Aladdin
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King Of Thieves just played here on UK TV.
I'd seen it before, but watched it again to see if I needed to make a purchase. Unfortunately, and even though I wanted to love it and give it a chance, I couldn't believe how cheap and nasty it looked.
Like a bad Don Bluth, actually, with character registration so bad that they seemingly hopped about even when standing still.
Return Of Jafar, which I bought on LD when I was caught up in all the "wow - a Disney video premiere" marketing spiel, is just as bad, technically, and so will be remaining on LD for me.
I'd seen it before, but watched it again to see if I needed to make a purchase. Unfortunately, and even though I wanted to love it and give it a chance, I couldn't believe how cheap and nasty it looked.
Like a bad Don Bluth, actually, with character registration so bad that they seemingly hopped about even when standing still.
Return Of Jafar, which I bought on LD when I was caught up in all the "wow - a Disney video premiere" marketing spiel, is just as bad, technically, and so will be remaining on LD for me.
A word about packaging on the Aladdin sequel movies' DVDs...
Not all 2-packs are created equally...
While most stores are selling the movies in side-by-side DVD packs (shrinkwrapped), a few other stories are selling the 2 DVDs packaged in a limited edition collector's box.
You can find the limited edition collector's 2-DVD boxset at Best Buy, Media Play, and Suncoast. I don't know about Target, but it's a possibility. I know that I didn't see the limited edition box at Wal-Mart, though. Wal-Mart is selling the side-by-side release.
Another Aladdin limited edition box bundles the 2 sequel DVDs with the original movie. I imagine this box is a more limited edition because most Disney collectors already have the original Disney Aladdin movie.
While most stores are selling the movies in side-by-side DVD packs (shrinkwrapped), a few other stories are selling the 2 DVDs packaged in a limited edition collector's box.
You can find the limited edition collector's 2-DVD boxset at Best Buy, Media Play, and Suncoast. I don't know about Target, but it's a possibility. I know that I didn't see the limited edition box at Wal-Mart, though. Wal-Mart is selling the side-by-side release.
Another Aladdin limited edition box bundles the 2 sequel DVDs with the original movie. I imagine this box is a more limited edition because most Disney collectors already have the original Disney Aladdin movie.
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Interesting!
We got a two-pack like that here in the UK (which is a much better way of storing them).
BUT... not only would I not buy this pack since the movies are pretty bad (and both screened on TV here over Crimob anyway), but also because King Of Thieves has been cropped to 1.85:1, when it was made and created by the TV team in the 1.33:1 ratio.
Oops!
We got a two-pack like that here in the UK (which is a much better way of storing them).
BUT... not only would I not buy this pack since the movies are pretty bad (and both screened on TV here over Crimob anyway), but also because King Of Thieves has been cropped to 1.85:1, when it was made and created by the TV team in the 1.33:1 ratio.
Oops!
Both the Aladdin films suffer from being done by a TV crew instead of a feature animation crew.
Really, the cost-cutting and cheapness shows in both the animation and coloring.
The stories are so-so, but the second movie was particularly hurt by the absence of Robin Williams.
Williams was brought back for the third film after Disney paid him off for the advertising fiasco of Aladdin, but his performance in that film was restrained and Genie hardly appeared in that movie!
The success of both sequels unfortunately convinced higher-ups at Disney that direct-video sequels were the way to go and that the suckers out there wouldn't notice the difference in quality between a feature-quality $50 million dollar animated movie and a TV-quality animated movie done overseas for under $4 million...
Really, the cost-cutting and cheapness shows in both the animation and coloring.
The stories are so-so, but the second movie was particularly hurt by the absence of Robin Williams.
Williams was brought back for the third film after Disney paid him off for the advertising fiasco of Aladdin, but his performance in that film was restrained and Genie hardly appeared in that movie!
The success of both sequels unfortunately convinced higher-ups at Disney that direct-video sequels were the way to go and that the suckers out there wouldn't notice the difference in quality between a feature-quality $50 million dollar animated movie and a TV-quality animated movie done overseas for under $4 million...
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What Disney failed to realize is that Return of Jafar was successful only because the public had every reason to believe it would be a quality product and bought it solely on expectations. Then those expectations were not met. I know I rushed out to get it the day it was released fully expecting that it would be of the same high quality as the original Aladdin. Boy, was I wrong. And while they have made some progress in the quality of their sequels the public is on its guard now and tends to assume that every DTV sequel must as bad as Return of Jafar.
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I see that all the Don Bluth movies are now shown on Toon Disney, which is quite sad...There is the strangest mishmash of Digimon, anime, X-Men, Spider-Man, and a bunch of other shows that don't remotely relate to Disney....all being shown on Toon Disney.Ben wrote:What really gets me about these two is the bad registration, even worse than Don Bluth's budget made films.
Funny thing is, he was only working at constraints of $11-19m during the 80s, so it can be done with better quality, even if his stories were over tampered with.
I thought King of Thieves was definetely better than Return of Jafar. ROJ was so anticlimatic (Jafar was banished in Aladdin and imprisoned in the lamp...end of story!) and even though I love Castellaneta's work, anyone could tell that it wasn't really the Genie! (I did like the Aladdin series however).
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!
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Don't forget that when Disney bought the Fox Family Channel, Disney acquired the rights to those shows, though.There is the strangest mishmash of Digimon, anime, X-Men, Spider-Man, and a bunch of other shows that don't remotely relate to Disney....all being shown on Toon Disney.
I think you are getting Jafar's end in Return of Jafar confused with his demise in Aladdin. Remember? Click to see the film's ending:I thought King of Thieves was definetely better than Return of Jafar. ROJ was so anticlimatic (Jafar was banished in Aladdin and imprisoned in the lamp...end of story!)
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Funny you guys hate King of THieves. To me it's one of the better Cheapquels. I thought the story was original, it has enough plot that I felt I got my money's worth, and it has Robin Williams. Sure the animation stinks but the story was good enough it didn't bother me.
I too ran out opening day to get Jafar and boy was I let down! What a stinky movie! That's probably why they put it with King of thieves, it's the only way it would ever hit DVD.
What was changed in Sibmba's Pride?
I too ran out opening day to get Jafar and boy was I let down! What a stinky movie! That's probably why they put it with King of thieves, it's the only way it would ever hit DVD.
What was changed in Sibmba's Pride?