Aladdin and the King of Thieves (Tad Stones, 1996) Review

And since Aladdin was SOOO popular, it warrented another sequel. I guess they wanted to tie everything up with a proper trilogy. Well, Return of Jafar wasn't exactly the worst Disney film ever so I guess this one can't be too bad right...right? Well then, let's get this out of the way. Is Aladdin and the King of Thieves good? Let's find out!

So after two films, Aladdin (Scott Weinger) and Jasmine (Linda Larkin) are FINALLY getting married (took them long enough). Just before the ceremony can finish, the forty thieves invade and wreck the place. Aladdin fights off the king of thieves (John Rhys-Davies) and finds a magic sceptar that grants an answer to any question. Aladdin decides to ask where his father is. The answer? His father is the king of thieves! Aladdin, Iago (Gilbert Gottfried) and Abu (Frank Welker) travel to the thieves base where Aladdin is pitted against Saluk (Jerry Orbach), the ruthless second in command. Saluk is thought to be killed by Aladdin but survives but wants revenge on Aladdin and his dad, named Cassim. Cassim wants to find a fabled object known as the Hand of Midas which turns everything it touches to gold (love it!). However, Saluk wants to find it first. It's a race against time as Aladdin and Cassim face off against Saluk.

First things first, this is a far superior film to Return of Jafar. The animation, while still not as good as the original, is actually really good. The characters are still good (especially the new ones like Cassim and Saluk) and are much better than Abis Mal (less said about him, the better) and the cast only helps this. The veteran actors are the same but John Rhys-Davies is excellent as Cassim (although I feeling the character was written for Sean Connery...just me?) and Jerry Orbach brings a great villainous character. The star of the show is still Genie though. The best part? He's voiced by Robin Williams again! He is truly on the ball in this film and is better than ever before. He's freaking hilarious! I do miss Jafar though...he was one of Disney's best villains.

That's not the say this film is perfect. It just doesn't look as good as the first film and, while characters like Genie and Iago are fantastic, the characters don't hold up as well. I mean, they're good...just not THAT good. The songs? They're alright. As always, Genie holds the best songs but there are more than just one good song. Sure, they're not as memorable as the first films songs but they are still pretty damn good. 'Welcome to the Forty Thieves' is still pretty stupid though...

Aladdin and the King of Thieves was a good way to finish the franchise but I feel that the last one should usually either the best one or the worst one, thus killing the franchise. This one is an exception as it's not the worst or the best in the trilogy. Many people haven't seen it but if you liked the first film, then you will like this one too.

Verdict:
7.5/10
A good way to finish off the trilogy. Robin Williams returns (HELL YEAH!), there are new characters that are great and the animation is almost as good as the original.