"Superfantagenio" or "Aladdin" (sometimes also with one d only) is an Italian movie from 1986, so this one has its 35th anniversary this year in 2021 and this makes it slightly older than myself. If you take a look at the poster, you will see that this is of course a Bud Spencer movie and this makes it a bit surprising that the language here is English because otherwise Spencer (Pedersoli) appeared in Italian-language films almost always. But then again, I read that he was dubbed nonetheless in many of his works, even in the Italian original, so it is nothing too serious. More on Spencer later on, let's focus on the basics now: This one runs for under 1.5 hours, but still stay comfortably under the 100-minute mark, so it is not a partoicularly long or short film. The director is Bruno Corbucci, a truly prolific Italian filmmaker for sure and if you take a look at his body of work, you will see that even with the many films he directed, he wrote almost three times as much. So no surprise at all that he was part of the writing team here as well, especially because there is a massive amount of five writers and they did not even include any unconnected with this film, but connected with the actual Aladdin tale. As for Corbucci, this is definitely from the later stages of his career already. Not from the end really, but he was already as experienced as it gets by then and he is not Steno or anything. There are works without Spencer that he made that may be more known than the stuff he did with Spencer. This applies for example to a western with Trintignant and Kinski from many years earlier.
If we take a look at the cast list, you will find a mix between Italian actors and American actors judging from the name. One of the former is Carlo Corbucci. I am not sure how he is related to the writer and director, but I am sure he is. The name is not that frequent honestly. Perhaps his brother. Don't to do any research now. I cannot really elaborate on the cast here too much, especially when it comes to supporting players. But Italian film buffs will definitely recognize some of the names if they care about older films (okay, this one is not super old) as many of them have enjoyed pretty prolific careers over the years. The character of Al Haddin (what a name, I agree with the title character saying one occasion it is a funny name) is played by Luca Venantini. He was 15 or so when this was made and is still acting nowadays at the age of 50, even if he has never been utterly prolific. Appeared mostly in short films lately. But the key player here is of course Bud Spencer once more. This film is from past his collaborations with Terence Hill, but here he shows that Hill is always a welcome addition, but not entirely necessary to come up with a super entertaining movie. I enjoyed this one definitely more than I thought and it is very much on the underseen side and the rating here on imdb is also too low. Spencer was already closer to 60 than to 50 at that point (even if not by much) and you can see in his face that he is not a spring chicken anymore, but hey, his character was centuries old, so it's all good. Also an interesting inclusion here is Diamy Spencer, his daughter, who was the same age like the (young) male protagonist. As for the rest of the cast, I really cannot comment any further. It seems that for the really minor characters they picked American actors only almost. Makes sense because this is where the film is set.
I shall just mention a few scenes and inclusions that make me like this movie. I think the visual effects here were truly retro and they did not spectacular one bit, but simple in a funny manner. Just take the flying car early on. Or how humans turn into animals. The the ape on one occasion or earlier it was pigs I think. Or also when Aladdin almost falls from the carpet near the end as they were going to the Bermuda Triangle. Of course, they could not sink the lamp elsewhere. But the moment when he agrees to turn Spencer's character into a human was fairly sweet. And before that, when they turn the helicopters into balloons, was pretty funny. Also with how they again show us that the boy is a good person and does not want them to crash, even if there's the bad guys inside. Oh, I did not really elaborate on in detail, but this film is of course about Aladdin and uses several examples that you will also find in the famous animated movie that came out a few years later. Of course, it is set in the now, in the year 1987 as we find out on one occasion even verbally. So no Princess Jasmin realy, no sultan who is her dad and Spencer's character who plays the djin is also only a few centuries old. Actually, after spending 200 years in the lamp, this was a much longer period than he existed before that because his actual age (or when he was born) is stated on one other occasion.
As a consequence, he knows nothing about modern times and technologies. We see that when he is in a police car and the other cop goes crazy because he knows nothing about traffic signs or telephones. The moment Spencer's character here was asked to ask for help and what he did / how he did it was absolutely hilarious. Again, brilliant voice acting and Spencer's voice here in Germany is one key reason why he is that famous and has been this famous for a really long times. The djin's cluelessness when it comes to modern aspects and gadgets here was a bit of a running gag and it worked well throughout the movie. But of course he does not need to be a technology expert or anything to make things work. I also liked some of the slightly more serious moments like with how Aladdin wants to beat up a few bullies, but initially he does not use the right words to get strong enough. So there is some smart writing too it. But as it is a Bud Spencer film, of course there is also a great deal of funny fighting as usual. But they also went for some other comedy and I was really surprised that it worked well and I enjoyed it a lot. Take the guy I mentioned earlier whho is turned into an ape and when he is turned back, he is there on all fours on the operation table. This was funny, even funnier than the obnoxious doctor's wife immediately after, even if she was not bad at all either. The scenes in which Spencer's character once again helps weaker guys who are harrassed by thugs are something you see so many times in Spencer movies. I thought it was funny how they kept calling him a "fat animal" (difficult to translate and make it sound as funny as it was in German) before he beat them up. And it's also not unusual to see Spencer step up for women in here and I don't mean the Black woman who gets his attention in another comedic moment when he was supposed to focus on his young master. One woman he would definitely step up for, however, is the big brutal orphanage woman. What was up with that? So bizarre, like when she says that if there is one more noise, then she will unleash the dogs at the children haha. Rough.
Here and there, the movie reminded me slightly of "Karate Kid" which was of course really famous during that time. Spencer's djin was a bit of a mentor to the boy, even if there are of course crucial differences too. But it had a touch of this film and it was probably not a coincidence. There was really not a lot that I did not like here. The film did not include any bland subplots without Spencer's character and that's how it should be. The more screen time he has, the better. he is just such a likable guy and his timid reaction near the end when he finds out that the boy will make sure he will not spend centuries on the floor of the ocean was actually really cute. Spencer can act, there is no doubt about it. Anyway, if I have to dig really deep here, then maybe I would give a thumbs-down to the basketball sequence because that was really too exaggerated, also with how big the gap was and how he would score the game winner in the end. Or I wondered why the djin all of a sudden turned up as a police officer when actually he got turned invisible before that. But I dont want to look for the weaker moments. This film is definitely very easy to enjoy and it may be in my top5 even from Spencer and as I love the man and many of his works, I really did not expect to like this one this much. Also it is not unusual at all that he shares the screen with a young friend. He has African and Asian kids in other films, aliens at times even and the one he has here is a little older than those I just mentioned in other works, but it worked at least as good. There is still a lot more I could say about this film, but I shall leave it at that for now. Thanks for reading alll this though and if you haven't, then you should absolutely see this movie, also a nice way to enter into the Spencer universe if you have seen nothing else so far. Or a nice double feature to watch with the 1992 Aladdin. Definitely better than the 2019 version. This 1986 film also has really nice closure with the piano scene. So no hesitation at all for me in giving the overall outcome an enthusiastic thumbs-up. The longer it went, the better it became. Highly recommended and this is my new favorite film from 1986, even if admittedly there is still a lot for me to see from that year.
If we take a look at the cast list, you will find a mix between Italian actors and American actors judging from the name. One of the former is Carlo Corbucci. I am not sure how he is related to the writer and director, but I am sure he is. The name is not that frequent honestly. Perhaps his brother. Don't to do any research now. I cannot really elaborate on the cast here too much, especially when it comes to supporting players. But Italian film buffs will definitely recognize some of the names if they care about older films (okay, this one is not super old) as many of them have enjoyed pretty prolific careers over the years. The character of Al Haddin (what a name, I agree with the title character saying one occasion it is a funny name) is played by Luca Venantini. He was 15 or so when this was made and is still acting nowadays at the age of 50, even if he has never been utterly prolific. Appeared mostly in short films lately. But the key player here is of course Bud Spencer once more. This film is from past his collaborations with Terence Hill, but here he shows that Hill is always a welcome addition, but not entirely necessary to come up with a super entertaining movie. I enjoyed this one definitely more than I thought and it is very much on the underseen side and the rating here on imdb is also too low. Spencer was already closer to 60 than to 50 at that point (even if not by much) and you can see in his face that he is not a spring chicken anymore, but hey, his character was centuries old, so it's all good. Also an interesting inclusion here is Diamy Spencer, his daughter, who was the same age like the (young) male protagonist. As for the rest of the cast, I really cannot comment any further. It seems that for the really minor characters they picked American actors only almost. Makes sense because this is where the film is set.
I shall just mention a few scenes and inclusions that make me like this movie. I think the visual effects here were truly retro and they did not spectacular one bit, but simple in a funny manner. Just take the flying car early on. Or how humans turn into animals. The the ape on one occasion or earlier it was pigs I think. Or also when Aladdin almost falls from the carpet near the end as they were going to the Bermuda Triangle. Of course, they could not sink the lamp elsewhere. But the moment when he agrees to turn Spencer's character into a human was fairly sweet. And before that, when they turn the helicopters into balloons, was pretty funny. Also with how they again show us that the boy is a good person and does not want them to crash, even if there's the bad guys inside. Oh, I did not really elaborate on in detail, but this film is of course about Aladdin and uses several examples that you will also find in the famous animated movie that came out a few years later. Of course, it is set in the now, in the year 1987 as we find out on one occasion even verbally. So no Princess Jasmin realy, no sultan who is her dad and Spencer's character who plays the djin is also only a few centuries old. Actually, after spending 200 years in the lamp, this was a much longer period than he existed before that because his actual age (or when he was born) is stated on one other occasion.
As a consequence, he knows nothing about modern times and technologies. We see that when he is in a police car and the other cop goes crazy because he knows nothing about traffic signs or telephones. The moment Spencer's character here was asked to ask for help and what he did / how he did it was absolutely hilarious. Again, brilliant voice acting and Spencer's voice here in Germany is one key reason why he is that famous and has been this famous for a really long times. The djin's cluelessness when it comes to modern aspects and gadgets here was a bit of a running gag and it worked well throughout the movie. But of course he does not need to be a technology expert or anything to make things work. I also liked some of the slightly more serious moments like with how Aladdin wants to beat up a few bullies, but initially he does not use the right words to get strong enough. So there is some smart writing too it. But as it is a Bud Spencer film, of course there is also a great deal of funny fighting as usual. But they also went for some other comedy and I was really surprised that it worked well and I enjoyed it a lot. Take the guy I mentioned earlier whho is turned into an ape and when he is turned back, he is there on all fours on the operation table. This was funny, even funnier than the obnoxious doctor's wife immediately after, even if she was not bad at all either. The scenes in which Spencer's character once again helps weaker guys who are harrassed by thugs are something you see so many times in Spencer movies. I thought it was funny how they kept calling him a "fat animal" (difficult to translate and make it sound as funny as it was in German) before he beat them up. And it's also not unusual to see Spencer step up for women in here and I don't mean the Black woman who gets his attention in another comedic moment when he was supposed to focus on his young master. One woman he would definitely step up for, however, is the big brutal orphanage woman. What was up with that? So bizarre, like when she says that if there is one more noise, then she will unleash the dogs at the children haha. Rough.
Here and there, the movie reminded me slightly of "Karate Kid" which was of course really famous during that time. Spencer's djin was a bit of a mentor to the boy, even if there are of course crucial differences too. But it had a touch of this film and it was probably not a coincidence. There was really not a lot that I did not like here. The film did not include any bland subplots without Spencer's character and that's how it should be. The more screen time he has, the better. he is just such a likable guy and his timid reaction near the end when he finds out that the boy will make sure he will not spend centuries on the floor of the ocean was actually really cute. Spencer can act, there is no doubt about it. Anyway, if I have to dig really deep here, then maybe I would give a thumbs-down to the basketball sequence because that was really too exaggerated, also with how big the gap was and how he would score the game winner in the end. Or I wondered why the djin all of a sudden turned up as a police officer when actually he got turned invisible before that. But I dont want to look for the weaker moments. This film is definitely very easy to enjoy and it may be in my top5 even from Spencer and as I love the man and many of his works, I really did not expect to like this one this much. Also it is not unusual at all that he shares the screen with a young friend. He has African and Asian kids in other films, aliens at times even and the one he has here is a little older than those I just mentioned in other works, but it worked at least as good. There is still a lot more I could say about this film, but I shall leave it at that for now. Thanks for reading alll this though and if you haven't, then you should absolutely see this movie, also a nice way to enter into the Spencer universe if you have seen nothing else so far. Or a nice double feature to watch with the 1992 Aladdin. Definitely better than the 2019 version. This 1986 film also has really nice closure with the piano scene. So no hesitation at all for me in giving the overall outcome an enthusiastic thumbs-up. The longer it went, the better it became. Highly recommended and this is my new favorite film from 1986, even if admittedly there is still a lot for me to see from that year.