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say that the scheming Jafar is a nasty piece of work would be true, but
might be misleading: His portrayal is rather a good piece of work. That
he is evil, we are in no doubt; he is the worst sort of traitor, betraying
the Sultan while pretending to be a faithful advisor. In a cruel mirroring
of the Genie's earlier shape-shifting performance, he goes through quite
a terrifying diversity of threatening forms in the movie's climactic scenes,
as Aladdin does battle with him to save the Sultan and Jasmine from his
enchantment. But Jafar's greatest moment of cruelty comes early in the
movie when Jasmine is seeking out her true love; with utmost callousness,
Jafar lies and tells her that Aladdin has already been executed. |