One of Tim Burton's early projects is this work-for-hire on a Faerie Tale Theatre episode of Aladdin. Somehow within the limitations of the budget and using video he made it his own which is surprising in fortitude and creativity of production design and utilizing some crazy choices in casting. It's a fairly similar plot as you might remember from the Disney film: Aladdin gets conned by a man in a funny beard and mustache (Leonard Nimoy, having a LOT of fun in the role and especially the costume) into retrieving a magic lamp from a dangerous cave, only to suddenly get the lamp for himself when locked back into the cave. The Genie (James Earl Jones, colored green for the 'Ring Genie' and Blue for the regular lamp one) is a boaster and man of hard words but mostly one to laugh heartily (maybe too much so), but grants Aladdin his one big wish: get with the Princess and butter up the Sultan in the process.
Even with some cheesy acting from the likes of Robert Carradine and Valerie Bertinelli it's all worth it for the likes of Nimoy and Jones. The two of them alone ham it up so much that you're bound to smell pork rising up from the DVD. But it's joyously over-playing and exaggerating, doing it like live-action cartoon characters. All Nimoy needs to do is to take a cue from Allen to stroke his beard AND twist his mustache and he would make it his best non-Spock performance), and Jones takes on two genie performances with the blue common one being one for the ages for the actor: we've never seen him like this before or since, and it's a hilarious joy to see him take it on. And all the while we see Burton directing it with flair and skill, circumventing the conventional aspects to put his own stamp on the material if only in small ways with certain drawings or just crazy flights of fancy like when the one guy is running down the spinning thing with Jones's face dissolving in and out of the side of the frame.
For Burton fans it shouldn't be too much of a disappointment since it shows the director taking on kiddie fare like both a professional and an artist paying his dues, and it provides campy treats for fans of Nimoy and Jones.
Even with some cheesy acting from the likes of Robert Carradine and Valerie Bertinelli it's all worth it for the likes of Nimoy and Jones. The two of them alone ham it up so much that you're bound to smell pork rising up from the DVD. But it's joyously over-playing and exaggerating, doing it like live-action cartoon characters. All Nimoy needs to do is to take a cue from Allen to stroke his beard AND twist his mustache and he would make it his best non-Spock performance), and Jones takes on two genie performances with the blue common one being one for the ages for the actor: we've never seen him like this before or since, and it's a hilarious joy to see him take it on. And all the while we see Burton directing it with flair and skill, circumventing the conventional aspects to put his own stamp on the material if only in small ways with certain drawings or just crazy flights of fancy like when the one guy is running down the spinning thing with Jones's face dissolving in and out of the side of the frame.
For Burton fans it shouldn't be too much of a disappointment since it shows the director taking on kiddie fare like both a professional and an artist paying his dues, and it provides campy treats for fans of Nimoy and Jones.