17. The Genie
103 Points, 4 Lists, #5 Positronic Brain
“It's all part and parcel, the whole genie gig. Phenomenal cosmic powers! Itty bitty living space!”
Source Material: Aladdin
Voice Actor: Robin Williams, Dan Castellaneta
The Genie is a genie (or djinn) who spent thousands of years in hidden in a lamp in the mystical Cave of Wonders. The Genie must grant anyone who rubs his lamp three wishes, and with only a few small limitations can grant any of them with his amazing abilities. He was eventually rescued by the thief Aladdin, sent by the sorcerer/vizier Jafar to acquire it. When Aladdin learns the truth and that the Genie can make his romantic dreams come true, the Genie helps use his magic to turn Aladdin into a prince. Soon, Genie and Aladdin become friends and though there are some difficulties, Genie is in Aladdin’s corner and tries to inspire him to be truthful to Jasmine, the princess he loves.
The Genie is nearly all powerful though himself is a prisoner of the lamp, never able to choose his own life. No matter how much he may or may not like any master, he must obey them. He does genuinely like Aladdin and even beyond the wishes themselves attempts to support Aladdin in other capacities after he promises to use last wish to free him. He is extremely performative, delivering show stopping numbers and comedy bits with his shapeshifting and reality warping powers and seems to have knowledge of pop culture references far beyond other people’s knowledge. Following the events of the first Aladdin film, Genie’s powers are largely reduced but still considerable, able to teleport, transform into and conjure nearly anything.
There are very few more perfect marriages of character and performer than this. Robin Williams was rightly concerned over his involvement in the film, as he was worried it would set a precedent of movie stars being preferred over voice actors, which is genuinely a problem with a lot of animated films where it seems the actor is chosen based on star power more than appropriateness. And hey, sometimes it works better than you think or they are right for the role but you also get Shark Tale were it’s just… Will Smith (who I do love) as a fish. But Robin Williams was already a cartoon character already on stage, a whirling id of energy (and probably more than a little cocaine at some points), so Genie made a lot of sense. A man who shifts so rapidly between characters, even as a cartoon, needed to be extra unreal and the animators on the film completely killed it with virtuoso performance worthy of Williams. I remember as a kid pitying whatever sidekick Disney has next because visually it could not compete with the Genie. And while Williams was in the right, it’s hard to be surprised that Disney went hard marketing the Genie because while in the film itself there is more than he, boy does every show stopping and eye popping moment involve him.
Plaintiffs:
Zigzag
Defense:
“I mean, Disney, so we’re fine.”