@narnianchick said:

So, the last time I watched this movie, I started really thinking about Genie's magic and it just brought up all kinds of problems. With IMDb's riddance of the message boards, I'm trying The Movie DB for the first time and we'll see how it goes... Anyway, here's what I've been thinking: How is Genie's magic regulated?

First, a refresher. The rules are that Genie cannot kill anyone, make anyone fall in love, or bring people back from the dead. However, after stating that he can't bring anyone back from the dead, Genie says "I don't like doing it!" which implies that he has done it before, meaning he can do it. So are the other two possible as well? And is it Genie himself who is refusing to allow those wishes, is it someone else, or is it the magic itself?

There doesn't seem to be a Magical Rule Enforcer because the rules are not enforced very well. First, Aladdin tricks Genie into getting him out of the cave without actually making a wish, but Genie thinks that a wish has been made, so it's not like he can "sense" or "feel" when a wish is gone. Then, when Aladdin actually makes his first wish, to be a prince, the rest of the movie reinforces that he's only pretending to be a prince. In fact, in the end, Genie encourages Aladdin to use his final wish to make himself a prince (again). If his first wish had been fulfilled, he should already be a prince. Then there's the time when Aladdin is drowning and UNCONSCIOUS and Genie pretends that he makes a wish, so that he can save him and somehow, that counts as the second wish. Genie got him out of the cave without a wish; why couldn't he get him out of the water? The only wish Aladdin made that Genie actually fulfilled was to free Genie, and really, once they became friends, Aladdin could have made that wish right away, with Genie agreeing to help him out once he was free, no wishes required.

It almost seems like the Genie's rules work like our laws. You can break them without repercussions, so long as you don't get caught. But with magic involved, you'd think it'd be easier for the Magic Police to catch you... I don't know. That's all I've got for now. What do you think?

I always perceived those to be personal limits. He even illustrates the downside to resurrecting the dead (zombies!) which indicates that while he CAN do it, the results aren't desirable. I mean, it's magic so it's a fantasy ability whose limitations are entirely framed in the mind of the writers, so if a writer does so he or she does it to avoid logical plot holes. (For instance, if he could have made Jasmine AND Jaffar love Ali, then the movie would have ended as soon as Ali made his first wish. "Make everyone love me!") That's the rub (hah! pun intended) with magic; it's not real so it's ultimately flexible.

I remember reading before (long time ago so not sure if right haha) that genies were spirits like if humans were made from clay/earth, they were made from smoke. So supposedly same creator as humans, just that they have magical powers. Some are good some are bad, and some in between. They trick people into wishing and not really giving what they want.

Anyway..Genie did all those things so he can go to Disney? Haha it's complicated his freedom

I thought Genie didn't grant wishes that interfered with free will.

During Prince Ali...genie made all those people like during the parade? Or like Abu, transformed from something else?

I think they messed up. I remember Genie stating that he couldn't mess with freewill or bring back the dead

@Strannger18 said:

I think they messed up. I remember Genie stating that he couldn't mess with freewill or bring back the dead

He definitely said he couldn't bring people back from the dead, but he never said anything about free will. That would be a nice guideline, though.