The Return of Jafar (Toby Shelton, Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove, 1994) Review

And when there's a successful Disney film, there is almost always a direct-to-video sequel (in the 90s at least). Most of the time they were...crap, to say the least. This was normally because they couldn't be bothered to get the same actors back or usually looks much, much worse in comparison. So Disney decided to release a sequel Aladdin called The Return of Jafar. Is it as bad as other Disney sequels? Let's find out!

After being imprisoned in Jafar's (Jonathan Freeman) lamp, his parrot Iago (Gilbert Gottfried) manages to escape but leaves Jafar behind because of the abuse he gets from him. Iago heads to Agrabah to find Aladdin (Scott Weinger) is now living in the palace with Jasmine (Linda Larkin) and the Sultan (Val Bettin). Iago tries to win over Aladdin and ends up saving his life. Aladdin hides Iago in the palace so he can prepare to reveil them to Jasmine and the Sultan...thye are less than pleased. In the meantime, Genie (Dan Castellaneta)  is back from his world trip since he realised what he's been missing: Aladdin and Jasmine! Meanwhile, the incompetent thief Abis Mal (Jason Alexander) finds Jafar's lamp and awakens him. They both share a hatred of Aladdin and team up in order to ruin his life (since genie's can't kill...but you'll be surprised what you can live through).

You may have noticed something. There's no Robin Williams. Apparently he got a little angry at Disney and left. To his credit, Dan Castellaneta does do a good job of covering for him. Sure it's not perfect but it's good enough. The other actors are the same except the Sultan who is now voiced by Val Bettin who you may remember from Basil, The Great Mouse Detective where he voiced Dr. Dawson. It's basically the same voice and character so...not much difference really. The animation definitely doesn't live up to the previous one. Things don't look as nice and the colours seem...a bit off.

I'm glad that they brought Jafar back since he's one of the best Disney villains and it's about time that he got a villain song...although it could have been better. The songs in this aren't as memorable as the previous film. The only one I like is "Like a Friend" just because Genie sings it. His songs are always great! This film isn't perfect and it doesn't even hold a candle to the original (that saying goes way over my head...). I'm pretty sure the only reason it exists is because it sets up the animated series...so, yeah!

The Return of Jafar is much better than other Disney sequels such as Cinderella II or Kronk's New Groove but it is certainly nowhere near to how good the original film is. I'm not saying it's a bad film since I will gladly watch it but it's just...above average. Well then, join me next time where we finish off another trilogy...oh, yeah. There's a third Aladdin film...

Verdict:
6/10
A decent sequel to Aladdin. The cast, while missing the original, is okay and the story is surprisingly well written.