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Who is the main character of "Aladdin"?

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[quote="Sinister Cutlass"][quote="imekitty"]It's definitely a personal opinion.  Everyone defines "dark period" in their own way.  I'm sure Disney thinks of it as a time when their movies are not successful, so they obviously don't think they're going through one now.

I just feel like Disney hasn't been living up to their potential.  It kind of started with Tarzan and has been persisting until today.  I know a lot of people really like Big Hero 6, Frozen, Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, and Zootopia.  I like them, too, honestly, but none of those movies feel like Disney to me.  They're missing that Disney magic.  I remember having high hopes for Princess and the Frog, and I was so disappointed with how it turned out, and since then, I just don't think they've been able to create anything really spectacular.  They seem to be too focused on being funny or politically correct or even emotional.  They're not just letting their characters and stories blossom and play out on their own.  They all seem so...controlled, if that makes sense.

The best example I can give is in Frozen.  The antagonist, Hans, was [i]so[/i] weak which ended up leading to a weak climax.  For whatever reason, Disney decided they wanted to make him "evil."  Why?  It didn't make any sense.  It seemed so fake and contrived.  They were trying really hard to teach some sort of weird lesson about how you can't "fall in love at first sight."  Okay, well, they could've done that without making him evil.  It would've been much more interesting and far more believable if they had made him a normal guy that simply wasn't Anna's true love.  When his kiss fails to save her from Elsa's magic (perhaps not because he didn't love her but because Anna had fallen in love with Kristoff instead by this point), that could've set off a chain of events where Hans blames Elsa and thinks that she really did try to hurt Anna leading him to want to kill her not because he's evil but because he's human.  The way they did it in the actual movie is kind of lame, honestly, and definitely forced.  I don't think it's the way Disney would've handled it in the past.  They would've been a lot more creative.

There are examples in the other movies as well, but I'm not going to go through them all (unless you want me to, haha).  Suffice it to say that I haven't felt a good amount of magic in a Disney movie in a long time.  Perhaps this is just the new Disney, a modern, hip Disney.  I still like what they're turning out, but I hope that if they're really going to keep going in this direction that they'll be able to find a new kind of magic just like they did in the late 80s and early 90s.[/quote]

This is ultimately a subjective matter, and both of our opinions and interpretations could be backed up with evidence and arguments that make some sense.

I for instance LOVED The Princess and the Frog.  Did I like it as much as I liked Aladdin and The Little Mermaid when I was under the age of 10?  Probably not, but I sure as hell loved TPatF as an adult (and Aladdin and The Little Mermaid have worn off some of their glow over the decades)!  In my opinion, it had all the best features of the early to mid 90s offerings.  The visuals of New Orleans and the Bayou were glorious, the villain was sexy and charismatic and scary, Tiana was very easy to respect and very beautiful, Naveen was the most fun prince I've ever seen, the story was sweet, the humor was service-ably good, and the voice work was awesome (I especially enjoyed Dr. Facilier, Tiana, Naveen, and Louis the Alligator).  When I watched it, I felt that all I had loved about Disney was finally, at long last, returning again.

It didn't turn out that way.  While I think they've been doing better and better... it's in a different way than they used to.  Their sensibilities are [i]informed[/i] by the 90s classics we enjoyed, but are different in some very good ways.  In particular, their stories and scripts are stronger, more clever and insightful, the characters are more complicated with more shades of grey (A++, in my book), and the ethical dilemmas in each film are explored in less simplistic, child-pandering ways.  I am very, very excited about this development, because Disney Animation has always known how to provide dramatic circumstances with mind-blowingly beautiful visuals, and they would do well to marry this commitment to visual splendor to a willingness to tell more sophisticated stories, in my opinion.  I just watched Big Hero 6 last night, and I think this film represents a strong step towards such stories.

To some degree, I understand your time-decayed ability to be swept off your feet by a Disney animated feature; I have that, too.  Around the year 2000, I began to feel very underwhelmed by the studio's output, and I was already lamenting the passing of the good old days.  That disillusionment was in place for a long time, and it didn't really disappear until I went and saw Frozen in 2013, and I realized that a new and exciting era had arrived, and so far, it has shown no sign of stopping.  My enjoyment of Disney now is not the same kind of breathless enjoyment I had as a child in the early to mid 90s; it is a more sophisticated enjoyment, based on inspired visuals and clever, insightful scripts, and I'm happy to saw that after such a long fallow period in my enjoyment of Disney, I am now on fire about their work once again.

As for the 'too controlled' accusation you level at the current Disney output... I think I can understand where you're coming from on that.  Might I suggest that perhaps your age has made you more able to predict the plot developments in their films, or more able to detect any structure/formula in the stories currently being produced?  I believe I may be subject to that problem as well.  But there is no way around advanced age and intellect.  For this reason, I am very glad that Disney Animation has moved past their tired romance and revenge plots of the 90s and is really focusing on story a lot more.  I lay all the thanks at John Lasseter's feet.  I believe he is as much to thank for this "new golden age" as Howard Ashman and Alan Menken were for the start of the second golden age in 1989, with The Little Mermaid.

As for Hans in Frozen, I disagree with you, but again, mine is only a subjective aesthetic decision.  I for one enjoy the attractive villains who seem like nice, straight-forward guys at the start, but actually turn out to be quite clever and conniving in the end.  Do I like them as much as I adore the fantastically camp, transparently diabolic, deliciously voiced Jafar, Dr. Facilier, Hades, or Professor Ratigan?  No.  But I do they think such villains like Hans are actually more realistic (in the way that Frollo was also a more realistic villain).  I believe there were plenty of wolves in sheep's clothing among royals of Hans' position.  His motivation is easy to understand, based on our common understanding of monarchical history in several countries.  I appreciate that aspect of realism to his character.  I do also really admire his well-honed control of himself, and his ability to skillfully hide his ambitions from everyone.  He is a pretty badass villain in this way.[/quote]

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