You probably have seen this movie multiple times and know all the songs and characters. But you might not know about the facts listed below.

These facts are not exactly common knowledge to the general public (with maybe a couple of exceptions). They also stand out to me the most.

Below are some facts about 1992’s Aladdin and my reactions to them:

1: Aladdin was originally going to be younger.

In the final cut that most of us saw, Aladdin is likely somewhere between his mid and late teens. However, he was actually going to be younger, around tween age. I’ve even seen a couple of concept designs of a younger Aladdin.

It wasn’t until Jasmine was drawn that Aladdin was also made older. How do I feel about this? I think the level of romance between Jasmine and Aladdin wouldn’t exactly have been appropriate if they were younger. Even though he’s presumable younger in the original tale from 1001 Arabian Nights, I think it was smarter to make him as old as he is in the final cut.

2: Jasmine was originally going to have red hair.

I was surprised to see that in the concept art. She is Arabian, and most people of that descent, as well as of any minority race, have dark hair.

However, somebody on Facebook said that some people of Arab race can have red hair. I don’t know why Jasmine was going to have red hair. I do know her face was modeled off of her designer, Mark Henn’s, younger sister’s high school portrait.

If you want to see a picture, you can go to this Google images link since I avoid putting copyrighted images on my blog. The first image has three panels. Jasmine with red hair is on the far right.

3: Aladdin was originally going to have 3 human friends.

Instead of Abu the monkey, Aladdin was going to have a few human friends named Omar, Kassim and Babkak.

However, directors John Musker and Ron Clements felt that a non-verbal, non-human sidekick would work better for an animated flick and add more humor and charm. I think that might have been a smart choice to appeal to kids and spend more time on Aladdin’s character development along with his romance for Jasmine.

But in the Broadway show, it’s the reverse. Abu is cut and replaced with Omar, Kassim, and Babkak.

4: Iago was originally going to be dark and not comic relief. 

This was something I discovered when watching a behind-the-scenes documentary about Aladdin. Iago was originally going to be more like how Jafar is in the final cut. There was even a brief animation part where Iago was depicted as dark.

But that changed so that Jafar would be more threatening. Plus, it made more sense for the actor who did the voice of Iago, Gilbert Gottfried.

Like many of the other changes, I support this one. Some Disney villains work fine with comic relief. But it’s hard to imagine Jafar and Iago with reversed personalities.

5: Robin Williams, who did the voice of the genie, was not treated very well behind-the-scenes.

Despite being famous and praised for his portrayal of the genie, he suffered behind-the-scenes. He had a reduced salary because he did not want Disney to use his voice for commercialization. Yet Disney failed to honor his request. As a result, he did not voice the genie in the sequel Return of Jafar or the TV series later on. He did, however, depict the genie in the third film, King of Thieves.

I understand that he was treated poorly by the other crew members. So, it makes sense for him to give up voicing the genie. Because of that, Genie was voiced by Dan Castellaneta, who you probably know voices Homer Simpson. Regardless of Robin Williams’s valid reason to stop playing the genie, I still prefer his portrayal over Dan Castellaneta’s.

6: Aladdin was originally going to have his mother around.

This is another detail that makes it more faithful to the original source. There is even a concept design of Aladdin’s mom here. Her name was going to be Zena.

However, like many other Disney characters, Aladdin ended up without a mother in the final cut. This was to streamline the story. Making Aladdin an orphan helped strengthen the character arc, narrative, and pacing.

I also support the decision to do this. Aladdin’s mother may have interfered with his independence.

7: The song, “Proud of Your Boy” was going to be in the film.

This was going to be a song that Aladdin would sing for his mom. But because his mother was removed from the final version, this song was also cut.

However, I am glad that it’s in the Broadway show. It’s beautiful, even though Aladdin’s mother is dead in that adaptation, too.

8: Jasmine is the only official Disney princess who doesn’t have the lead role.

This is also likely the only fact here that is common knowledge. But I think it’s nice to include a secondary character for the official Disney Princess line. That way, they don’t get overlooked or forgotten.

Conclusion

Although there are other little-known facts about Aladdin out there, these are the ones that stand out to me the most. I hope you liked my picks.