The Return of Jafar Reviews

The original is one of my favourite Disney movies. This movie isn't terrible, but it is fair to say, it is the worst out of the Aladdin trilogy. If you want a really good DTV sequel, check out Aladdin and the King of Thieves (the best DTV sequel) or Beauty and the Beast:The Enchanted Christmas.

The characters were less appealing here.Most of the voice actors return, but all of them sound different. Aladdin and Jasmine were less mature here, as well as the Sultan. Jafar wasn't as frightening or as humorous as he was in the first movie, and Iago is sometimes annoying, unlike King of Thieves, when he is actually funny. Dan Castellanetta does a serviceable job as the genie(he is funny at times), but it just isn't the same without Robin Williams. The worst character was Abis Mal, I absolutely hate that character. He just grates on my nerves. The animation sometimes looks nice, but at other times, it has a rather nasty quality about it. Almost all the characters look poorly drawn, and I really didn't want to say this. Even the Genie wasn't up to top animation standard. It wasn't the backgrounds as such, some were very nice, it was the character animation that was the problem.

As for the songs, they aren't dreadful, but they are the weakest batch in any Disney movie. Iago's singing made my ears bleed, and "Second Rate" sounded as though Jonathan Freeman was struggling with the song. (No wonder, it is very hard)I don't know about you but the old woman in the chair bit I found creepy as a kid. The best song in my opinion is "there is nothing in the world quite like a Friend" which has a decent melody. Also Liz Callaway has a nice singing voice. I really liked the incidental music though, and the scene of the winged horses.

The story was the biggest problem, it went at such a slow pace. Also the villain back for revenge formula was over-familiar, and has been done so much better before. I also disliked the fact that Iago seemed to be the main character, when he was truly irritating here, and some of the dialogue is very lame, there was one part when Aladdin says something that is meant to be funny and he raises his eyebrows cheekily, but I found myself groaning than laughing. I'm sorry, that's my view. On a positive note, this film actually has one of the best climaxes in a DTV sequel, and the voice acting if different was decent especially Jonathan Freeman as Jafar.

This is a very disappointing sequel, especially when it was released two years after the original. but on the bright side, it isn't as bad as the Cinderella and Jungle Book sequels, which are both thinly plotted. 6/10. Bethany Cox

The Return of Jafar is a seventy minute pilot for the utterly enjoyable Aladdin television series, and despite its skimpy running time feels like it’s about three times longer. Everything from the animation to the storyline just gets progressively worse as it shuffles along, joylessly, towards the ending.

Perhaps the biggest problem is the choice of characters to focus on: Iago, the shrill voiced parrot, and the newly created Abis Mal, that name says it all. Iago, and other characters like him, are not meant to be the focus of a feature length film. They work as ancillary characters, and beefing up their screentime in twenty-two minute episodes sporadically is fine, over seventy minutes is pushing it. And the less said about Abis Mal the better. Luckily, the producers seem to have forgotten about him halfway through and only occasionally return to him. Once Jafar returns, and whenever he’s onscreen, the interest and pace pick up. Pity he’s not used effectively enough.

And now for the elephant in the room. Dan Castellaneta does a serviceable job replacing Robin Williams, but while Williams’ Genie was fueled by the comic’s own manic comedy style, Castellaneta feels like forced zaniness and madcap humor.

The Return of Jafar started the recently stopped practice of creating inferior direct-to-video sequels for some of their most beloved projects. Unfortunately, it also set the template for just how awful they could really be.