Deep Dive Disney Aladdin 30th Anniversary Special: Wes Looks at The Return of Jafar

Welcome friends to a very special installment of Deep Dive Disney. On this day, thirty years ago, one of Disney’s most celebrated animated films, Aladdin, was released in theaters.To this very day, the film is still thought of as a classic by many Disney fans, myself included. While I’d be lying if I said I thought the movie has aged as well as some people think it has, the movie nonetheless holds a very special place in my heart, being the first movie that I can remember seeing in the theaters, an experience that I will never forget. In that spirit, I’ve decided to pay homage to this Disney classic as it celebrates this milestone. Deciding how to do so proved tricky as I’ve already covered just about every piece of Aladdin content available to stream on Disney+. We’ve, of course, covered the original 1992 classic. We’ve covered the third film in the series, Aladdin & The King of Thieves. We’ve covered the, in my opinion, under-appreciated 2019 remake. We’ve even covered the Aladdin crossover episode of the Hercules cartoon. I would have loved to cover the Aladdin TV series but for reasons I may never fully comprehend, it is still not available for streaming on Disney+. That just leaves today’s subject matter, the direct sequel to the original Aladdin and the film the kicked off the era of direct to video Disney sequels, Return of Jafar. Cards on the table, this was not my first choice of things to cover for Aladdin’s 30th anniversary. We’ll get to my original plan tomorrow, but since April of this past year saw the unfortunate passing of Gilbert Gottfried at the age of sixty-seven and Gottfried is prominently featured in this movie, I decided to cover it anyway, to pay tribute to one of the greats if nothing else. I was hesitant, mostly because… this movie isn’t very good. Don’t get me wrong, all involved are clearly doing their best, but with a severely reduced budget, a runtime that barely cracks the sixty-minute mark and no Robin Williams, there’s only so much they can do. Here’s our story. Iago, Jafar’s parrot henchman, has crawled his way out of the Cave of Wonders and has told Jafar he's done with him, vowing to only look out for himself from now on. After a chance encounter with Aladdin in the marketplace, Iago sees an opportunity to cozy back up to those in power. Aladdin naturally doesn’t trust the treacherous parrot but after Iago saves his life from a gang of bandits, Aladdin agrees to put in the good word for Iago with the Sultan to ensure that he at least is given a fair trial. After some initial misunderstandings, the others warm up to Iago as well, but the bird’s loyalty is tested when a bumbling crook named Abis Mal finds Jafar’s lamp and lets the evil genie loose with only revenge on his mind. Now Iago needs to decide what’s stronger, his loyalty to his new friends, or his fear of his now all-powerful former boss. Let’s take a look at, Return of Jafar.

Main Character:

How’s this for a bait and switch? Everyone who watched this movie was probably expecting more adventures with Aladdin, and while, yes, Aladdin is indeed in the movie, he’s not exactly the main character anymore. Who is? Why Iago of course, the villain’s comedy sidekick from the last movie. Well, that’s a choice. Not one I would have made, but it’s definitely a choice. See, I told you Gilbert Gottfried was featured prominently in this flick. I guess you just didn’t realize HOW prominently. Say what you will about Kronk's New Groove, at least it told you upfront that Kuzco was no longer the main character. As unusual a decision as this may seem, I’ll give them credit, they did a good job with Iago’s redemption arc. Even though it starts with Iago only wanting to get back to living in luxury of the palace, over time, we do see him genuinely starting to like Aladdin and the gang and feeling conflicted when Jafar coerces him into betraying them. However, through it all, he's still Iago. He's still a greedy and irritable parrot who's mostly in it for his own self-interest, he's just one who's on the side of the good guys now. It would have been nice if the film had a bit more time to flesh out this character arc, but I like how Iago does grow to like Aladdin and the others without doing a complete personality one-eighty.

Villain:

I’ll start by giving a shout out to the secondary villain, Abis Mal (get it, like Abysmal), voiced by the always awesome Jason Alexander. He’s a complete moron who lucks his way into finding Jafar’s lamp and only sticks around because he realizes that Jafar needs him in order to get what he wants. If he could, Jafar would probably have just vaporized the little twerp on the spot, but if he did, Abis Mal would not have gone on to be a recurring villain in the upcoming TV show, and we can’t have that.

Now on to Jafar himself. Yup, he’s still Jafar. Still a power-hungry mad man bent on revenge and eventually conquest. The only difference is now he’s got phenomenal cosmic power on his side. He definitely has his intimidating moments, but sadly, much like the rest of the film, Jafar in this movie feels mostly underwhelming, especially when compared to his twisted reign of terror from the last film. They even state that, per the rules of the Genie, Jafar can’t actually kill anyone, so the threat he poses loses a great deal of tension. Jonathan Freeman still does his best, but I don’t know, Jafar just feels like he’s lost a lot of his edge since last time. See, one of the things that made Jafar an interesting villain last time around was how much he hated being second to anyone. He was always seeking more power because no matter how much he accumulated there was always someone who had more. This obsession was what ultimately proved Jafar's undoing as he wished to become a Genie, not realizing that that kind of power comes with consequences. Now, Jafar is finally has all the power he could ever ask for and is second to no man. Even the Genie who originally bestowed him with this power has had his own reduced (the price of freedom for a genie). Because of this, Jafar just comes across as a generic villain bent on revenge and lacks the same punch he had in his original appearance.

Side Characters:

I don’t have a ton to say about Aladdin, Jasmine or most of the other characters in this movie. They’re more or less the same as they were last time around. A bit too much so in Aladdin’s case. Remember how last time Aladdin had to learn that honesty was the best policy when dealing with Jasmine? Well apparently, Aladdin doesn’t because he starts the movie by lying to her about Iago. Has he learned nothing!?

But, let’s talk about the Genie. It is common knowledge at this point that following the first film, Robin Williams had a falling out with Disney and did not return to reprise his role. To replace him, they got prolific voice actor Dan Castellaneta, best known as the voice of Homer Simpson, who would play the role until Williams would return for King of Thieves a few years later. Castellaneta is clearly trying his best, and his performance isn’t bad per se, but the thing is, in the first movie, Robin Williams improvised a huge chunk of his dialogue and had this natural ability to deliver his lines at this mile a minute speed. Dan Castellaneta is good, really good, at what he does, but even he can’t replicate Williams’ energy level. So, by no fault of his own, the performance sadly suffers as a result. Also, the animation budget on this movie has taken a beating and boy does it show, and nowhere more prominently than in The Genie because our blue friend is looking ugly. Seriously, what is going on with that lower jaw?

Songs:

We did not have Alan Menken on staff for this flick and it is painfully apparent once you hear the songs, all of them terrible, underwhelming and forgettable. Gilbert Gottfried was a man of many talents, but singing, especially singing in his Iago voice, was definitely not one of them. With that in mind, I want to know what moron decided it was a good idea to give Gilbert Gottfried not one, but two musical numbers in this movie and where would be the best place to leave a flaming bag of dog shit for them to step on! You heard me right, Iago gets two songs in this movie. Jasmine didn’t even get that many songs in the first movie. Hell, she didn’t even get her own solo number until the remake. Iago’s two numbers are called I’m Looking Out for Me and Forget about Love, and they both suck. Also, I’m Looking Out for Me sounds suspiciously like Welcome to the Forty thieves from the next movie. The other two songs don’t fair much better. Genie gets a song about how much he missed Aladdin and Jasmine, a lovely sentiment, but a terrible song and Jafar gets an underwritten villain song in which he loses what little dignity he had left.

Memorable Scenes:

Any scene in which Iago is going through his redemption arc is surprisingly well handled. Gilbert Gottfried does manage to give Iago a lot of genuine emotion and you buy the conflict he’s going through. I especially like when he frees the Genie to save Aladdin, a moment that cements his face turn and finally earns him the trust of the heroes.

And, I’ll be honest, the final showdown with Jafar is pretty cool. We get this nice moment where the Genie distracts Jafar by pretending to be Aladdin. Earlier, Jafar mocked Genie because now that he was free of the lamp, his powers have been diminished. This is Genie’s way of showing Jafar that he’s still got some tricks up his sleeve. However, this scene belongs to Iago. The once treacherous parrot, willingly puts himself in harms way in order to destroy Jafar’s lamp, the only way to permanently kill a genie. Barely conscious, the Parrot knocks the lamp into a lava pit, destroying Jafar once and for all, at least until he meets up with Hades in the Underworld. What really makes this work is how Iago has nothing to gain here. Aladdin doesn't even guilt trip him into it. He just thanks Iago for the help he's provided so far and tells him that he and the others will handle the rest. Iago is off the hook, he could fly far away and Jafar probably wouldn't even notice. But instead, Iago risks life and limb simply to save the lives of his new friends and because it's the right thing to do.

Story:

So, this movie definitely doesn’t have enough time to flesh out any kind of themes to any level of significance, but it does still have a message. No one is beyond redemption as long as they put in the effort to be better. Iago was a greedy little scumbag, and to be fair, by the end of the movie, he still is, but he’s a greedy little scumbag who fights for good now. I actually really appreciate that despite turning good, Iago is still Iago. A change of alignment doesn’t mean a change of personality and real change in character comes gradually, so in a way, this redemption arc carries an element of realism. Well done, I guess.

The Dark Disney Factor:

There are two creepy moments in this movie worth mentioning and, strangely enough, both involve Jafar disguised as a woman. I'm not sure why, but Jafar masquerading as Jasmine in order to frame Aladdin for the Sultan's murder and order his execution always creeped me out as a kid. And during his villain song, Jafar is seen dressed like an old woman like some kind of Arabian Norman Bates. That’s creepy no matter how old you are.

Final Thoughts: This movie isn't great, but I'm still glad I covered it. Truth be told, the best thing about it is Gilbert Gottfried who always brought his best to the role of Iago as he did with the various roles he played over the years. RIP good sir, and thanks for being a part of some of my precious childhood memories. However, our celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Aladdin isn't over yet. Join me tomorrow when we look at something... Twisted.