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Who is the main character of "Aladdin"?

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[quote="LadyApocalymon"]I watched [i]Return of Jafar[/i] last night and [i]Aladdin and the King of Thieves[/i] this morning, both for essentially the first time, and decided to post my thoughts on the former. (I saw both of these movies when I was young, but I didn't remember anything about any of them, so I am a new viewer for all practical intents and purposes.) I realize that I'll probably just be retreading on what's been said about this movie for the past decade, but I want to speak out anyway. Here we go...

[b]~ The Return of Jafar ~[/b]

RoJ holds the dubious honor of being Disney's first foray into the "cheapquel" land of direct-to-video films. The animation was shoddy, but I could forgive them that if they'd had a good script to back it up. They didn't.

WHAT WAS WRONG?

+ The musical numbers were completely extraneous. All of them could have been replaced with a couple of lines of dialogue (or nothing at all), and the film would have been much better for it. Some (like Jafar's "You're Only Second Rate") were completely unnecessary, while others (such as Iago's "I'm Looking Out for Me") presented needed character beats, but could have done so more effectively.

+ In the absence of Robin Williams's comedic genius, most of the humor in RoJ was slapstick and visual gags, with only Gilbert Gottfried's performance as Iago to provide any of the original film's wit. Jason Alexander did a wonderful job as Abis Mal, but he was given far too little screentime to be appreciated, and Abis Mal serves as little more than a cheap way to get Jafar from Point A to Point B.

+ The plot, while mildly entertaining and even engaging at times, ran very much like an animated piece of fan fiction (which RoJ and other Disney sequels arguably are). In fact, it's not only a piece of fan fiction - it's a piece of Iago-centric fan fiction; Iago is not only the cornerstone of the plot, but also the only dynamic character in the entire movie. All changes in the other characters are centered around Iago, and even those changes are simple at best. There was no attempt to develop any of the other characters beyond what we saw in [i]Aladdin[/i] (more on this later).

WHAT WAS RIGHT?

+ Essentially, the entire film rode around Iago, so it's a good thing the scriptwriters got him down pat. His entire arc was fully believable, and Gilbert Gottfried lived up to his original performance. It's not often that a cheap-sequel-villain-redemption is in-character, and while one can complain of the lack of character development in the rest of the cast, there isn't a spot on Iago's transformation from evil minion to semi-good minion.

+ While the movie did not attempt to explore further the characterization of anyone besides Iago, it did manage to stay true to everyone, instead of horribly butchering their personalities for plot purposes. The only (and blatant) exception is Jafar, but again, more on that later.

LATER

And this is where the Jafar fangirl complains mightily.

For a movie called [i]The Return of Jafar[/i], there was not a lot of Jafar - but I am thankful, because the Jafar in the movie [i]Aladdin[/i] makes no appearances in the sequel.

The difference between [i]Aladdin[/i]'s Jafar and the Jafar of the sequel is analogous to the difference between the animation of the two films. RoJ completely stripped away a lot of what made Jafar himself. Gone are the beautiful and subtle animation, the cool serpentine malice, the slightly comedic eccentricity, the refined elegence - and, for certain fans, the alluring sensuality that stems from it all. To further a parrot's film career, one of the greatest animated villains of all time has been thrown aside in favor of a sloppy cardboard cutout with the same voice. It's not the return of Jafar; it's the return of Iago, with Jafar so mutilated that he becomes less than a character - more like a stereotypically evil Thing that prowls around the periphery of the film, giving everyone something to worry about now and then. And, for reasons I cannot yet divine, they even threw in a song for him; it did nothing for the plot or any of the characters, and I wept inside when I watched it.

Going to stop before I rant the afternoon away. You get the point.

VERDICT?

I won't rate this film, since I'm sure it's completely different for anyone who's on Aladdin and/or Iago's side. Let me say instead that I still consider it nothing more than animated fanfic, and would not watch it again except in instances of dire boredom. I realize that it bridges the gap between the movie(s) and the television series, but I have never seen the series, and have no intention of fully accepting this garbage of a sequel.

On a mental level, yes, I can stand it...But in my heart, there's just [i]Aladdin[/i].[/quote]

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