Disney's truly bad side is their habit of churning out cheaply made straight-to-video sequels and spin-offs. And this is no exception to that rule. This short and lifeless offering is an extension to the original Aladdin with the original's charisma and energy sucked right out - the good jokes and interesting moments are almost non-existent in this very obviously hastily put-together film.<br /><br />The film's most obvious loss is Robin William's genie. Dan Castellaneta does his very best, but he just can't whip up the energy which was so wonderful in the original. He doesn't do motor-mouthed wisecracks and another of his weaknesses is at the heart of the film's biggest downfall: he can't carry off a song.<br /><br />The songs in The Return of Jafar are basically abysmal. The Genie's song - "There's Nothing in the World (Quite Like a Friend)" - completely pales in comparison to the original film's "Friend Like Me". Also, this time, even Jafar - rather tragically - joins in the singing and dancing and the originally great but now tortuously irritating Iago gets not one but two songs. Both of them are dreadful.<br /><br />Whilst any of the film's sparse good points are drowned amongst the embarrassing dialogue and plot, the animation is always distracting. That is, because it is hideous! The vivid animation and fluid movement in the original two years previously seems to be a world away from The Return of Jafar's clumsy and simple production. Action sequences, song routines and the Genie's whirlwind magic are limp and the film suffers terribly from jerky movement and screaming continuity errors. One of the saddest results of this is The Return of Jafar's Magic Carpet. The Magic Carpet in Aladdin is its own character, moving with genuine life and comedy. This time round it is reduced to being an inelegant purple rectangle.<br /><br />4/10