Un visiteur chez Aladdin

The opening scene from this movie is amazing, the entire movie is a lesson in cinematography. It was shot on location in Tunisia and the realism of the locations certainly helps to bring the magic tale back to life. Amazing architecture and artifacts in almost every city shot, a treat to location managers and prop people. The script is obviously directed at young children so don't expect much there, your children will enjoy the beautiful special effects and the breathtaking flying carpet effects, this is the first time I see a chase between a winged horse and a digitally animated carpet so professionally done. Most of the special effects are seamless, you won't even know you are looking at a matte painting or a scale model in most cases. Not bad for a small low budget movie. Warning: Rhona Mitra as the teenage princess is so hot she steals the scene everytime she appears on the screen! You might remember her as Laura Croft (for all you video game fans). I recommend you watch it on DVD rather than VHS and with your kids.

Better than the original, I would not have predicted that in fairness.

'A Kid in Aladdin's Palace' is still very much a poor film, but they do improve on 1995's 'A Kid in King Arthur's Court'. That's a surprise, especially as this was made without the collaboration of Disney; Trimark and Tapestry went it alone with this.

Cast-wise it's roughly the same in terms of what's given. Of course the first film has the (in retrospect) star names of Kate Winslet and Daniel Craig, who don't return for this, but this cast list give just as much as those from the '95 production did to be frank.

Thomas Ian Nicholas does, however, return to reprise his role. I actually found him more bearable here, he's slightly less wooden and the dialogue written for him is a little more suitable. Rhona Mitra is solid as Sheherazade, none of the others are anything noteworthy but are OK.

I found the mix between 'present day' and 'old day', a thing I criticised the other film for, passable, it's still a bit forced but at the same it does do it better than the Disney original. The desert surroundings, meanwhile, are more interesting that the forest/castle setting of the King Arthur release.

As noted near the top, I still found this a slog to get through and it isn't anywhere near good - but it is worth noting that it is an improvement.

What a train wreck. I was forced to watch this film under circumstances that I'd rather not repeat here. Everything was wrong with it; the story was predictable, the special effects were the worst I've seen in a 90's film, the princess didn't look like she'd ever been to the Middle East, and who could forget the cheesy hang glider scene?

Rating: 1/10

This should have won multiple Oscars. Best Picture. Best Screenplay. Best Director. Thomas Ian Nicholas should have walked away with Best Actor. Possibly one of the ten greatest films ever made.

Am a big fan of the lead actor and Rhona Mitra is very cute but the movie overall was bad with the supporting actors just standing around. The first kid movie was much better. Watch only if a fan of the lead pair.