A whole new world of entertainment awaits with Disney’s animated ALADDIN available now on new Walt Disney Signature Collection Edition! This newest release marks the most up-to-date version of the film that you could possibly own.
Aside from new features added to the mix, a purchase of this particular edition unlocks over 40 different classic bonus features that have been released on various other re-issues from the Disney vault. Classic features you may remember from before include The Genie Outtakes, Deleted Scenes, and The Art of Aladdin.
But like us, you probably already own the previous editions and are curious about what in the Walt Disney Signature Collection Edition will be worth your while to consider plopping down money again for a film you already own.
Right off the bat, we’ll start with the ONE feature that probably makes this whole issue worth the cost of admission and that’s Aladdin on Aladdin. This is exactly the type of bonus feature I love on a home release issue and I was frankly surprised to see something like it actually created. As it’s name would imply, we have Scott Weinger, voice of Aladdin, reflecting on nearly 30 years of being the voice of Aladdin. The whole thing starts off with a perfect interview of him (with his glorious mop of early 90s curls) talking about what it would be like in 30 years to have been the official voice of Aladdin. And well, here we are and this documentary — which almost feels like something that would be created for Disney Plus — starts its voyage! It’s surprising that this is 30-minutes long and it’s worth every single second he talks to a host of notables including Alan Menken, Ron Clemments, Linda Larkin, Candace Cameron Bure, and others. More of exactly these types of retrospective looks would be high on my list for any future releases!
A SING-ALONG version joins the line up in the “Well, I Guess You Had to Include That” category. Fun for babysitting purposes to keep on in the background for the little ones. Certainly not a bad thing but not exactly something that’s going to have you clicking the BUY NOW button when similar isolated videos can be found on Youtube and the like. To that end though, we DO also have the film with Filmmaker Commentary AND a separate version of the film with Animator’s Commentary which is an invaluable resource for fans looking to hear from the luminaries who created the film. So if you’re keeping count that’s FOUR ways to enjoy!
“Let’s Not Be Too Hasty”: The Voices of “Aladdin” is a nice addition that pairs live-action reference footage of the voice actors with their on-screen counterparts in the film. The grainy archival footage features all the main characters at the mic including voice and singing voices for Aladdin and Jasmine plus Genie, Jafar, and the Sultan. On MoviesAnywhere it is incorrectly categorized under a BLOOPERS heading.
Drawing Genie is a nice digital exclusive that is less a tutorial as it’s name would imply and actually a featurette with animator Eric Goldberg. Robin Williams is often known as the heart-warming voice behind the Genie and Eric Goldberg is the one responsible for bringing it to life visually and this nice short piece interweaves him talking about the character with footage of him drawing the character’s portrait.
Alternate Endings is a new set of DELETED SCENES joining the roster of ones released in other editions of the film. Here, we get two great clips of different endings planned for the film showing some really great storyboard animatics and deleted song(s) with the shopkeeper that sets up the very beginning of the film. It’s a really nice book end to the story yet seems entirely unnecessary when you think of the iconic “Made You Look” ending that they landed on instead. Still, it would be nice to have seen one of these versions come to actually be animated!
See it for Yourself
ALADDIN on Walt Disney Signature Collection release is available now on digital in 4K Ultra HD™, Digital in HD and Movies Anywhere and physically on 4K Ultra HD™ and Blu-ray™.
