The hero of the movie, Aladdin.
John Grant
Walt Disney Character Description of Prince Aladdin from "Aladdin" (1992)
As is very often the case in the Disney animated features, the story of Aladdin as a character is that of growth from selfunderestimation to the realization that the individual has worth and can achieve a particular aim, which is generally living happily ever after with the mate of his choice. The different here is that Aladdin tries to cheat - he makes the Genie turn him into a prince so that he can woo Jasmine, and it is a time before the Genie gets it through to him that he should simply be himself and take his chances. We know from the first that Aladdin is going to succeed - we'd hardly have gone to the movie otherwise - but the point is firmly made in the early stages when the baggy-panted street rat Aladdin, accompanied by his tiny pet monkey Abu, steals a loaf of bread (a crime) but then gives it to a couple of street waifs who are so desperately hungry that they are seaching through an anachronistic garbage can for food. The waifs are then insulted by the pompous Prince Achmed, and Aladdin stands up for them. His rescue of Jasmine from the vengeful Fruit Vendor becomes little more than the icing on the cake. Yes, we know where the plot is going to be.
There are, of course, many twists and turns along the way. And Aladdin must learn some futher moral truths about himself. When he first releases the Genie from the Magic Lamp he promises that, as his final wish, he will give the Genie freedom. When it comes to the point, however, he is much more selfish:
Genie: Psst. Your line is, "I'm going to free the Genie." Any time.
Aladdin: Genie, I can't.
Genie: Sure ya can. You just go, "Genie, I wish you free."
Aladdin: I'm serious! Look, I'm sorry. I really am. But they want to make me sultan. No, they want to make Prince Ali sultan.
Without you, I'm just Aladdin.
Genie: Al, you won.
Aladdin: Because of you. The only reason anyone thinks I'm worth anything is because of you. What if they find out I'm not really a prince? What if Jasmine finds out? I'd lose her. Genie, I can't keep this up on my own. I.. I can't wish you free.
Genie: Fine. I understand. After all, you've lied to everyone else. Hey, I was beginning to feel left out. Now, if you'll excuse me, Master...
The Genie vanishes back into the Lamp, and Aladdin spitefully hides it under a cushion. Moments later Iago, imitating Jasmine's voice, lures him away and then steals the Lamp - and thus the Genie - for Jafar. Aladdin's punishment fits his crime: he has betrayed a friend. This he acknowledges in due course, once he and Abu have been hurtled into the icy wastes by Jafar:
Aladdin: Abu! Oh, this is all my fault. I.. I shoulda freed the Genie when I had the chance. Abu! Are you okay?
Abu: Uh-huh.
Aladdin: I'm sorry, Abu. I made a mess of everything. Somehow I gotta go back and set things right.
The Magic Carpet rescues them and they do indeed get back to Agrabah and set things right, but only because Aladdin is now acting as himself - the trickster street rat rather than the prince who is poshly dressed but might have difficulty finding two brain-cells to rub together. He saves both the Sultan and, most important, Jasmine from Jafar's scant mercies, and thus is recognized by both of them as a prince because of what he is rather than for any genealogical inheritance.
Aladdin is not one of the more complexly created Disney heroes, of whom there have been very few: ever since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the more general pattern has been to make the central character a heroine and the handsome prince (or equivalent) something of a cypher rather than a doer of deeds; the Prince in Sleeping Beauty is an obvious exeption. Nevertheless, Aladdin appeals to us - as is apparent by the success of the television series and the two direct-to-video movies describing his futher exploits.
