A Peek Under ‘Aladdin’s’ Tent: Magic Carpet Ride at Speed of Light

In Disney’s fast-paced fairy tale “Aladdin,” a young marketplace hustler falls in love with a headstrong Arabian princess. When evil forces threaten their relationship, help arrives in form of a wacky genie. (Rated G)

A 4-year-old in a pink “Little Mermaid” sweat shirt and named, yes, Ariel, is springing off the pavement as she waits for the 8 p.m. sneak preview of this intended blockbuster. “Laddin! Laddin!” she cries.

The movie hasn’t even opened yet, but the child is wired from the TV ads she’s seen. “I’d be in trouble if I didn’t take her,” her dad says. The sneak previews are sold out, and those who picked up tickets earlier in the day are now standing, sitting and jumping around the Costa Mesa theater, waiting more than an hour for a seat.

Eventually, we are funneled into the theater, which is humid with spilled sodas, small bodies and imitation butter. After a while, the children start to resemble mice as they squirm and crawl over the backs of seats. One boy is actually wearing plastic Mickey Mouse ears. They chant. They clap. They start waves.

In the end, expectations like this often lead to only one thing: wipeout.

Ariel leaves the movie in tears. “The music scared her,” her dad explains.

Another 4-year-old, Adam, also leaves the show sniffling, with his head buried in his mother’s neck. “He’s just sad it’s over,” she says.

Older kids call it a total thumbs up--from the genie’s off-the-wall jokes to the state-of-the-art animation techniques. Sometimes the audience had burst into applause.

“It was so different,” says Amanda, 11. “It wasn’t like the usual Disney fairy tale.”

“Right,” I say. “It was like when they took themselves too seriously, they’d say something like, ‘So Aladdin, now that you’ve saved the princess, what are you going to do next?’ ”

“Like the Disneyland commercial!” Amanda says.

Ten-year-old Valerie says she “liked the graphics,” referring to a wild magic carpet ride that could have come from “Star Wars.” Valerie likes all Disney movies. “They have good characters and good animation and good music,” she says.

During the show, little kids howled at the antics of Aladdin’s pet monkey, Abu, and the villain Jafar’s pet parrot, Iago.

And the rest of us laughed out loud at the genie’s wild impersonations and jokes. “The grown-ups behind me were laughing so hard,” says Rachel, 11. It made her wonder if the movie was meant more for adults than kids.

The movie sped by too fast, Amanda says. Neither one of us could even remember the Princess’ name was Jasmine. Nor any of the genie’s jokes. No one left the theater humming any of the songs. By that time, most of the kids had a dull stare or were rubbing their eyes. Some had come in their PJs and had to be carried out, already deep into their next adventure.