Aladdin Central Messageboard

[imekitty]

RoJ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsrCvs5IVrI

KoT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nqdViRFEdw

Doug Walker (Nostalgia Critic) just released reviews of these sequels. He's not too hard on them at all, and for the most part, I think the reviews are good. The only thing I have a problem with is his gripe about Cassim's motivations not making any sense. I guess I can't be too upset, though. Not being an Aladdin-phile like us here, I guess it'd be easy to forget that Cassim actually says he went back to find Aladdin and his mother, but he could not find them, so he returned to the forty thieves and fully threw himself into that world (well, that's the implication, anyway).

But otherwise, he was kinder to these films than I would've expected him to be!

[AladdinsGenie]

That does bring up questions about when Cassim joined the thieves, though, because I somehow doubt he was able to become part of the group and then leave whenever he wants as I'm sure they would start to question his loyalty and motives. An outside tie like family could compromise them and it sounds like Cassim didn't want to go back until he had something in hand to show all his time away was worth it.
I mean, I do like reading his retelling of what happened as him being in a nearby city during a raid or something, and sneaking away one night to find his family and let them know "hey I did it! money and riches on the way soon!", but I suppose I like the idea of him finding this supposed all-in-one solution to his problems a little too late in more ways than one as that's a reoccurring theme with him.

If he joined after he thought his wife and Aladdin were dead that would make sense, too, because now he can focus on moving up the ranks and bettering himself, which was half his motivation for leaving Agrabah/his new family in the first place let's be real. The thieves would become his replacement family who he can take care of and be an authority figure to (new rule of not hurting the innocent, always him showing mercy, etc.) since he couldn't manage to do that with his own. That, plus the added obsession with the holy grail, err, the hand of midas would be his new "if I can find this, I'll be okay" motivation.
Plus, it explains why the thieves were like ???? when Aladdin said Cassim was his father since I'm sure Cassim never mentioned he ever had a family.

And not to sound bias, but I gotta say out of all the Disney sequels KOT still stands as the most refreshing because it doesn't end with Cassim giving all this up and becoming "one of the good guys", and in fact him trying to do that is what caused the most problems.

[imekitty]

True, we have no idea when he actually joined the gang. Cassim's very vague on that point. I just assumed that he had joined before he thought his family was dead, but maybe it was after that? Hmm. Doug says he would've liked more explanation about all this instead of the pointless asides with Genie and even Jasmine. I kind of agree. :b

I think the bias is well-deserved, honestly! There's so much more Doug could've discussed about the film, but again, he's not a huge Aladdin fan, so it's to be expected that he wouldn't think about it nearly as deeply as us...geeks here. 8)

[Edward Falcon]

Who cares. I can't stand that guy. And I know at least two people who are better than him or almost anyone else from the TGWTG camp.

[imekitty]

I don't typically think his reviews are very good (he nitpicks a lot, and he'll often review things that he actually knows nothing about or he is not the target audience for and so ends up giving unfair reviews), but he is one of the most well-known reviewers on YT of films like this. Plus, he is reviewing as himself and not as his NC persona, which is nice. I'm sure he would've been more brutal if he had been the NC. I just thought his views on both films were interesting.

[Meesh]

I like Doug a lot. Edward Falcon - who do you like?

I was going to comment on his gripes about Cassim, but it seems like you all have taken care of that I was always disappointed with how little Jasmine was involved with the plot, although I did like that they painted her as a more understanding, supportive character, that their relationship had grown a lot more trust than (say) the beginning of RoJ.

Everything he said about RoJ was spot-on IMO. I even remember the little VHS pamphlet
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[imekitty]

I enjoy Doug for his humor. He makes me laugh! But I never take his reviews too seriously.

Aladdin and Jasmine both matured significantly by KoT. I really like that. I also think it's sweet that Aladdin decided to help his dad get his treasure, but I guess Doug didn't think that was realistic. :b

[Meesh]

I mean, he has a point but

1. What else was he gonna do? Drop him off somewhere without anything?

2. You know Aladdin enjoys a good hunt. They were already there. Probably couldn't resist it.

3. It would probably torture Cassim being that close, and Aladdin probably didn't want to be cruel. CASSIM is the dad, not Aladdin.

4. Cassim learned his lesson when Sa'luk almost killed Aladdin. So who's to say Cassim wouldn't have spent the rest of his life hunting for the hand if Aladdin didn't help? Probably spared him a wasted adulthood.

Just some immediate thoughts. I could argue the other side to them too, but they are thoughts
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[Edward Falcon]

[Meesh]

I'll check them out - thank you!
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[imekitty]

From what we know of Aladdin after watching the whole TV series, I would've been more surprised if he didn't decide to go after the treasure!