I'm getting annoyed (even more than usual) by how disney reappropriates tales, crushes all opposition through its humongous marketing machinery, and imposes its vision and iconography worldwide. One side effect is : I am looking for an old animated movie, and all my researches, even when labelled "-disney", lead to piles of piles of disney's aladdin webpages.

I turn to you. Hey, people. Does anyone from you remember an old arabian nights-themed animated movie, a full feature film that was neither japanese anime, nor that french film with childish round headed characters ? Nor that chinese theater silhouette thing ?

I'm looking for a long movie, with somewhat seriously-drawed characters (a bit hannah-barbera like), and mostly based on Aladdin's story (probably featuring Aladdin himself). I remember a story of rivalry between pauper Aladdin (or was it Ali Baba, or a merging of both) and some sorcerer, over a lady and a magic lamp. At some point, while dispossessed of the lamp, the hero gets helped by a genie held within a ring. If I remember well, they bith fly towards the bad guy's tower near the end. I quite clearly remember the "genie in ring" trope not matching my "genie in bottle/lamp" expectations and habits.

Has anyone seen this animated film, and remember its name ? This was way before the disney flick that ate up the whole mythology, and imposed a blue freakazoid as the only authorized vision of an eastern released genie, so I'd situate it around the 70s-80s, but imdn hasn't been much helpful so far...

How about this one: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052527/

No no, it was a serious, and faithfull-ish (at least in tone) to the "arabian nights" universe. Not a Mister Magoo parody, or stuff like that...

The second one I know is The Princess and the Cobbler
EDIT But I doubt it's the one you mean

I can't help you with your dilemma but I can tell you Disney wasn't the first to butcher this, be it with animation or live action. Every once in a while I will catch an Arabian Knight movie on TCM from the 40's or 50's that is so beyond bad it reaches off the screen and slaps you. They put people like fucking Danny Kay in the role of a genie or something. Very sad.

The butchering itself is not an issue. What annoys me -and it's quite specifically disney- is the hegemony - how a certain production can then clog it all, completely overwhelm representations with its own, and make its iconography the "standard" one worldwide.

If diversity and balance weren't affected, I'd have no gripe at all with twists on a story. For instance, while a fan of Conan Doyle, I'm okay with all the random reinterpretations of Holmes, because they all balance each others out, and none truly dominates, imposing a given author's (or corporation's) vision worldwide... Yeah, this doesn't match the style I have memories of. I think it was a bit more "anatomical"...

I had exactly the same experience with Puss in Boots - except when I rewatched it with prejudice, it turned out to be (almost) as good as I remembered. So be sure to watch the anime; given Disney's penchant for comic relief sidekicks, the anime can only be an improvement.

To be fair, the review of this movie on MyAnimeList.net specifically states that, "The character designs are slightly more western-looking than one is accustomed to seeing in anime."

So this is more than likely the movie you were trying to remember — and one which I'd never even heard of until now, it having been released while I was in high school (not yet into anime, but no longer watching Saturday morning cartoons). Thanks for the heads-up.