Unlike some of the other princesses, she was born into royalty, but she's not happy with being a princess. She only gets happiness from the freedom she finds with Aladdin. Good on her for not letting anyone tell her who to marry and for at least trying to find her own happiness. I'm not saying it's the best idea to run away from a home, but at least she tried.
The other reason she's memorable is that seduction scene with Jafar. Try getting the other princesses to do that. She even kisses him, which is one of the most disgusting moments in Disney animation history.
EEEEEEEEWWWWW I hate hate hate that scene. I don't agree with it at all, but in the circumstances, it did make sense. I mean, what else was she going to do to distract Jafar and stop him from seeing Aladdin.
Anyway . . .
Like the other fairy tales, social position is generally ignored. She values Aladdin's life and knows believes it was cruel for him to have been killed. (It bothers me that they never reverse that law.) She knows that just because someone's a prince, doesn't mean he's charming. In fact, she's not even truly interested in Prince Ali Ababwa until she discovers that he's Aladdin (even though she thinks he's a prince).
And it's good that Aladdin finally learns that he has to be himself and NOT LIE. He steals because he feels he has no other choice because he's not rich. He wants to be though; every night he looks at the palace and says, "Someday, Abu, things are going to change. We'll be rich. Live in a palace and never have any problems at all." We know that he's more than a street rat because he helps two poor children who need the bread he steals more than he does. And he knows that he's more than a "street rat" but feels "trapped" in his life as he tells Jasmine. And he truly doesn't see himself as more than a street rat ("a diamond in the rough" to be exact) until his love for Jasmine brings out his courage and true potential. If you notice, he tells Jasmine the truth after he's saved the day, when he's comfortable with himself and knows for sure that Jasmine loves him without the title. (The first time he was going to tell her the truth, he struggled with the decision.) At first he says to himself, "She was the princess. I must have sounded so stupid to her" and he thought that she would go for him when he was a prince. That's why he was still lying to her after their duet. He still thought she wouldn't care for him if she knew his true social status. Some may say that this makes Jasmine a simple conduit in a male-dominated story whose characters is only defined by the men around her. One thing is for sure, it is a male-dominated story: Aladdin is the title character after all. But at the same time, Jasmine very much has a personality and spirit all her own which she never loses in the film. Furthermore, she plays a major role in the story because without her love, Aladdin would never have really been a redeemed hero. Without her, Aladdin does not reach his potential and his story is not complete. And Aladdin does reach his dream of being rich and living in a palace. But even if he had been able to do this without Jasmine, his life would not have been complete; he would have found that riches alone do not fulfill one's life or heart.
I saw an ultra simplified board-book version of the story. "Princess Jasmine has dreams . . . Aladdin has dreams . . . The genie helps make their dreams come true." I guess that's what it's all about. Dreams coming true for both Aladdin and Jasmine.
And come on, who doesn't love "A Whole New World"? It's one of the best Disney songs.
A word on the sequels: The Return of Jafar is horrible, and the songs are awful. Filmmakers shouldn't attempt to make a sequel when the original voice of an important and funny sidekick isn't the same. In fact, Jasmine isn't even played by the same actress either. I mean, come on, people. Get serious about filmmaking. Don't treat our precious characters this way. Have a heart. Don't even get me started on how bad Aladdin and Jasmine's duet is. As for Aladdin and the King of Thieves, I always held a soft spot for it since I enjoyed it as a child. However, now that I saw it for the second time, I realize it's not that great. However, it is definitely much better than than the second movie, and Jasmine and Aladdin have a much better song. At least Robin Williams is back. But it's not as great as the first one.
Conclusion: Jasmine is one of the more independent princesses, and she's really cool because of that. She's not the main character, but she stands out.
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