Scary Disney: Aladdin: The Beginning, The Cave of Wonders, Jafar and Jafar the Genie

Aladdin. The legendary tale of a boy who comes across a magic lamp with a Genie inside to wish himself to become a Prince to win the heart of the Princess of Agrabah. Jafar, the Royal Vizier of Agrabah wants to find the lamp himself to help gain power but is told by the Cave of Wonders that only one person is worthy to enter, ‘the diamond in the rough.’ Jafar comes to find out that this is Aladdin. He has Aladdin arrested and thrown in jail, Jafar disguises himself as an old man and takes Aladdin to the Cave of Wonders for the lamp. Aladdin finds the lamp but is trapped in the cave with the lamp which is very unfortunate for Jafar. Aladdin rubs the lamp which frees the Genie and they all leave the cave. He wishes himself into a Prince and they travel back to Agrabah. Jafar sees under his disguise and outs him to the Sultan and the Princess, he finally has his hands on the lamp. He wishes himself into an all powerful Genie which binds him to his own lamp which he becomes trapped in. The Genie throws the lamp far away and they all live happily ever after.

Aladdin is a great movie with some fantastic songs but has some dark frightening scenes for its younger audiences.

1. The Beginning

2. The Cave of Wonders

3. Jafar

4. Jafar the Genie

1. The Beginning

The beginning of the movie shows us the Genie acting as an old peddler man setting up the story for the audience. It gives off a slight horror element with a dark tone and eerie chilling music making it look quite serious. Even the song for the introduction titles has much darker lyrics than its original realise.

“Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place, where the caravan camels roam, where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face, its barbaric but hey, it’s home!”

This was considered racist towards Arab-Americans and was changed quickly after the film was released.

The Genie as the peddler man jumps off the camel in quite a comical tone, the scene is still quite dark but not as serious as it was a minute ago in the desert. The peddler man tells the story of a boy and a lamp before setting up the scene for Jafar standing before the Cave of Wonders.

The beginning credit scene certainly keeps its viewers on edge with its sinister and strange sequence in the desert with our old peddler man. An introduction to never forget.

2. The Cave of Wonders

After the Genie sets up the movie for us we meet out villain of the movie in the middle of the desert. Jafar and his pet parrot Iago. He meets with a thief, Gazeem, who he sends down to try and get the magic lamp. The cave erupts from the ground knocking them both of their horses and rises up to be a massive tiger head which can talk. Jafar grabs Gazeem and by the collar and forces him to go down the mouth of the tiger. The Cave asks in a deep serious tone, ‘Who disturbs my slumber?’ Gazeem replies with ‘It is I, Gazeem, a humble thief’ to which the Cave replies with, ‘Know this, only one may enter here. One whose worth lies far within. A diamond in the rough.’ Gazeem ignores this statement and carries on into the cave. The tigers mouth slams shut trapping Gazeem inside and swallows him whole. Jafar shows no sympathy for losing him but knows now he must find the diamond in the rough. It just shows how cold-blooded and evil Jafar is.

Later on in the movie Jafar disguises himself as an old man to lure Aladdin and his pet monkey to the Cave of Wonders. Aladdin makes it to the cave and retrieves the magic lamp. Abu, his pet monkey, however gets greedy and gets his hands on a ruby which sets the place alight, literally. The cave screams, ‘Infidels! You have touched the forbidden treasure! Now you will never see the light, of day!’ The scene turns into horror mode in an instant. Aladdin's and Abu’s life is in danger. Lava spews everywhere, the cave rumbles and the cave nearly kills them. Luckily for them a magic carpet saves their lives. What’s worse is that Jafar pushes Aladdin back down into the cave entrapping him, Abu and the carpet. One of the most horrifying scenes in the movie.

3. Jafar

Jafar. The main antagonist of the movie. His goal is to find the magic lamp to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world which he very nearly succeeds at. He lures Aladdin in the cave who gets the lamp, but Abu acts quickly and snatches the lamp from Jafar leaving him lampless. The cave closes trapping Aladdin inside and Jafar screams out in the middle of the desert.

We first meet Jafar in the desest near the start of the movie meeting with Gazeem, a thief, who tries to enter the Cave of Wonders. The dark, mysterious sinister tone adds a slight horror element to the movie. Jafar says to Gazeem, ‘You, are late’ in quite a menacing tone. He then takes him to the Cave of Wonders and forces him to go down it, killing him in the process, Jafar does not care. He shows no sympathy and says, ‘Gazeem was obviously less than worthy’ and quickly moves on.

Later on Jafar is in his laboratory with his pet Iago. He has a strange contraption which helps him find his diamond in the rough. After a crack of lightening sends swirls of sand in the air, Aladdin appears climbing a ladder with Princess Jasmine. He laughs manically, he knows what he needs to do. The scene zooms in on his face and fades out. Quite an ugly face to be zooming in on.

After Aladdin becomes Prince he one day leaves the palace without his hat, with the lamp inside of it. Iago flies into the room and takes the lamp and gives it to Jafar. Without a thought Jafar rubs the lamp and becomes master of the lamp. He firstly wishes to become Sultan. The Genie quickly grants his wish. Things turn dark within seconds. Black clouds circle the palace, the land shakes and the roof flies off. He demands that Jasmine and the Sultan bow to him, Jasmine doesn’t to which Jafar says, ‘If you will not bow to a sultan, then you will cower before a sorcerer!” He then wishes to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Aladdin tries to stop the Genie but the Genie grants the wish. He humiliates the Sultan and Jasmine, turns Rajah, Jasmines pet tiger, into a cub and unravels the magic carpet. Jafar is an insane, crazed overpowered maniac. He’ll do whatever he wants now that he is in charge. He puts Aladdin into a pillar which he blasts off into the sky to get rid of him. Jafar truly is an evil genius.

In the palace Jafar has Jasmine as his slave and the Sultan tied up like a puppet. He tries to get Jasmine to love him but Jasmine rejects him every time. Aladdin returns from the snowy wasteland and a battle ensues. Jafar tries several times to kill Aladdin but fails. He then turns into a massive snake and traps Aladdin in his coils and squeezes him. Aladdin calls out, ‘The genie! The genie has more power than you’ll ever have! He gave you your power, he can take it away! Face it Jafar, you’re just seconds best!’ Jafar knows what he needs to do. He makes his third wish, to become an all powerful Genie.

4. Jafar the Genie

For his final wish Jafar craves to be an all-powerful Genie. The Genie points his finger and turns Jafar into a red gigantic Genie overpowering everyone in sight. The scene becomes intense and tragic. Jafar goes into ultimate beast mode trying to take control of everything. He is shocked to see cuffs appear on his wrists; he is suddenly being sucked into his own lamp. Everything comes to a close and Jafar becomes trapped in his own lamp. Aladdin has trapped him. The lamp is thrown away and Aladdin and Jasmine live happily ever after. The scene really does how far Jafar will go to get what he wants. He is a madman. He is one of the greatest villains ever created.

There is no doubt about it that Disney did a great job with this classic tale with some unforgettable characters and some memorable songs we’d be singing for years to come. The audience were certainly left with a few scenes that would leave them feeling mortified for a while. Jafar certainly does a good job of that. Thanks Disney yet again for another great classic.