Comparing Home Releases Cover Arts

[Farerb]

I knew I forgot something.... I could have liked it had Jasmine not wear red.

[JeanGreyForever]

Isn't it more of a hot pink? That's what it looks like on the original art. I much prefer that over the green they always put her in.

[Disney Duster]

But JeanGreyForever, green is closer to the blue she wears than pink!

[JeanGreyForever]

That's true but I'll admit that I'm a bit biased because I prefer pink over green. And Jasmine is put in green so often that it's annoying because people believe that's her real color and not light blue. It's a bit like how Cinderella is put in blue all the time so if she was ever put in a different color, such as pink, even if that isn't movie accurate either, I wouldn't mind so much because it's a nice change from the ever constant blue.

[Disney Duster]

Ohhhhh I totally get you. I prefer the green over pink for Jasmine and blue over pink for Cinderella just because at least they are closer to the original colors than pink, but I understand your side.

[DisneyBluLife]

I think Jasmine's clothes are turqouise, which is why we get a mix of green and blue sometimes.

[Disney's Divinity]

I love that Mondo artwork for this one. So much better than the TLM artwork, and I prefer it to that Sleeping Beauty cover, too. I'd probably put it at 4th place in my ranking of the Aladdin covers.

[JeanGreyForever]

If it was a pale blue for Cinderella, I still wouldn't mind but I hate when suddenly her dress is a super dark blue like in the redesign. Pink I think looks lovely on Cinderella and if her ballgown had to be any other color besides silver (or ice blue), I'd go with pink.


In the original movie, Jasmine's outfit is explicitly light blue. Especially if you look at her introduction scene by the fountain, when she confronts Jafar about Aladdin's death and her crying after that, A Whole New World, and the ending scene after Jafar is defeated. The only time it even looks somewhat greenish is in her room because of the yellow lighting and even then, it's more teal and a deeper shade of blue in color than actual green. Yet clipart for some reason puts her in a very green shade of aquamarine or teal if not outright dark green.

[Marce82]

Actually, JeanGreyForever....

This may be one of those issues where the transfer to film and eventually to VHS modified the colors a bit. Jasmine's clothes were turquoise/aqua in certain transfers.... and on A LOT of the original merchandise. My cousin had the original Jasmine doll, and her clothes were turquoise. Or look up the cover for "princess stories: volume one".

But yes, looking at the current color palette for the film, it is definitely light blue. But not so clear if watching older materials...

[Farerb]

Actually, JeanGreyForever....

This may be one of those issues where the transfer to film and eventually to VHS modified the colors a bit. Jasmine's clothes were turquoise/aqua in certain transfers.... and on A LOT of the original merchandise. My cousin had the original Jasmine doll, and her clothes were turquoise. Or look up the cover for "princess stories: volume one".

But yes, looking at the current color palette for the film, it is definitely light blue. But not so clear if watching older materials...

Jasmine always had light blue clothes.
https://youtu.be/JbaUpVknaRQ
https://youtu.be/YN7C1657K1E

But I can believe that they put her in green/turquoise in merchandise.

[Marce82]

Well...

Are you watching those clips on a tube tv or a modern monitor or HD tv? that would make a difference.

Also... I took this still from some promotional material from 1993 for the film... you can't see a lot of it, but her clothes look kinda greenish to me.
I do think they were intended to be light blue though.

https://ibb.co/By0WYtb

And if you look at the artwork for the soundtrack... her clothing is definitely green/turquoise.

And JeanGreyForever: sad to hear that is indeed fanart like I suspected... it would have made a gorgeous cover (that french release thing)

[Marce82]

Now.... my ranking for Aladdin's covers. I must say, none of them are spectacular. And this is one of the rare instances where the Classics cover is near the top. I remember getting this VHS as a child, and being very disappointed by the cover art. After the gorgeous BATB VHS, I was expecting something at that level.... oh well.

I won't do ALL the international covers... many of them feature clipart not original to the home video release. Here we go:

1) Honorable mention: original soundtrack. God, I LOVE this art. Genie looks perfect. But the main thing is the image of Aladdin and Jasmine. The city looks like Agrabah, without resorting to the palace. Aladdin and Jasmine are perfectly on model (her lips should be redder, but they are going for a faded, brownish look)... Jasmine looks like she is in awe of the stuff she is seeing for the first time, Aladdin looks ready for adventure. Gorgeous rendering. The whole thing is stunning. Tiny flaw: the bottom of the genie's hand and arm should be cropped so it looks like it is behind the frame. Oh well.

2) Platinum Box set/Australian 1-3 dvd: I actually really like this one... for a somewhat minimalist, classy cover. Though I like version with the full moon with Aladdin and Jasmine. Very nicely drawn, interesting rendering, nice layout. This is a good one!

3) Target Signature: I have to say, I really like this one: it's busy, but they layout is well thought out so it works. Cool concept, cool color design. I just wish the lamp was a little lower and we could see palace better. Most characters are on (or almost on) model. The pink smoke puff works really well, and they respected the curly-cues present in the film when smoke happens. BUT WHY ISN'T THE LAMP DRAWN PROPERLY?? The bottom is too flat and the handle is slightly off.

4) Signature 4K: I like this layout, and the genie looks good!! And it's original artwork! The city looks good as do Jafar and Iago (though recycled). I even like how they rendered the sky. Jasmine looks pretty good, but her hands look huge... and I question the color of her clothes. The weak point: Aladdin. Weird position... like he is surfing. Poorly drawn hands, poorly shaded... and that is not how that costume looks from behind. Why is the lamp not drawn properly?!?!?!? AHHHHH!!!!

5) Classics VHS: the layout is ok... the city looks good as does Jafar and Iago. Sadly, all the characters on top are off model, the anatomy is off (dear lord.... look where Jasmine's breasts are.... and where her waist is) and they are shaded in a way that gives them a rubbery look. Even the lamp doesn't look right.

6) Japan Laserdisc: this one is ok. Love the cave of wonders... but the characters' silhouette starts to look a little too abstract. And the crescent moon is never present in the film... it just makes me think of "Be Prepared". Overall, it is an ok cover.

7) Laserdisc Deluxe: I do like the rendering here, but they didn't color in the genie's eyebrows (to match the beard), but it's a very strange concept for this movie. Not sure what mood in conveys.... and like it or not, the genie isn't the main character.

Platinum Ed: I hate this cover. Layout is a mess. Aladdin and Jasmine are both off model (and starting to look white!)l, the lamp looks like a teapot... the genie.... DEAR GOD. That's not just off model, that is a BAD DRAWING. The pose is beyond awkward, eyes are uneven, the left eyebrow is floating.... everything is wrong with the genie. Jafar and Iago are recycled, but at least they are well drawn. I like the inclusion of the cave.

9) Musical Masterpiece UK: the layout is bland, but I like what they did with Aladdin: they took that image of him from the movie (where he tells the carpet "don't go!" when they first meet) but they changed his hand to be able to hold the lamp. Clever. Jasmine looks... passable. But here you can truly see how grotesque the genie's body looks from the Platinum edition cover. The artist here clearly doesn't understand the genie's body.

10) Best Buy Steelbook: It all looks.... kinda empty. That desert looks boring. The moon right in the middle looks weird, the lamp off-center looks strange... the rendering of Aladdin and Jasmine is terrible (see my notes on the Diamond blu below). I like the drawing of the genie (recycled from the original promotional material), but they rendered him kinda shiny, which makes him look rubbery.

11) Diamond Best Buy Lenticular: the layout is super bland... Aladdin looks... off model, poorly drawn, bordering on grotesque (uneven eyes, puffy cheek, mouth off center). The lamp looks like a big teapot. But I AM giving this one points because the genie looks perfect... and why? cause this is traced from an actual shot in the movie.

12: Diamond blu: shockingly, this one is even worse than the platinum. The ellipse is hideous; for some reason they changed the font to this super bland version. The layout of the characters is good... but they are all off model, except the genie... who is almost on model. Anatomy is terrible... look at Jasmine's breasts in relation to her torso, Aladdin's arm is completely deformed, the genie's pinkie disappears into the hand... oddly enough, Abu looks like an earlier version of him: there is a test for abu in the special features, before they nailed down his look... and he looks just like this. And why is the lamp not right AGAIN?? the bottom is too flat... they almost got it.

13) Heroes cover: HOW DID THEY RELEASE THIS??? This looks like poor fan art. I could draw Aladdin better than this when I was 12. It would be too long for me to go over why this looks bad... anatomy, perspective, logic, structure, linework, shading... it is ALL a disaster.

My takeaway from all this: WHY CAN'T THEY DRAW THE DAMN LAMP PROPERLY??? There are plenty of closeups of it in the film they could have traced it from. Sigh.

PS: Nomad, I 100% agree with your comment about Disney and the artwork for covers.

[Disney Duster]

I'm ok with Cinderella's dress being any shade of blue if it can't be silver, because in the film it varies from light to dark blue at the palace. I only hate her in blues that are too greenish but I don't even know if I have ever seen her wear a greenish blue. But if it can't be silver, and it can't be blue, yes, pink is the next one I would be the most ok with. She does still look lovely in pink. So Jasmine is really in light blue? Well, you would know!

[Mooky]

Aladdin:
1. Signature Collection 4K (Target) - colorful, magical, bursting with energy like the film itself. Aladdin and Jasmine could have been drawn better and Jasmine's outfit should have been blue, but this is the best they've ever looked on home video covers.
2. Platinum Edition DVD - good layout, the logo looks great, but Jasmine and Aladdin looking like THAT is inexcusable
3. Classics VHS - it gets points for being, well, classic and featuring a fantastic rendition of the Genie, but there's something cheap about the whole thing. It almost looks like one of the GoodTimes/Jetlag productions' covers. And yes, Jasmine does look bimbo-ish.

Mostly everything else: horrendous.

WAIT WAIT WAIT!!! The image you just posted... that cover with Aladdin and Jasmine with the black and white sketches behind them.... is that real??? I have seen that before, but I thought it was fan art. Was that a french 3 movie release???

I'm not sure if you got your reply, but yes, the Aladdin one is fan-made. There were actual 2-movie and 3-movie releases in France (see below), but Aladdin never got one in the same vein.
https://media.paruvendu.fr/image/coffre ... 576_1.jpeg

[JeanGreyForever]

Actually, JeanGreyForever....

This may be one of those issues where the transfer to film and eventually to VHS modified the colors a bit. Jasmine's clothes were turquoise/aqua in certain transfers.... and on A LOT of the original merchandise. My cousin had the original Jasmine doll, and her clothes were turquoise. Or look up the cover for "princess stories: volume one".

But yes, looking at the current color palette for the film, it is definitely light blue. But not so clear if watching older materials...

That could be but even in the Blu-Ray/4K version of the film, her outfit is pretty much always light blue and only slightly greenish in certain lightings and barely even that. I do remember that even when the film came out though, the clipart of her was in turquoise or green including her first doll. So Disney changing the colors of their princesses existed even as far back as the 90s.

I've seen that Disney Princess Stories cover and while that's more color accurate than most of her merchandise nowadays, it's still not as blue as it ought to be.

[JeanGreyForever]

Actually, JeanGreyForever....

This may be one of those issues where the transfer to film and eventually to VHS modified the colors a bit. Jasmine's clothes were turquoise/aqua in certain transfers.... and on A LOT of the original merchandise. My cousin had the original Jasmine doll, and her clothes were turquoise. Or look up the cover for "princess stories: volume one".

But yes, looking at the current color palette for the film, it is definitely light blue. But not so clear if watching older materials...

Jasmine always had light blue clothes.
https://youtu.be/JbaUpVknaRQ
https://youtu.be/YN7C1657K1E

But I can believe that they put her in green/turquoise in merchandise.

Yes, same with the scene where she is brushing her hair. That is very much light blue in the VHS.


What's funny is that in that first clip, when the birds are flying off in the distance, Jasmine's outfit is clearly blue in the VHS but in the Blu-Ray/4K, it looks greenish for that final shot. Even though it was clearly blue for everything else in the scene no matter the restoration. The VHS must use a film print like BATB so the colors might be slightly different but to be honest, I prefer the VHS colors for both BATB and Aladdin.

Well...

Are you watching those clips on a tube tv or a modern monitor or HD tv? that would make a difference.

Also... I took this still from some promotional material from 1993 for the film... you can't see a lot of it, but her clothes look kinda greenish to me.
I do think they were intended to be light blue though.

https://ibb.co/By0WYtb

And if you look at the artwork for the soundtrack... her clothing is definitely green/turquoise.

And JeanGreyForever: sad to hear that is indeed fanart like I suspected... it would have made a gorgeous cover (that french release thing)

That's strange that it's so green in that clip. Because even in the Blu-Ray/4K, it is light blue in that scene.

On this John Alvin poster (used as album artwork here), her outfit is clearly light blue as well.


Also keep in mind that the Aladdin TV Series and Return of Jafar both had her in light blue and her outfit never looked green.


Yet on the Return of Jafar VHS cover, her outfit looks either teal or green depending on the lighting. So the clipart used for promotional material doesn't always reflect the actual film content.

[JeanGreyForever]

I'm ok with Cinderella's dress being any shade of blue if it can't be silver, because in the film it varies from light to dark blue at the palace. I only hate her in blues that are too greenish but I don't even know if I have ever seen her wear a greenish blue. But if it can't be silver, and it can't be blue, yes, pink is the next one I would be the most ok with. She does still look lovely in pink. So Jasmine is really in light blue? Well, you would know!

That's true but it's never as blue in the movie as the clipart sometimes depicts her.


I don't think I've seen her in greenish blues usually except for one merchandise set which I do remember I was alarmed at how green her dress looked. Basically they gave her the Jasmine treatment.

My main issue with the constant blue is that it perpetuates this myth that her dress was always blue so at least making it pink or some other color wouldn't reinforce that idea. I still remember when we watched Cinderella in my fairy tale class and I heard a girl remark during the transformation sequence "why is her dress white? It's supposed to be blue. That's not right."

[Marce82]

Hey jeanGreyForever,

First off, dont get me wrong: I agree with you. Jasmine IS supposed to be in light blue, not green, not aqua, not turquoise.

All I am saying is that I understand the merchandise being occasionally off. We have to consider that they start making merchandise WAY before a movie is released... so it may be somewhat based on concept art, or a temporary transfer from the film... who knows. That, combined with the at times strange color palette that ended up on some video transfers.... could lead to the confusion.

We also have to consider that this was only the 3rd caps film... and the makers have said they never knew exactly what the colors would look like once transferred to film... and yes, VHS transfers came from film prints, so that is two generations away from the caps file.

That shot you showed where the birds are released... because she is backlit, she is in a darker color palette than the rest of the sequence (except for the small highlights to show she is being lit by the sun), hence the difference in color.

All of that said, it doesn't bother me when Jasmine is in turquoise. This originated at the time of the creation of the film, and the filmmakers had to give their approval for it. And turquoise is not too far from light blue....

I won't even talk about the screencaps of Jasmine from the TV show/sequels...

Now... Cinderella.... pink is very far from silver. The shade of blue they show her in now is very far from silver. The current colors for Cinderella did not originate from the creators of the film.... but from a marketing department 50 years later. BIG difference. I actually have seen her in a greenish-grey tone... usually pre-2000 artwork. It works pretty well, it's close to grey... very hard to convey a "silver"dress.

[Disney Duster]

JeanGreyForever, I'm afraid we must disagree. I find Cinderella's dress in the film to get almost, not quite, but almost as blue as the merhandise has depicted her over the years, even as recent as now with her redesign. True, it's not the same shade, but not that far off, either.



I understand why you like the pink as a nice and artistic take on her dress and to be so different people don't think it's her real color, but I prefer a color that is close to the film even if not 100% accurate, and certain shades of blues fit that for me. I get why that girl said Cinderella's dress should be blue, hopefully she understood the white/silver dress was the right way afterward.

[Marce82]

DisneyDuster, I'm afraid I have to disagree with you!!!

The sample you just provided... they are in darkness, and under the night sky. Look at their skin tones! Heck, the prince's jacket is supposed to be off-white... what color does it look there?

Look at Cinderella's dress when she starts dancing with the prince... before they dim the lights. It's a super pale greyish-blue... The merchandise hasn't matched that in a veeeery long time.

Or look at the scene where she first gets to the palace, and is about to walk in front of the guards. That is a scene with neutral lighting... that dress isn't blue.