Aladdin painting by Matt Busch

I very much enjoyed Aladdin. And as was the case with Beauty and the Beast, much more so than its live action counterpart. Sadly, my love and admiration for the film also has a lot to do with three people who are no longer with us. The great Howard Ashman, the great Robin Williams, and the indescribable Gilbert Gottfried. This was the last film that featured the magical songwriting of Ashman and Alan Menken. And although B&B will always be my absolute favorite, having the last three songs that Ashman completed before his death, featured in this film is, for me, a treasured part of his amazing legacy.

But there was certainly more to love about the movie. While Williams might have stolen the show, I thought all of the voice actors were fabulous. And of course the singing voices on all the songs were wonderful. I thought the characters were all well-crafted, even the non-speaking ones like Abu, Rajah and the carpet. And Jafar made for a terrific Disney villain. The story worked well, with a great balance of humor, drama, action, suspense, and music. The animation was excellent, and was probably at least on par with B&B in its lush grandeur. This movie easily makes my Top 5 of modern Disney classics, and one I am happy to view repeatedly.

It was my fondness for the film that immediately drew me to this piece when I first saw it. I thought it captured the style and spirit of the film, and I liked that it featured five of the nine principal characters of the story. The painting is by Matt Busch. For the better part of three decades, Busch has been perhaps most associated with Star Wars merchandising and promotional art. But he’s also done work for film, television, comics, toys, shirts, and other non-Star Wars properties. It’s an oversized piece (about 15 x 20), so I couldn’t fit it on my scanner for a proper image. At the suggestion of a friend, I ended up just using a phone pic. Initially, I was just going to wait for my sister to visit and use her much newer phone to snap a few pics. But I finally just decided to try a few shots with a really, really, old phone that she gave my mother to play games on. I’m pretty sure that camera is at least 5 or 6 generations removed from my sister’s phone camera. LOL! Anyway, that’s what you’re looking at. So my apologies for any photographic flaws that might be mistaken for art flaws. Will try to get a proper scan up as soon as I can.

(7/17/22) Finally uploaded a proper scan (thanks Jonathan).

My thanks, yet again, to Anthony and the gang. Can’t believe that half of the Disney art I’ve posted on this two-month stretch has come from Anthony’s site. Funny, considering that I’ve maybe bought 2 pieces from him in the past 20-25 years. But I’m more than making up for it in these last couple of years. Only took a pandemic to make it happen. LOL! Thanks for looking.