Aladdin And The Curse Of The Sequels

REVIEW

An odd choice for a first post, I'll warrant. But it's a subject I don't see covered much anywhere else!

Aladdin, the 1992 masterpiece from Disney, is untouchable in its grace, beauty, and humor. And a lot of people seem to overlook that it's a great classic adventure tale to boot.

And so it's sad to see its first sequel, "The Return of Jafar"*, is such an abysmal failure. On every level. There really isn't much to recommend this film's existence, let alone spending your precious time (or your child's precious time at that) to watch it.

The animation, besides some obvious(though still relatively lackluster) 'show reel' segments apparently designed to interest Robin Williams in returning to his iconic role (a task that failed miserably as the Genie is somewhat ably, though totally forgettably, voiced by The Simpsons' Dan Castellaneta) and/or assure Disney's board that the sequel to one of their biggest hits was NOT, in fact, an atrocious blemish on the face of Disney Animation's usually ironclad reputation, is simply lazy at best and downright sloppy at worst. This does not look like a Disney film, this looks like a kid's daily animated series churned out with speed and efficiency in mind as opposed to quality (the reason why became obvious later as we'll see below!).

The characterization is equally bottom-of-the-barrell; Jasmine is reduced to a milquetoast damsel-in-distress, Aladdin a wishy-washy nonentity, and, seemingly to entice the only 'name' actor to return for the sequel when Williams bowed out, Gilbert Gottfried's Iago, of all characters, is given the bulk of the redemptive character arc story work here, and it's not enough of a skeleton to hang a story on. We simply have no reason to care that much. The wonderful Johnathon Freeman is totally wasted as Jafar's titular Return is neither earned nor impactful. The Genie returns from his world travels hinted at at the end of the original just because, at a point in the story that makes no impact on either the story or the characters. He just shows up because it's an Aladdin movie and people expect the Genie to be in it.

The songs are awkward, too; gone are the obviously brilliant show-stoppers crafted by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman the first go-round. The whole affair is a forgettable mess, not helped by the lately-acquired knowledge that it was cobbled together from material that would have served as the first five episodes of the animated series.

That's no excuse. This was Disney's first direct-to-video release. Disney, in 1995, was still on top as the premiere source for animated entertainment (soon to be eclipsed less than a year later by eventual acquisition Pixar) and should have produced something, if not perfect, then at least enviable in its execution and overall quality. Instead we got a trashy, messy embarrassment that should have killed Disney's direct-to-video aspirations in its tracks.

It didn't, of course. And that's where they got a chance to redeem themselves...

...with the SECOND official sequel to Aladdin: Aladdin and the King of Thieves.**

Robin Williams is back, for starters, and he brings such a boisterous sense of off-the-wall, mile-a-minute energy that you wish the lackluster/rushed-looking animation could keep up with him. If I were to have one major complaint with this one, it's the animation; while not as sloppy and clearly rushed as "Return of Jafar", it's nowhere near the level of artistry and grace that defines the best of Disney animation (and the original Aladdin). There's one shot in particular--when the head Palace Guard turns away from the den of the forty thieves, but the camera pushes past two horses who lower their heads to reveal him--that clearly defines the gap between well-intentioned storyboards and the final product. It doesn't land, but hey, they tried!

Aside from that and some less-than-show-stopping music (especially this overly-treacly affair), what you've got with King Of Thieves is a rollicking old fashioned adventure movie replete with MacGuffins (the Oracle, the Hand of Midas) tied directly to the characters' growth and story arc (which the best adventure movies nail effortlessly).

This time, the infamous Forty Thieves crash Aladdin and Jasmine's wedding in order to obtain one of the wedding gifts--The Oracle (a gem/staff that will answer any question you have), so that the King of Thieves can find the REAL treasure--the Hand Of Midas, which, as you might guess, turns everything to gold.

Aladdin decides to use the Oracle himself to answer the nagging question of his parentage and finds out his dear old dad is actually with the Forty Thieves, so he rushes off to save him, only to discover that, in fact, his dad is the titular King. An engaging, emotionally-driven adventure ensues, and everyone learns some pretty good life lessons along the way while engaging in exciting action, mild mystery, and impressive set pieces.

It's not perfect--far from it--but you could do FAR worse when looking for an animated adventure. The adventure story at its heart is solid. The Genie is underused, but when you have a character that can basically do anything, you're sort of forced to sideline him (in this case, by making him caught up in his own zaniness) otherwise your entire story and main characters' struggles will be one case of Deus Ex Machina after another. So a small quibble.

So when/if your kid has a hankering for more Aladdin-themed adventure, remember two things: the King Of Thieves YES, Return of Jafar NO.


*that's a link to buy the DVD, but please, don't buy the DVD.

**that's a link to buy the DVD. Go ahead and buy it.