Story

The Return of Jafar is the sequel to Aladdin (1992), in which Jafar (voice of Jonathan Freeman) is trapped in a lamp to live out his life as a genie. Abis Mal (voice of Jason Alexander), leader of a group of thieves, finds Jafar’s lamp, frees him and is given 3 wishes. But from the moment Jafar exits his lamp, his one goal is to get revenge on Aladdin (Scott Weinger), Jasmine (Linda Larkin) and Genie (Dan Castellaneta).

While Jafar is plotting his revenge, Aladdin, along with his pet monkey Abu and his magic flying carpet, are getting used to living in the palace and building a relationship with Jasmine, her pet tiger Rajah and her father the Sultan (Val Bettin).

With the help of his parrot Iago (Gilbert Gottfried) and Abis Mal, Jafar captures and imprisons Jasmine, the Sultan and Genie. He then plans to kill Aladdin using his magic. Iago decides to do the right thing, so he changes sides and frees Genie and Jasmine from their chains. Aladdin returns to the palace to stop Jafar. When Jafar sees him, he’s outraged Aladdin is still alive.

Aladdin, Abu and Jafar struggle for Jafar’s lamp and hope to destroy it – in turn destroying Jafar for good.

Themes

Crime; death; animal distress or cruelty to animals; revenge; hero vs villain; good vs evil

Violence

The Return of Jafar has some violence. For example:

• Aladdin walks across the thieves’ heads to get to their leader.
• Several times, the thieves chase Aladdin with swords, trying to catch and kill him.
• The thieves and Aladdin fight in a big group, and someone is choked.
• Aladdin drops a chandelier on the thieves.
• Aladdin nearly falls onto the thieves’ swords but is saved by Carpet.
• Abis Mal shakes one of his men by the neck of his shirt in anger. He grabs Carpet and falls to the ground. He’s then hit on the head by a boulder.
• Jafar shoots magic at Iago from inside the lantern. Iago drops the lantern in a well.
• During the song ‘I'm looking out for me’, Iago goes around the streets trying to steal things. Shopkeepers are trying to grab and kill him with swords.
• Aladdin, Abu and Iago use swords to fight with Abis Mal and the thieves outside the palace.
• The thieves turn the swords on their leader and threaten to kill him.
• The thieves talk about ‘slicing Aladdin in half’.
• Jafar talks about killing Aladdin.
• Jafar uses lightning to strike Abis Mal.
• Rajah chases, growls and tries to bite Iago.
• Genie plays pool and hits Iago with the ball, and he flies across the room. Abu jumps on him to get the ball out of his beak.
• In the song ‘You’re only second rate’, Jafar uses his magic to torment and hurt Genie and Abu. Jafar then locks up Abu and Genie so they don’t interfere with his revenge.
• Abis Mal kicks Aladdin into the river.
• The guards put Aladdin’s head in a bag and force him into a guillotine. Genie saves him before the headsman cuts his head off.
• Jafar blasts fire at Aladdin, Abis Mal and Abu, pushing them to the edge of the balcony. He then crumbles the balcony, so they fall.
• Jafar blasts the ground, almost hitting Jasmine and opening a chasm full of lava.
• Iago drops Jafar’s lamp into the lava, destroying him.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in The Return of Jafar.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no use of substances in The Return of Jafar.

Nudity and sexual activity

The Return of Jafar has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

• Aladdin and Jasmine kiss several times.
• Genie’s eyes pop out while he’s watching a hula-dancing bobblehead. He says, ‘Oh, she dances’.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in The Return of Jafar.

Coarse language

The Return of Jafar has some insulting language and name-calling:

• The leader of the thieves describes his accomplices as ‘a band of desert skunks’. He also refers to Abu as a ‘stupid monkey’.
• Jafar yells at Iago throughout the movie, calling him things like a ‘worthless pipsqueak’.
• A shopkeeper yells at Iago, ‘Steal from us again and your scrawny body will be dinner for the jackal’.
• Aladdin is referred to as a ‘street rat’.
• Iago calls Jafar an ‘idiot’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

The Return of Jafar is a Disney animation about Jafar, who wants revenge on Aladdin, who was partly responsible for his imprisonment inside the magic lamp.

The Return of Jafar is likely to appeal to families with older children. Because it has some violence and scary scenes, this movie is most suitable for children over 8 years. We recommend parental guidance for children aged 5-8 years.

The main message from The Return of Jafar is that good always defeats evil.

Values in The Return of Jafar that you could reinforce with your children include:

• being true to yourself
• working as a team.

The Return of Jafar could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the importance of treating people kindly, no matter their background or previous actions.