Toei celebrates its 20th anniversary with a lively film where a boy, descendant of a doomed thief leader from the 1001 Nights, bands with 38 cats and a mouse to reclaim his family's lost treasure from the tyrannical Ali Baba XXXIII. This twist on the classic tale flips the hero-villain dynamic, a fitting touch for a movie involving Hayao Miyazaki. Bursting with action and whimsy, the film adopts a zany, cartoonish style diverging from Toei's usual aesthetic. Featuring a stellar team of animators like Yasuji Mori, Akira Daikubara, Hayao Miyazaki, Yoichi Kotabe, and Reiko Okuyama, it delivers a visual extravaganza. The narrative cleverly weaves in the original Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves story through an inventive shadow-puppet retelling, adding an unexpected and captivating layer to the adventure.