Disney released Aladdin: Platinum Edtion Tuesday. If you don’t already have it, get it. Aladdin grossed nearly $500 million worldwide since its release and is regarded by many as Disney’sgreatest achievement to date.

I hadn’t seen Disney’s Aladdin when the film made its rounds in 1992, so I didn’t know what I missed.Robin Williams makes this release appealing for adults as well as for childrenand establishes the musical-adventure as a Disney classic.

What might have been just another Disney animated cartoon becomes so much more with Williams’ sharp edged comments.

Supposedly Aladdin is based on one tale in Sir Richard Burton’s 17-volume translations of some of the Arabian tales in the 1850s but it’s actually closer to an early film called “The Thief of Baghdad” — down to caricatures of the stars.

When you factor in Disney’s animation, especially the rich palette of colors, the music, the exotic locations, costumes, the colorful characters, and, of course, Robin Williams, Aladdin becomes a must-see cartoon, and one that is sure to earn repeated viewings.

Disney’s Aladdin is set in the third century in the mythical city of Agrabah, where several story lines unfold simultaneously and merge about halfway though the plot. The story arcs include:

• The Sultan (Douglas Seale) of Agrabah has a beautiful young daughter, Princess Jasmine (Linda Larkin), who by law must marry within three days.

• A handsome young street thief, Aladdin (Scott Weinger), is merrily thieving, lying, and conning his way around the city when he coincidentally meets and charms the Princess.

• The Sultan’s chief advisor, the Grand Vizier Jafar (Jonathan Freeman), is out to find a magic lamp with a Genie (Robin Williams) inside that will make him the most powerful man on earth.

In my opinion, it’s Williams who makes the whole thing work. First as a street peddler who introduces the story and then as the Genie of the Lamp who provides Aladdin with wishes. Finally, Williams, talking a mile a minute throughout the scenes in which he appears, using funny patter and a funnier voice asking questions, responding with answers and reacting is hilarios. He uses voices and lines that the older adults will recognize — many of of the lines will go right over the heads of youngsters — impersonating people such as Ed Sullivan, Peter Lorre, Rodney Dangerfield, and William F. Buckley, Jr.

The lines are so well inflected, they’re amusing even if the kids don’t understand them.

As far as Disney musicals are concerned, this one is not among the best, but it’s still good. Thelyrics and music holds the viewers’ interest go a long way toward maintaining the proper tone for each segment of the picture.

The songs include “Arabian Nights,” “One Jump Ahead,” “Friend Like Me,” “PrinceAli,” and “A Whole New World.”

Aladdin received two Academy Awards, one for Best Music and another for Best Original Song, “A Whole New World.” The songs and music do contribute to the highspirits of the adventure and the romance.

The romance between Aladdin and Princess Jasmine seems a little forced and unreal. The love is a relatively generic story that has been written of and used in countless other movies.

The common theme throughout is that all the main characters are trapped in some way (the Genie in the lamp, Jasmine in the duties of being a princess, Aladdin by his social status), and it is far more interesting than the love story itself.

Aladdin is definitely not the greatest film Disney’s studio ever released, but it is definitely, in my opinion, probably the wildest and least pretentious. The broadness of the animation and inventiveness of the gags is usually not found in Disney animation. Williams can be credited with those. Aladdin belongs in everyone’s collection.

Aladdin: Special Edition

Rating (***1/2 out of *****)

Synopsis: (Courtesy of Buena Vista Home Entertainment: The Aladdin Special Edition 2-disc DVD is restored and remastered for this first-ever digital presentation giving the public a new and enhanced Aladdin experience with increased crispness and clarity. In some instances characters were redrawn adding more facial detail to accommodate the sharper DVD image quality. Background colors in many scenes were enhanced both for color and for detail - all under the supervision of Disney Feature Animation and members of the original creative team.

Designed specifically for home theater systems, this sparkling DVD features the very finest in audio quality with the all-new 5.1 Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix. This is the absolute best way to see and hear this outstanding masterpiece.

DVD extras Disc 1:

• Deleted songs: Story reel versions of four deleted scenes are included,along with introductions by various members of the creative team.

• Deleted scenes: Story reel versions are provided for two early variationson key scenes, along with introductions by John Musker and Ron Clements.

• Music videos: Newly recorded music videos are featured for the deleted song “Proud of your Boy” and for “A Whole New World”, as well as the original 1992 music video for “A Whole New World”. There is also a story reel for “Proud of your Boy” and behind the scenes featurette for the new music videos. Unfortunately, the new “A Whole New World” music video, featuring Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, had me on the floor howling with laughter afteronly a few seconds.

• Song selection: This menu provides chapter stops for the six musical numbersin the film, along with the option to play all six one after the other, andto enable lyric subtitles.

• Filmmakers’ commentary: Featuring co-writers/producers/directors John Muskerand Ron Clements and co-producer Amy Pell.

• Animators’ commentary: Featuring four of the film’s supervising animators,Glen Keane (Aladdin), Eric Goldberg (Genie), Andreas Deja (Jafar) and Will Finn (Iago), this track is essentially more of the same.

Pop up fun facts: This subtitle stream displays trivia anecdotes of various levels of interest throughout the film.

Disc 2:

• Games and activities: Featured are a virtual magic carpet ride, a 3D tour of the Genie’s lamp, a game that supposedly reveals your fortune, and a “world tour”, which features drawings of the Genie visiting various locations around the world.

• A Diamond in the Rough: the making of Aladdin: This two hour section is a behind the scenes look at the production of the film, combining demonstrations of the production process with interviews with many of the main participants, some recorded back in 1992 and others in 2004, specifically for this DVD release.

• Alan Menken: musical renaissance man: This 20-minute documentary charts the career of composer Alan Menken.

• The art of Aladdin: This section is split into two segments, the first comprised of a nine-minute “art review,” and the second composed of a large image gallery featuring artwork from various stages of the film’s production.

• Publicity: The original theatrical trailer is included, along with three poster designs, and trailers for Aladdin and the King of Thieves and The Return of Jafar.

MPAA Rating: PG-13