Aladdin Central Messageboard

[LadyApocalymon]

I watched Return of Jafar last night and Aladdin and the King of Thieves this morning, both for essentially the first time, and decided to post my thoughts on the former. (I saw both of these movies when I was young, but I didn't remember anything about any of them, so I am a new viewer for all practical intents and purposes.) I realize that I'll probably just be retreading on what's been said about this movie for the past decade, but I want to speak out anyway. Here we go...

~ The Return of Jafar ~

RoJ holds the dubious honor of being Disney's first foray into the "cheapquel" land of direct-to-video films. The animation was shoddy, but I could forgive them that if they'd had a good script to back it up. They didn't.

WHAT WAS WRONG?

+ The musical numbers were completely extraneous. All of them could have been replaced with a couple of lines of dialogue (or nothing at all), and the film would have been much better for it. Some (like Jafar's "You're Only Second Rate") were completely unnecessary, while others (such as Iago's "I'm Looking Out for Me") presented needed character beats, but could have done so more effectively.

+ In the absence of Robin Williams's comedic genius, most of the humor in RoJ was slapstick and visual gags, with only Gilbert Gottfried's performance as Iago to provide any of the original film's wit. Jason Alexander did a wonderful job as Abis Mal, but he was given far too little screentime to be appreciated, and Abis Mal serves as little more than a cheap way to get Jafar from Point A to Point B.

+ The plot, while mildly entertaining and even engaging at times, ran very much like an animated piece of fan fiction (which RoJ and other Disney sequels arguably are). In fact, it's not only a piece of fan fiction - it's a piece of Iago-centric fan fiction; Iago is not only the cornerstone of the plot, but also the only dynamic character in the entire movie. All changes in the other characters are centered around Iago, and even those changes are simple at best. There was no attempt to develop any of the other characters beyond what we saw in Aladdin (more on this later).

WHAT WAS RIGHT?

+ Essentially, the entire film rode around Iago, so it's a good thing the scriptwriters got him down pat. His entire arc was fully believable, and Gilbert Gottfried lived up to his original performance. It's not often that a cheap-sequel-villain-redemption is in-character, and while one can complain of the lack of character development in the rest of the cast, there isn't a spot on Iago's transformation from evil minion to semi-good minion.

+ While the movie did not attempt to explore further the characterization of anyone besides Iago, it did manage to stay true to everyone, instead of horribly butchering their personalities for plot purposes. The only (and blatant) exception is Jafar, but again, more on that later.

LATER

And this is where the Jafar fangirl complains mightily.

For a movie called The Return of Jafar, there was not a lot of Jafar - but I am thankful, because the Jafar in the movie Aladdin makes no appearances in the sequel.

The difference between Aladdin's Jafar and the Jafar of the sequel is analogous to the difference between the animation of the two films. RoJ completely stripped away a lot of what made Jafar himself. Gone are the beautiful and subtle animation, the cool serpentine malice, the slightly comedic eccentricity, the refined elegence - and, for certain fans, the alluring sensuality that stems from it all. To further a parrot's film career, one of the greatest animated villains of all time has been thrown aside in favor of a sloppy cardboard cutout with the same voice. It's not the return of Jafar; it's the return of Iago, with Jafar so mutilated that he becomes less than a character - more like a stereotypically evil Thing that prowls around the periphery of the film, giving everyone something to worry about now and then. And, for reasons I cannot yet divine, they even threw in a song for him; it did nothing for the plot or any of the characters, and I wept inside when I watched it.

Going to stop before I rant the afternoon away. You get the point.

VERDICT?

I won't rate this film, since I'm sure it's completely different for anyone who's on Aladdin and/or Iago's side. Let me say instead that I still consider it nothing more than animated fanfic, and would not watch it again except in instances of dire boredom. I realize that it bridges the gap between the movie(s) and the television series, but I have never seen the series, and have no intention of fully accepting this garbage of a sequel.

On a mental level, yes, I can stand it...But in my heart, there's just Aladdin.
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[Iago]

well you cirtanly have alot to say about ROJ dont you this is all very interesting stuff. i didnt care much for ROJ . I mean its good and all but the many mistakes kinda made it unenjoyable.
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[Dragonessa]

Well, as an absolutely total Iago fan, I love this movie, but of course I understand where you come from. The animation sucks, they even messed up Iago sometimes, and the plot isn't really doing anything for the other characters.
However, as I said, I love RoJ for Iago's character development, and that it's all about him. I know I'm probably the only one here who adores RoJ that much
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[Iago]

the animation part was messed up for iago because if you watch him closley he is small like in the original movie and he can fit in Al's hand but in other scenes like during forget about love he is pretty big for a parrot so ima guessin the animators were smokin somthing when they made that scene
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[Dragonessa]

Lol! It was also messed up in the fighting scene on the market place, when he gazes after Abis Mal. His head is much too big!
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[xfkirsten]

I agree with you whole-heartedly on the music. They're catchy songs, but they're a bit useless. I did like how "Forget About Love" played out, but I really only like Al and Jas's part at the end. The rest of it dragged on a bit too long.

I also agree about the character development. Aside from Iago, there was virtually none. I do think Aladdin's decision not to take on the role of vizier was a step in the right direction, but it seemed like too little, too late.
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I don't need intelligent drugs, because I don't know what they are. But I will put anything into my mouth that is given to me, whether it's supposed to go there or not. Because... I'm different.

[Iago]

probrably the reason the parts were iago sings is not because it is dragged out so long but because it feels that way because of gilberts singing *covers ears*
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[AladdinsGenie]

As much as I love Abis Mal, I know him getting a bigger part in the movie would have just been out of place. Did he deserve more screentime, though? Yeah.

As for character development, I like seeing how the characters are presented from ROJ as compared to KOT. For example, when Jasmine finds out Aladdin lied to her about Iago. She wasn't a happy camper. Then in KOT, she finds out that he lied to her about Cassim. She was a lot more "Adult" I guess you could say about the situation and didn't even get mad. Great character growth there.
I didn't expect them to grow too much from the first movie to ROJ because they didn't happen too long after each other.

[Hourglass]

[Calluna]

[Salukfan]

[Hourglass]

Let me Clarify:

Jason and Dan's comic approach in the movie/series was very similar. Too much of that humor could be overwhelming... so Gilbert made a very good break in that.

Dan and Robin's humor was much different... so it would have been better if it was Jason/Robin/Gilbert instead of Jason/Dan/Gilbert.
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MysticMeg's Stories on THE LIBRARY OF AGRABAH!!!

MEESH AND MYSTICMEG'S COMBINED STORY!!!

Just another weird lil' fanfiction obsession of mine...

[Salukfan]

[Hourglass]

[AladdinsGenie]

If Jason and Dan are similar in styles, wouldn't having Jason/Robin/Gilbert be the same as having Dan/Robin/Gilbert, which is like having two Genie's and Iago in the same film? THAT would be too much.