Review of Aladdin (1992)
A three-way collision between beautiful Disney-Renaissance animation, horrific merchandising, and the portentous decision to build this movie around the established public persona of a Hollywood star, in this case Robin Williams. Williams in turn had built his act around older pop culture, making it impossible to reconcile with good fantasy worldbuilding. He hated the merchandising, studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg at Disney hated Williams for appearing in “rival” production Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (1992), and Hollywood grew to love star-vehicle animation to the detriment of art. It sold to adults while allowing animation studios to keep writing for children.
References here: Shrek (2001).