The original Ali Baba gets flipped on its head: the thieves are the good guys, Ali Baba is the tyrant, and your hero is a kid with 38 cats and a mouse trying to reclaim what was stolen from his family. A Miyazaki joint from 1971 means the action has real weight even when it's absurd, and the comedy lands because nobody's winking at the camera. This is what happens when you let someone who actually understands how to make adventure fun get loose with a fairy tale.

A boy descended from the leader of the thieves who met a grim end in the 1001 Nights sets out to recover the treasure that is rightfully his. It is now held by Ali Baba XXXIII, a descendant of the original Ali Baba, who rules the kingdom with an iron fist. To take it back, the boy joins forces with thirty-eight cats and a mouse. The film flips the classic tale, casting the thieves' side as the heroes and Ali Baba's line as the oppressors. Made for Toei's 20th anniversary, it is a lively, action-heavy fantasy drawn in a loud, cartoonish style that breaks from the studio's usual look, and it retells the original story at one point through shadow puppets.