Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The second film in the series was bad. But this sort of makes up for it. Good action and whatever. Honestly it is just a cash grab. Watch it at your own risk, with regards to wasting your time.

Some people argue over which is better: Return of Jafar or King of Thieves. To be more specific, they actually argue over which one is WORSE. When I watched this film, both as a child and an adult, I didn't see much wrong with it. In fact, I really enjoyed it!The animation had picked up again to a fantastic standard compared to the last movie, with quality only dropping in short moments. However, while the animation didn't quite seem to stay on par at all moments, I thought the music was sublime. Very emotional music which is used to convey emotions successfully in creative dramatic ways. One example of this would be in Aladdin's fight to join the thieves. Most of the diegetic sound drops out, leaving only the sounds of fire and lighting, leaving the music to convey the process of emotions running through the characters: Sa'luk's thirst for Alladin's blood to vent his rage for Cassim, Cassim's fear of losing the son he only just found, and Aladdin's desperation to survive. Very creative and poetic, with similarly poetic scenes later in the film.Although the characters' goals and reasons for alternating in decisions can be confusing, if you keep up with it it remains logical and the narrative successfully develops. The narrative kept me interested, and I thought it worked being a short film (Just over an hour). The plot doesn't drag too much, there is often a sense in development in both the story and the characters, and the action is meaningful.One other part of this film which is always entertaining is the genie's (Robin Williams') small 'sketches' that, while they seem to stray from the plot, are very entertaining, witty and comical. It was clear Williams had a lot of contribution to his character and the jokes that were made.Overall, I found this film very entertaining: Both as a child and an adult.

I have to say, this is without a doubt one of the only watchable direct-to-video features Disney has ever given us. Now, for those who haven't seen this, and have seen the likes of, oh, I don't know, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II or Tarzan and Jane, you may ask how this is possible.Start with the voice actors. You have the complete original cast back on board (minus Jonathan Freeman, for obvious reasons), plus a few extras. Jasmine may sound slightly different than she used to, but my spies tell me that she is indeed the same actress. John Rhys-Davies provides his voice for Aladdin's father, and the King of Thieves, Cassim. Jerry Orbach (of Beauty and the Beast fame) plays one of the forty thieves, Sa'luk. And finally, the star of the show has returned. I like Dan Castellaneta, and I think he did an acceptable job as the Genie, but Robin Williams is still the best.In fact, William's performance here could be best described as 'unleashed'. The Genie impersonates no less than five Disney characters, including Mickey Mouse himself, becomes an entire army (comprised of SWAT, cavalry, paratroopers, bagpipe men, the ED-209, and Pocahontas), picks up an elephant with his bare hands, and comforts Jasmine as Mrs. Doubtfire, albeit a bearded version.This movie has a coherent plot, which is, you know, strange for a Disney sequel. Some may say it was stolen from 'The Last Crusade' and I'd have to agree. You know, hero meets father, father is looking for some important artifact, appears to love it more than his family, but… doesn't. Yeah. Except instead of the Holy Grail, we have this awesome Hand of Midas that can turn anything into gold.The villain foundation is not as good as the original, but Jerry Orbach still manages give us the next best thing with a grey-skinned, muscle-bound, wolverine-claw using man known as Sa'luk. I would rate his death scene as one of the best in cinematic history.Songs… Ha. Well they don't measure up to the originals, but they do the best they can do. Genie is so over-the-top with his two songs that it's almost unbelievable, and the forty thieves song is quite entertaining. Just, uh, pretend that you can't hear the sappy song Aladdin and Jasmine sing about his childhood, as it may induce vomiting and/or cancer.After the exercise of utter futility that was 'The Return of Jafar', this movie gives us some of the best direct-to-video animation you'll see out there. It's truly a satisfying film that provide a satisfying ending. While I'd rate 'Aladdin' 9 stars, 'Jafar' would get 2 and this would get 7 to 8. It's that good, check it out.

In a time where animation means animals, it's great to see a coming back to roots with human characters.It's all the more enjoyable that the Arabic culture isn't very exposed today.This opus is much better than the previous sequel, as well in the art than for the story: it mixes some tragedy, fun, adventures & historic appeal. The Midas Hand is really based on a myth.I am delightfully surprised to see that there's no time-out, except the silly songs parts: it's always based on jazzy tunes, so if you heard one, you heard them all!