, credited as a co-director on Moana, the closest touchstone for this latest.
Yes the formula is a little familiar, reminiscent of both Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Lord of the Rings , but much like Moana, the fusion of creativity and a different cultural perspective breathes new life into the well-trodden structure.
Directed by Don Hall (Moana, Big Hero 6) and Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting), Raya and the Last Dragon is a truly stunning piece of animation, from the fantastically realized dragon to the way water, fire, fog, and even the Druuns are visualized.
2016 was perhaps the last great year for the Mouse House's animation outfit, having given us two gems in Zootopia and Moana .
Meanwhile there are some subtle cinematic homages inserted, including Aladdin’s retrieval of the lamp reminiscent of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” while the water ride on the rug evokes “Superman: The Movie.” Disney’s “Aladdin” sticks to the convention with success, providing a film that’s fun and exciting all at the same time.
Williams' volatile delivery has never been more suited to a character--and in enabling the animators' sense of mischief (it's doubtful they would have made those po-mo references isolated from Williams' contribution (including killer homages to Raiders of the Lost Ark , Cleopatra , and the "Night on Bald Mountain" segment from Fantasia) without the spectre of his manic performance to goad them), he honours Mel Blanc's legacy better than latter-day Looney Tunes have.
Like Raiders of the Lost Ark , the film’s style and energy will outlast more technically advanced imitators.
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Directed by John Musker
influenced The Princess and the Frog (2009), Moana (2016), Hercules (1997), Treasure Planet (2002)
Themes
If that daddy-daughter dynamic sounds familiar, it may have something to do with the fact that “Moana” was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, best remembered for a very different oceanic fantasy called “The Little Mermaid.”
The directors of Moana are John Musker and Ron Clements, as close to living legends within Walt Disney Animation Studios as you can find; they’ve also directed The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and The Princess and the Frog, among others.
Directed with confidence, care, and a deep-seated respect for Polynesian culture by John Musker and Ron Clements (“The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “The Princess And The Frog”) under Jared Bush’s equally touching, heartfelt original screenplay, it’s a buoyant, impressively lovely work of popping visuals, textured storytelling and toe-tapping music numbers, all of which come naturally and progressively during its smoothly realized 103 minutes.
Made with the involvement of veteran Disney co-directors and co-writers Ron Clements and John Musker (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid), Moana takes the skeletal structure of a hero’s journey and turns it into a multilayered feast for the eyes, ears and heart that refuses to talk down to adults or children.
“Moana” may not be “The Little Mermaid” or “Aladdin,” but the film, set among the islands of Polynesia, boasts not only cultural authenticity but also a young heroine who is steadfast and proud, even as she struggles to find her way.
Clements and Musker were behind Disney animated classics The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, but they were also responsible for 2009’s mediocre The Princess and the Frog, which similarly attempted to blend an underrepresented cultural tradition with familiar Disney storytelling styles.
That Moana is helped at every stretch — by sidekicks, sometimes even by the ocean itself, which tends to curl up into a humanoid shape, a la “The Abyss” — takes some of the wind out of her sails.
Moana's destiny is clear from childhood, when lapping waves beckon, at times resembling water aliens from The Abyss.
Moana is called to her quest by the sea itself, represented by a beckoning, often playful water column reminiscent of a similar element in James Cameron’s “The Abyss.”
…and even ALADDIN (Robin’s Genie can’t zap Jasmine into loving that “strett rat”)…
The “be careful what you wish for” trope dates back (at least) to the fabled King Midas. And wishing for others to fall in love with you is so frowned upon that not even the Genie in Aladdin would grant it.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
Directed by Richard Lester
influenced Hercules (1997)
Themes
Kudos is also in order for how deftly the project's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" comic tone has been combined with traditional Disney life lessons for little folks.
But its tone is the borscht-belt burlesque of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum."
Another character that's a lot of fun is B.E.N., a beaten down robot voiced by Martin Short (Innerspace) who is reminiscent of old Bob from The Black Hole minus the Western drawl.
The Book of Life (2014)
Directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez
influenced by Hercules (1997), Aladdin (1992)
Characters Plot
Then Perlman brings a thick layer of eager malevolence, reminiscent of James Woods evil underworld ruler in the animate Hercules.
Reminding of a less-inspired variant of 1997's " Hercules ," "The Book of Life" features familiar character types in a story that wears itself down in exposition.
And when Manolo, during his trip to the underworld, encounters the Candle Maker who guards the titular Book of Life, perhaps it's no surprise that this supreme spirit being turns out to be voiced by Ice Cube, in a maneuver that seems like little more than an attempt to give the late Robin Williams's Genie from Aladdin a run for its money.
The supporting cast in Book of Life all do fine work handling their characters’ larger than life personalities, be it Ron Perlman and Kate de Castillo as the sparring immortal lovers and lords of the underworlds, or Ice Cube as another key mystical figure, known as The Candle Maker (he’s to this movie what Robin Williams’ Genie is to Disney’s Aladdin, in some ways).
That same fiery climax also feels surprisingly (and pleasantly) reminiscent of the “Firebird Suite” sequence in Fantasia 2000, as we see a winsome female character face off against a visualization of environmental destruction, only to incur a sort of verdant rebirth.
Te Fiti and Te Ka are borrowed directly from the Firebird Suite segment of Fantasia 2000 , with its pagan spirits of life and destruction — though where Fantasia 2000 presents its lava monster and life-giving sprite as opposed, dualistic principles, Moana takes a more monistic approach.