With Disney’s Aladdin being released on Diamond edition (today!), we’ve been talking a lot about what went into creating the movie and the special features that are involved. We were able to meet Eric Goldberg and learn all what it took to make the Genie come to life.
In our house, the movie Aladdin has a lot of special meaning in our house. I mentioned it briefly when I announced we were going to Disneyland, but for me it’s a special movie. When I was in third grade (the year Aladdin was released) one of my favorite teachers gave everyone a copy of the book for Christmas. We couldn’t wait for the movie to come out, and I absolutely loved reading the book, I read the completely chapter book over Christmas break. When I took my first (and only) trip to Disney World when I was 10, I made sure to pick up an Abu and Raja to add to my stuffed animal collections. They were some of my favorites, even though Abu somehow seemed to become the victim of my cousin’s daughters spit up (over and over again).
Fast forward 13 years later when I first started dating my boyfriend Jason. I had just picked up a copy of Aladdin on DVD (the last time it was released from the vault), and my boyfriend revealed that it was his favorite Disney movie. The reason – Genie, Robin Williams was always his favorite actor and comedian. Besides an ongoing joke the movie became for us since I was in third grade when it was released and he was in high school at the time, the movie started other fun conversations as well.
When I found out that Jason’s favorite comedian was Robin Williams, I started to see if he had any live shows happening soon. At this point, Robin Williams rarely performed live anymore, but as chance would have it he had a show happening in Vegas a month later. So, three months into our relationship we hopped a plane to Vegas to see Robin Williams live! While our friends swore we were going to get married on our quick get away, we went to see one of the funniest and greatest shows of our lives. We paid for “cheap seats” but ended up in the middle of the stadium right behind the expensive seats and had a great view.
It’s hard for anyone to not picture Robin Williams when they see the Genie in Aladdin. But for us it’s even harder to separate him from the character. The movie is a fun reminder to us both of that trip and our craziness as we ran off to see one of the comedic greats live. From childhood memories to the beginning of our romance, Aladdin has played a large roll and it’s one of our favorite movies to watch together still.
Aladdin is now available on Diamond Edition today with new outtakes with Robin Williams and other features. Be sure to get yours to cherish your own memories!
