After a 10 year moratorium on the title, Disney is releasing Aladdin as a Two-Disc Platinum Special Edition DVD on October 5, 2004. Aladdin reunited directors Ron Clements and John Musker, and the songwriting team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. It may not have been the easiest production (see next page’s look at Disc 2 and the struggles encountered). But in the end, as with the previous Clements/Musker/ Ashman/Menken collaboration The Little Mermaid, magic was undoubtedly weaved in Aladdin. It’s easy to take Aladdin for granted. Number thirty-one on the Disney Studio’s list of animated releases, the film made its way to theaters in the middle of a five-year period of creative high we now look at as the Disney Renaissance. But though Aladdin follows in a tradition of skillful animation, it offers many unique charms. And, in case you might have forgotten in the eleven years since it was last released on home video, it happens to be a great film. Disc 1′s pleasing main menu makes use of an instrumental of “Arabian Nights” and finds that satisfactory middle ground between “too basic” and “too elaborate”. The other 16×9 menu screens on Disc 1 also feature instrumentals of various songs with mild animation and some brief transitions. Highlighting any of the bonus features gratefully reveals its running time, a nice touch which is quickly becoming the norm for Disney DVDs. The menu design incorporates Disney’s EasyFind icons for more straightforward organization. If that’s not straightforward enough for you, a text “Index” offered from the menus provide a list of the different bonus feature sub-menus to access. It essentially does what the regular Bonus Features menu does, but without the animation, and with a small general list of what’s on the other disc.