I don't have any nostalgic bias towards "Aladdin and the King of Thieves", and therefore I am delighted to see the effort which has truly been put into making this perfect ending to the story of Aladdin.
"The Return of Jafar" I watched a lot when I was a kid and enjoyed it back then, but viewing it again at 23 years of age mostly made me sad about the obvious downgrade in animation and character. Iago's role in it was the only redeeming quality of that.
Here the quality of the movie is where it should be, on Aladdin and Jasmin finally getting married and Aladdin's search for his father, Cassim, who never was with Aladdin. When it is revealed that he is actually the leader of the forty thieves things get complicated leading to all the action and dilemma that comes with having a criminal in your family. Their developing of a relationship and an intimidatingly villainous Sa'luk are the greatest qualities of the movie.
To have Robin Williams back as the genie is simply a delight. Personally I couldn't stand Dan Castellaneta's performance in "Return of Jafar" and especially not in the series in which I found him obnoxious and not funny at all. The genie IS Robin Williams, period.
I must admit that his performance at times got a little narrow with too many Disney references and perhaps a little overdone, even though many of them worked out okay.
The animation is by direct-to-video standards really good and compelling. The emergence of The Vanishing Isle and the time spend in it is easily the highlight of the animation.
The songs are serviceable but forgettable and a couple of them actually sounded oddly similar. This is the only point on which I get harsh, because the original Aladdin is my overall favourite soundtrack in the Disney catalog, but the musical score for this worked out pretty well at underlining the emotions going on.
To sum up, "Aladdin and the King of Thieves" is a well done sequel to one of the greatest animated movies ever made. It has drama, action, romance and Robin Williams providing you with his beloved genie. It is definitely a strong ending to our adventures in the Arabian nights.
"The Return of Jafar" I watched a lot when I was a kid and enjoyed it back then, but viewing it again at 23 years of age mostly made me sad about the obvious downgrade in animation and character. Iago's role in it was the only redeeming quality of that.
Here the quality of the movie is where it should be, on Aladdin and Jasmin finally getting married and Aladdin's search for his father, Cassim, who never was with Aladdin. When it is revealed that he is actually the leader of the forty thieves things get complicated leading to all the action and dilemma that comes with having a criminal in your family. Their developing of a relationship and an intimidatingly villainous Sa'luk are the greatest qualities of the movie.
To have Robin Williams back as the genie is simply a delight. Personally I couldn't stand Dan Castellaneta's performance in "Return of Jafar" and especially not in the series in which I found him obnoxious and not funny at all. The genie IS Robin Williams, period.
I must admit that his performance at times got a little narrow with too many Disney references and perhaps a little overdone, even though many of them worked out okay.
The animation is by direct-to-video standards really good and compelling. The emergence of The Vanishing Isle and the time spend in it is easily the highlight of the animation.
The songs are serviceable but forgettable and a couple of them actually sounded oddly similar. This is the only point on which I get harsh, because the original Aladdin is my overall favourite soundtrack in the Disney catalog, but the musical score for this worked out pretty well at underlining the emotions going on.
To sum up, "Aladdin and the King of Thieves" is a well done sequel to one of the greatest animated movies ever made. It has drama, action, romance and Robin Williams providing you with his beloved genie. It is definitely a strong ending to our adventures in the Arabian nights.