Moviefan12: Hello & welcome back to Power of The Princesses and today, I am joined by pbmiranda from Old School Lane as we take a look at Jasmine. Boy, this feels familiar as I just did an Aladdin Week, over a month ago. Anyways, here's the usual rundown, Original Voice Actress, First Appearance, Personality, Favorite Moment, Later Appearances, which again will include DisneyOtoko covering Jasmine's appearance in the Kingdom Hearts series of games and finally, Is Jasmine A Good Character. pbmiranda, thanks for joining me and I can't believe that it's taken us this long to do another cross over. Anyways, I'm glad to have you on board for this magic carpet ride.
pbmiranda: Thanks for trusting me to come on board.
Moviefan12: My pleasure, let's get started.
pmiranda: Let 's do this!
Original Voice Actress
Linda Larkin
Moviefan12: I mean no disrespect to Linda Larkin but when compared to who came before her, with Jodi Benson and Paige O'Hara. I must admit that her voice acting work as Jasmine does not stay with me as much. She's not bad but I think this is in part because Jasmine was the first princess character to have two different actresses for her speaking and singing roles. Her singing voice was provided by Lea Salonga and if I'm to be honest, Lea Salonga's voice work singing as Jasmine has stayed with me more than Larkin's speaking role as Jasmine.
I mean no disrespect to Larkin as she does a good job with the role but at best, I just found it serviceable, when compared to many of the other actors in the film such as Johnathan Freeman as Jafar. Again, she's not but for some reason, when I think of Jasmine, my mind goes to Lea Salonga's singing talents before Linda Larkin.
pbmiranda: I agree. While Linda did an admirable job of portraying as Jasmine, she had stiff competition when compared to the last two voice actresses who played as their respected princesses. Jodi Benson and Paige O'Hara were Ariel and Belle and people still remember them as these roles to this very day. But Lea put in a lot of passion, kindness, and emotion with her singing role as Jasmine that I didn't get from the rest of the movie. Lea would carry the same singing charisma doing Mulan years later, but that's another story.
First Appearance
Moviefan12: Jasmine debuted in the film, Aladdin and she is an interesting princess in this line up of the official 13 as she is the only princess that is not the main character but rather, she is the love interest that our hero wanted to be with. Of all the films starring the official princesses, Jasmine is the only one, where these roles are reversed and oddly enough, it seems Disney nowadays pays more attention to Jasmine because of her princess status and ignore Aladdin. Whereas in the '90s, they fully embraced the character of Aladdin. Now this is not completely true with the new Broadway musical that just opened but looking at the animated characters, it almost feels like Disney now treats Jasmine as if she were the main character and that is not the case at all.
pbmiranda: With Jasmine, it's easier to portray her as a Princess than the others due to the fact that she was a Princess and not a protagonist. It's a lot more marketable for the people at Disney to feature. I guess they don't feature Aladdin anymore because the times have changed on gender roles. Back in the 80's and 90's, shows and movies featured male protagonists and if they were females, they were mostly one dimensional stereotypes being nothing more than the token chick (with the exception of Belle). Now the tables have turned with females being written much better and giving girls the role models they need. Either that or Aladdin was already marketed enough with 2 sequels and an animated series.
Moviefan12: I would argue that Ariel was also more than just a token chick but I'm biased as she's in my second favorite princess after Rapunzel.
Personality
Moviefan12: Going by the DisneyWiki , Jasmine is described as being one of the princesses that falls into the trope of being a "Rebellious Princess" in that she doesn't want a royal life and feels trapped within her life and to a certain extent, I can agree wit that but keep in mind, that she is also very assertive and willing to stand up for herself. Jasmine is perhaps the most assertive of the Disney princesses. She is very clear on what she wants and how she feels as she does not want to be treated like a prize to be won by the princes that come to win her hand in marriage. If she feels that someone is mistreating her, she will let them know such as when she call out Prince Ali about his lie that he isn't the street rat that she met earlier in the film. Jasmine seems to be the princess I remember that had the easiest time standing up for herself and every time, she would do that. I could not help but feel that she was in the right to do so.
pbmiranda: Agreed. Jasmine was a princess that stood up for what she wanted and not what she was told to do. This was the beginning of a new era of princesses that were more assertive and less damsels in distress like the previous ones. While Belle started it first, Jasmine influenced it a little bit more that gave her the reputation of being a rebellious princess. But at the same time, she's kind, sweet, an smart, which makes the character a lot more developed. This attitude is something that little girls had always found so great about her that made Jasmine one of their favorites. My cousins are huge Jasmine fans because of that.
Moviefan12: Now let's move onto our favorite moments.
Favorite Moments
Moviefan12: Now as for my favorite moment, it comes early in the film and is this moment.
Aladdin: Wow. The palace looks pretty amazing, huh?
Princess Jasmine: [disappointed] Oh, it's wonderful.
Aladdin: I wonder what it'd be like to live there, and have servants, and valets.
Princess Jasmine: Oh, sure. People who tell you where to go and how to dress.
Aladdin: That's better than here. You're always scraping for food and ducking the guards.
Princess Jasmine: You're not free to make your own choices.
Aladdin: Sometimes you feel so.
Princess Jasmine: You're just.
Aladdin, Princess Jasmine: Trapped.
Something about this line always struck as Jasmine finally opening up to someone and revealing how she truly feels and plus I like how Aladdin and Jasmine say the same thing without realizing and comparing their lives unknowingly. This is the moment that Jasmine pretty defines who she is and what she wants in life as she's felt trapped for years and now she feels a bit free and it is just a small taste of freedom. Because she's always felt trapped in her royal life.
pbmiranda: I love that scene as well, but the scene that I love from Jasmine was riding the magic carpet with Aladdin singing "A Whole New World". She felt free and saw the different countries around the world such as Egypt and China. She's ecstatic and amazed of all the places that's not the palace that she was raised in her whole life. The song was a perfect way to express her experience of seeing a new world with someone she loved. It's still regarded to this day as one of the greatest Disney moments of all time and one of the best songs ever.
Later Appearances
Moviefan12: Per usual, we have a lot of appearances to go over but this is the first princess to not appear on Once Upon A Time, which is odd considering that Jafar was the main villain of the spin-off series, Once Upon A Time In Wonderland. Seriously, how can you have Jafar but not bring in Aladdin or Jasmine.
Anyways, let's continue, now like most of the princesses, Jasmine did fall into the cheapquel trap and not once but twice. First with The Return of Jafar, which was a pilot for the Aladdin TV series and Aladdin and The King of Thieves, where Aladdin and Jasmine finally got married. Of course, this was after they met Aladdin's dad and stopped his thieves from robbing the wedding.
And now as for the animated series, Jasmine did have a few episodes that centered around her such as one where one of the villains turned into a rat and another where she was made a Street Rat.
Aladdin also had a cross over with Hercules: The Animated Series and while Aladdin, Jasmine did play a part in it and it takes place after the third film as Phil hits on Jasmine and Jasmine informs him that she's married.
Now just like Ariel and Belle before her, Jasmine did appear in comic books published by Marvel and also on House of Mouse.
Jasmine also appeared on the DVD, Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams, where she wants to prove that she can handle more responsibility and wants to be taken seriously, so she tries teaching and at first, it doesn't work but she proves to her father that she can handle by taming a horse that no one but Sultan can approach. This short isn't bad but there isn't much to it but I will give them credit as the short lets Jasmine stand on her own as Aladdin and Genie do not appear in it at all. The only supporting characters in the film are Abu and Iago.
Jasmine also appeared on Sofia The First in the episode, Two To Tangu, where she helps Sofia and Sofia's big sis tame a wild carpet by showing them how to by using Carpet and through the song, The Ride of Our Lives. This song isn't bad but I'd argue that it's the most forgettable Sofia song.
Jasmine can also be found in the parks in both Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular, and Mickey's PhillarMagic.
And in TokyoDisney, the Magic Carpet ride is called Jasmine's Flying Carpets
You can also find Jasmine at various areas of the parks for meet and greets.
And just this year, Jasmine along with the rest of the characters from Aladdin made her Broadway debut and is currently being played by Courtney Reed.
Anything to add to this, Patty before I hand it over to DisneyOtoko to cover Jasmine in Kingdom Hearts.
Jasmine In Kingdom Hearts
DO: Jasmine in Kingdom Hearts is one of the more underused characters. It's nice to see her and nice to interact with her, but there's not much for her to actually do.
Jasmine in Kingdom Hearts 1
When Jafar stages a coup with the Heartless to take over Agrabah Jasmine barely escapes the palace with Aladdin's help. Jasmine has to stay on the move because Jafar, Maleficent and the Heartless are searching for her because she is a Princess of Heart. When Sora, Donald, and Goofy enter the area where she's hiding she reveals herself to seek help and brings the travelers up to speed on what's happening and Jafar has caught up. Sora and company keep Jafar busy and tell Jasmine to run for it. While Sora and company explore the city Jasmine continues to play cat and mouse with Jafar, but her luck runs out and he corners her at the palace gates. Sora and company now joined by Aladdin try to stop Jafar and Al wishes for Genie to save her, but Iago steals the lamp and the rescue fails and Jasmine is taken by Jafar to the Cave of Wonders where the Keyhole resides. Jasmine has been unconscious during the boss battles and the heroes jump into the pit to fight Genie Jafar. While the heroes are busy Riku kidnaps Jasmine and Sora promises Aladdin that he will find Jasmine (Aladdin can't go with Sora to protect the World Order) and Genie agrees to go as a summon.
Sora eventually finds Jasmine in Hollow Bastion with all the other princesses and when the hearts of the Princesses are freed she works with the others to hold the Darkness back and growing in strength and will also encourage Sora to be extra careful when the secret boss becomes available. She also tells Sora to not tell Aladdin what has happened because she doesn't want him to worry and she will tell him about it when she returns to Agrabah.
Jasmine is seen in the credits reuniting with Aladdin.
Jasmine in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Jasmine in Chain of Memories is just there. I don't even think she says anything! While I like the story and individual world stories of Chain of Memories Jasmine has nothing to do in this she is just there.
Jasmine in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
While Jasmine along with all the Disney characters have smaller roles Jasmine is seen during Roxas's missions and she works with Aladdin and the people of Agrabah to rebuild the city after the constant barrage of sandstorms related to the Heartless.
Jasmine in Kingdom Hearts 2
Alas Jasmine still doesn't have very much to do. She brings Sora, Donald and Goofy up to speed and when Iago proves his worth she allows him to stay. In the second story of Agrabah she is damsel in distress. I like the story. I don't blame Square for this because there are a lot of characters in this world and Aladdin, Genie and Jafar all have game play applications with Genie being a summon, Aladdin a party member and Jafar a boss. Also the source material is the film Return of Jafar and Iago is a big part of the story. So Jasmine just simply doesn't have enough room to have that big of an impact or role. Still the scenes she is in are nice and it's always a pleasure to be around the Princess of Agrabah.
Is Jasmine A Good Character?
Moviefan12: It's now time to answer the question, Is Jasmine a good character? And while she's not one of my favorites, she is a good character as she continued the trend set by Ariel and Belle by being more than just a princess and being a character first. And while, she was the object of affection for Aladdin, she was more than just a pretty face to be won over. She made Aladdin earn her love and prove his worth as she wanted someone that loved her for her and I applaud that.
pbmiranda: Agreed. Jasmine was never one of my favorite Disney princesses. While she may not be as assertive as Tiana or Belle or as beloved as Cinderella or Ariel, Jasmine is still a good princess. She wasn't willing to marry any man that she didn't like, she was outspoken to her thoughts and beliefs, and she had a determination to broaden out what the typical princess had to endure in honor of tradition and the laws of royalty. That's what makes her still a renoun princess even to this day.
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