Credited cast: | |||
Gorô Naya | ... | Goro (voice) | |
Chikao Ohtsuka | ... | Alibaba (voice) | |
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Junpei Takiguchi | ... | Kajiru (voice) |
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Isamu Tanonaka | ... | Police Chief (voice) |
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Kôsei Tomita | ... | Spirit of the Lamp (voice) (as Kousei Tomita) |
Kenji Utsumi | ... | Dora (voice) | |
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Nobuyo Ôyama | ... | Huck (voice) |
The tyrannical Ali Baba the 33rd is broke, having squandered all his money. He finds a magic lamp, but the cat-phobic genie inside cannot work his magic until all the cats in the kingdom are gone. Ali Baba captures most of the cats, but some of them escape and team up with a mouse and a young boy whose ancestor was robbed by the first Ali Baba. Together, they plan to get back the stolen treasures, rescue the other cats, and save the oppressed people from Ali Baba's reign. Written by cupcakes
The Toei features of the 50s, 60s, and 70s are obscure in the US, which is a shame. This film in particular is a lot of fun.
Yes, the animation is limited and almost TV-quality. However, it all has a Seuss-like charm blended with Looney Tunes anarchy. The few musical numbers there are manage to be catchy (you'll have the jazzy "Ali Baba" stuck in your head for days) and there are wonderful gags galore. The climactic battle is great cartoony fun.
Though I was attracted to it because it was a film Hayao Miyazaki, one of my all-time favorite directors, had worked on before he made it big with Nausicaa in the 1980s; however, on its own merits, this is a delightful comedy. Not a classic or a masterpiece, but it's fun for fans of anime and animation.