Aladdin and the King of Thieves is a 1996 animated film that is the second direct to video sequel to the Disney Animated Feature Film, Aladdin.
Aladdin and the King of Thieves serves as the final chapter of the Arabian Nights inspired Disney stories that began with the theatrical feature Aladdin (1992 film) and continued with its first direct to video sequel Aladdin 2: The Return of Jafar (1994) and the Aladdin (TV Series) (1994–1995).
Robin Williams returned to voice the Genie after Disney apologized for the use of his likeness in the promotion of the original Aladdin film (Williams believed Disney had broken the terms of his contract). Dan castellaneta had actually recorded all the dialogue of the Genie for this film, as he did with the previous sequel due to Disney's differences with Williams, but his recording session was not used when Robin Williams agreed to reprise his role.
Plot
During their wedding ceremony, Aladdin and Princess Jasmine find themselves the targets of a raid by the infamous Forty Thieves, led by a man named Cassim. Although Aladdin, Jasmine and the rest of their gang successfully stop the raid and drive the thieves away, they are unable to prevent the wedding from being ruined. Determined to learn what the thieves were after, Aladdin finds an unusual staff (which The King of Thieves tries to steal) among the treasures given as wedding presents. The staff contains an oracle, able to see into the past or the future, but is only able to grant an answer to one question asked per person.
Overcome with desire to know more about his family, Aladdin asks the oracle about his long-lost father, and is told to follow the trail of the Forty Thieves, stating that Aladdin's father is "trapped within their world". Believing him to be their prisoner, Aladdin tracks them down and stows away into their hideout. He is shocked to find that his father is not their prisoner at all, but their leader: Cassim, the King of Thieves, the very man he fought during his wedding's invasion. But, family or not, Aladdin has trespassed in their lair and the Forty Thieves are eager to have him punished for it. Cassim, however, suggest that Aladdin instead face "the Challenge" - an initiation ritual - where he must defeat another one of the Forty Thieves and take his place. Aladdin eventually defeats Cassim's right-hand man, Sa'Luk, in battle, gaining him a place among the thieves. It is then that he learns the true motives behind the raid, and his father's leave of absence from his family: he had discovered evidence of the existence of the Hand of Midas, a powerful artifact that can transform anything it touches into solid gold. Cassim believed that, with the Hand, he could return to his family and give them the life they deserved instead of one living out in the streets, and had instigated the raid so he could capture the oracle's staff so he may question the seer as to the precise whereabouts of the artifact.
Aladdin convinces Cassim to come back with him to the Palace as his guest and, for a while, he is happy to spend quality time with his son. But the pull of his obsession with the Hand is too great, and he ends up stealing the Oracle's staff and getting captured by the guards of the palace. Aladdin helps his father escape, but is recognized by the Captain of the Guard, forcing him to flee the city with Cassim and Iago, Aladdin's treasure-loving parrot. Rather than abandon Jasmine (like his father had left him), Aladdin angrily confronts Cassim and returns to Agrabah to take responsibility for his actions. Meanwhile, Iago and Cassim return to the thieves' cave to find that Sa'Luk is still alive and is now the leader of the remaining thieves. Sa'Luk convinces the remaining thieves that Cassim sold them out to the palace guards and was to blame for the recent raid upon their hidden fortress(in actuality it was Sa'Luk who told the guards so he could frame Cassim). Cassim, desperate to prove his loyalty, is forced to use the stolen oracle in order to find the location of the Hand, and then lead his men there. The Oracle directs them to The Vanishing Isle, a great marble fortress built on the back of a gigantic undersea turtle that periodically dives to the bottom of the ocean, taking the golden Hand with it.
Iago manages to escape from the group, and goes off to lead Aladdin and Jasmine to his imprisoned father. Aladdin and Cassim reconcile, and retrieve the Hand just as the turtle is beginning to submerge when they are attacked by Sa'Luk. Then, after struggling to escape the flooding fortress, Cassim throws the Hand of Midas to Sa'Luk, who doesn't know the legend of the Hand. Foolishly grabbing it by the gold hand (instead of the wood handle), Sa'Luk is turned into gold. Aladdin and Cassim manage to escape with the Hand but. Finally realizing how much pain his obsession with the trinket had caused, Cassim decides to toss it into the sea. However, it does not hit the sea just instantly. It hits the thieves' ship instead, turning it gold, and it sinks. As the movie closes, Aladdin and Jasmine finally tie the knot, and Cassim accepts the parrot Iago as a traveling companion as he goes off once again to see the world.
A reprise of Arabian Nights is then sung; the Peddler makes an appearance at the end of this film to mark the end of the legend of Aladdin (originally planned for the end of the first film) as Aladdin and Jasmine fly past him and wave good-bye to Cassim and Iago, and the two kiss.
Voice Cast
- Japanese
- Shinichiro Miki as Aladdin
- Koichi Yamadera as Genie
- Frank Welker as Abu
- Akira Kamiya as Iago
- the late Kinpei Azusa as The Sultan
- Kaori Aso as Princess Jasmine (Speaking & Simging)
- Kazutaka Ishii as Aladdin's singing voice
- Masaru Ikeda as Cassim
- Kazue Komiya as The Oracle
- Yusaku Yara as Razoul
- Haruhiko Jo as Sa'Luk
- English
- Scott Weinger as Aladdin
- the late Robin Williams as Genie
- Frank Welker as Abu
- the late Gilbert Gottfried as Iago
- Val Bettin as The Sultan
- Linda Larkin as Princess Jasmine
- Brad Kane as Aladdin's singing voice
- Liz Callaway as Jasmine's singing voice
- John Rhys Davies as Cassim
- CCH Pounder as The Oracle
- Jim Cummings as Razoul
- Jerry Orbach as Sa'Luk
Behind The Scenes
- Robin Williams returned to voice the Genie after Disney apologized for the use of his likeness in the promotion of the original Aladdin film (Williams believed Disney had broken the terms of his contract).Dan Castellaneta had actually recorded all the dialogue of the Genie for this film, as he did with the previous sequel due to Disney's differences with Williams, but his recording session was not used when Robin Williams agreed to reprise his role. In fact, this was Williams' only true reprise of the Genie.
- Earlier ideas for the film included Aladdin finding out that Mozeenrath is actually his brother. They did not use this idea because the voice actor did not agree to reprise his role, and also because the filmmakers felt they should draw attention away from the TV show, though Uncouthma and his family make cameos as Aladdin and Jasmine walk down the aisle.
Trivia
- It aired on Toon Disney on July 26, 2005 and on September 10, 2005. It aired again on November 2, 2005 and on December 5, 2005.
- It aired on Disney Channel on December 17, 2005.
- It aired on Disney XD on April 5, 2009.
- Robin Williams' many impersonations included a live-action character he portrayed: The title character of the 1993 Fox comedy film, Mrs.Doubtfire.
- At the very end of the credits, the Genie appears in front of the black screen and says, "Game over man, game over!" This is a spoof of an identical speech by the character Hudson in the movie Aliens.
- The "security system" set up by the Genie has the classic Cylon "rotating eye" found in Battlestar Galactica.
- During the first song, the Genie turns into Rocky.
- Ali Baba and the forty thieves are mentioned in the first Aladdin movie.
- Various references included Pocahontas,Pumbaa from The Lion King, Rocky, ED-209 from Robocop, all of which Genie turned into or made with magic.
- Genie transforms into a parody of Forrest Gump during the wedding fight scene and says "Mama always said, 'Magic is as magic does.'"
- This film marks the second and last time Robin Williams voices the Genie in an animated production before his death on August 11, 2014.
- One of the forty thieves, clearly identifiable as a fakir, is graphically similar to the Mad Doctor.
- When the film's original VHS release first came out in 1996, while the NTSC masters on American VHS and LaserDisc releases preserved the original opening credit "Walt Disney Home Video Presents" in the opening titles, NTSC and PAL masters on international VHS and LaserDisc releases on the other hand for some reason changed the original opening credit to "Disney Video Premiere", perhaps to reflect the fact that Walt Disney Home Video had temporarily re-branded as Disney Videos outside America from 1995 to 2001. The film's 2005 Special Edition VHS and DVD releases on the other hand preserve the original "Walt Disney Home Video Presents" opening credit for both NTSC and PAL masters.
- The film was accompanied by a promotional campaign, costing more than $70 million, and with promotional support from McDonald's, Hasbro, TGI Friday's, General Mills and Cadbury.
- Prince Unchouthma, Brawnhilda, Bud, Prince Mamood, Wazeer, Captain Merc and Sadira from the TV Series make an appearance at Aladdin and Jasmine's wedding at the end of the film.
- The TV prints edit out the shot where Genie was holding a portrait of Jessica Rabbit’s torso over Jasmine’s due to being suggestively inappropriate.
- The Aladdin TV series features the episodes, "Forget me Lots" and "The Book of Khartoum". The former taking place after the events of the original film, and the latter taking place another year, on the anniversary of one episode. When the series' continuity is brought into the trilogy, it would indicate that Aladdin and the King of Thieves takes place 2 years after the first film, while The Return of Jafar takes place very shortly before the episode "Forget Me Lots".
- Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, Genie (with a small appearance), and the Magic Carpet will later appear in the crossover episode from the Hercules episode, Hercules and the Arabian Night as that episode takes place after the events of Aladdin and the King of Thieves.
- The scene with the Genie consoling Princess Jasmine while Aladdin is away at the lair of the forty thieves, was completely improvised by Robin Williams.
- After a contract dispute with the Disney company over likeness rights, Robin Williams agreed to return for this film as the voice of the Genie ,reportedly for a $1 million salary after he received an apology from Joe Roth for Disney breaching an agreement not to use his voice to merchandise products inspired by Aladdin (1992). As a result, many of the ideas and gags that were not used in "Aladdin" could be retried in the making of this film. Dan Castellaneta had actually recorded all the dialogue of the Genie for this film, as he did with the previous sequel, but his recording session was not used when Williams agreed to reprise his role.
- Among the Genie's many transformations is an old, grandmotherly woman, clearly meant to be Mrs. Doubtfire, the title character played by Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). The character originated as Andy Kaufman's grandmother at his famous Carnegie Hall show, and was adapted for the movie.
- Sir Sean Connery was originally cast as Cassim, but scheduling conflicts with another film forced him to drop out of the role. Cassim's appearance was based on Connery's rather than that of the voice actor who replaced him, John Rhys-Davies, his co-star in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989); another film centering around an estranged father and son chasing villains in search of a supernatural treasure that ultimately is discarded in favor of their renewed relationship.
- The first idea for this storyline involved a villain from the Aladdin (1994) television series named Mozenrath. The plot would reveal that the hero and villain were brothers. However, according to one of the writers, everyone thought they should steer away from the television show. That and the fact that they couldn't get in touch with Jonathan Brandis (Mozenrath's voice), prompted writers to move on to another relative of Aladdin's - his father.
- "The Arabian Nights Reprise", written by Alan Menkenand Howard Ashman, was originally written and recorded for the first Aladdin (1992).
- In the first movie, Aladdin makes a wish to become a Prince. He ultimately gets his wish in this movie. Since Aladdin's father is the King of Thieves, that would make Aladdin the Prince of Thieves as well.
- This film grossed $186 million, making it the fourth-highest-grossing direct-to-video animated feature film of all time.
- VHS sales were remarkably strong (far out-grossing The Return of Jafar) and doing another Aladdin movie and/or a spin-off with one of the supporting characters was seriously discussed, but never came to fruition mainly believing that sales were not exceedingly strong to merit another and did not want the fans to get burned out on the franchise.
- While the story is clearly inspired by Ali Baba and the forty thieves, Ali Baba is never mentioned or referenced. However, in the original tale of the One thousand and one nights, Ali Baba had a brother named Cassim.
- The film is inspired by the tale Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from the 1001 Arabian Nights, replacing Ali Baba with Aladdin. Coincidentally, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves had previously been name dropped by the Genie in the song "Friend Like Me" in the first "Aladdin" movie.
- Remains the only Aladdin film of the Aladdin Trilogy in which the song Arabian Nights is not played at the beginning of the movie unlike Aladdin (1992) and Aladdin: The Return of Jafar (1994) instead it is played at the end of the movie.
- Upon its release, the film was accompanied by a marketing campaign of more than $70 million with commercial tie-ins with McDonald's and General Mills.
- When the Chinese Thief says, "It is a good day to die." this is a reference to the 1970 movie "Little Big Man" when Old Lodge Skins says, "It is a good day to die".
- Sadira from the TV series can be seen as a guest at Aladdin and Jasmine's wedding.
- During the first song, the Genie turns into Rocky Balboa. This is followed up by Genie turning into Don King.
- For the first time since the original Aladdin this film has a completely new soundtrack instead of the rearranged music from the original film for "The Return of Jafar" and the TV series.
- This is the second Aladdin film where Liz Calloway provides Jasmine's singing voice.
- The first Sequel Robin Williams had ever done until Night at the museum.
- Sa'Luk is voiced by Jerry Orbach, who previously voiced Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast (1991).
- Was originally slated for a Fall 1995 release before being pushed to the summer of 1996.
all information on Aladdin and the King of Thieves came from http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Aladdin_and_the_King_of_Thieves
Songs
- There's A Party Here in Agrabah (Part 1): Sung mostly by Genie, and partly by Iago, some of the Forty Thieves, Aladdin, and Princess Jasmine.
- There's A Party here in Agrabah (Part 2) : Sung by Aladdin, Iago, Genie, Princess Jasminr, the Sultan, Abu, the thieves and the people of Agrabah.
- Out Of Thin Air : Sung by Aladdin and Princess Jasmine.
- Welcome To The 40 Thieves : Sung by the Forty Thieves after the defeat of Sa'luk and Aladdin's acceptance into the team.
- Father and Son : Sung mostly by Genie after Cassim arrives at the palace in Agrabah.
- Are you in or out? : Sung by Sa'luk and those who remained of the Forty Thieves, where Sa'luk turned them against Cassim.
- Arabian Nights (Reprise) : Sung by the peddler seen in the beginning of Aladdin.