Tad Stones

The animation is uneven and in general could look a lot better, but this is largely made up for by otherwise great set pieces and designs (the floating isle, the Hand of Midas, the Oracle, the "Open Sesame" entrance to the hideout, etc.) The film can perhaps be faulted for being a little bit too heavy-handed on the "Robin Williams is back!!!" stuff, as Genie probably has as many words of dialogue in this film as the rest of the cast put together, despite an absolute lack of plot relevance -- but mostly, it's good fun, so that, too, is easy enough to forgive. The songs and even parts of the score are surprisingly memorable, and the story, while simple, is not a rehash of the earlier two in any way. The choice to end the film with finishing the original film's opening bookend is inspired and powerful, and in general, I find this to be the one 90s/2000s Disney sequel that holds up (unlike, unfortunately, its Return of Jafar predecessor). It's hardly amazing, but solid good fun.… (more)