Aladdin and the King of Thieves

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Aladdin and the King of Thieves is an animated film made by Disney in 1996. It is the second sequel to Aladdin, following 1994's The Return of Jafar. It was released direct to video, and it marks the end of the Aladdin movies and the Aladdin animated series.

This movie grossed $186 million, making it the fourth highest grossing direct-to-video animated feature film of all time. In 2005, the film was re-released as a Special Edition DVD, with digitally restored picture and remastered sound.

The movie is based loosely on the tale Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from the 1001 Arabian Nights, replacing Ali Baba with Aladdin.

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Storyline

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

During their wedding ceremony, Aladdin and Princess Jasmine find themselves the targets of a raid by the infamous Forty Thieves, lead by a man named Cassim. Although Aladdin successfully stops the raid and drives the thieves away, he is unable to prevent the wedding from being ruined. Determined to learn what the thieves were after, Aladdin finds an unusual staff 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 learns with shock that it is Cassim. Struggling to believe this information, and still curious about what the thieves' real intentions were, he tracks them down and 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 gets captured by the palace guards. Aladdin helps his father escape, but he is recognized by the Captain of the Guard and forced to flee with Cassim and Iago, Aladdin's treasure-loving parrot. Rather than abandon Jasmine (like his father had left him), Aladdin returns to Agrabah to take responsibility for his actions. Meanwhile, Iago and Cassim return to the thieves' cave, and find that Sa'luk is still alive and is now the leader of the remaining thieves. Cassim is forced to use the oracle to find the location of the Hand: A city built on the back of a gigantic undersea turtle.

Iago manages to escape, and leads Aladdin and Jasmine to his father. Aladdin and Cassim retrieve the Hand, and the turtle begins to submerge when they are attacked by Sa'luk who, not knowing the legend of the Hand, 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. 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.

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Trivia

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 broke the terms of his contract).

Williams' many impersonations included someone he created: The title character of the 1993 comedy film Mrs. Doubtfire.

In the tale, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Cassim is the name of Ali Baba's brother, who is trapped in the cave after forgetting the password that opens it, and is killed by the thieves when they return.

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