It was just amazing. Why? Well, this Richard Williams work is so awesome that Disney, Richard Rich, Don Bluth, nor even Chuck Jones couldn't do it better than Richard Williams.
The characters are the sneaky, greedy Thief. He doesn't hate himself. He just likes his job. He can steal anything, including the three golden balls. He reminds me of Jason from the Friday the 13th film series, except he doesn't kill anybody. You know what, fine, he reminds me of Scrat from the Ice Age film series.
Then, there's the hero, Tack the cobbler, whose also a lonely, silent shoemaker. When I look at him, he reminds me of Jojo from Horton Hears a Who. The Blue Sky Studios version. Anyway, Tack finds his true love, Princess YumYum, who reminds me of Megara from Disney's Hercules, except not a Daria-like princess, nor a manly woman princess. Just a kind, innocent, sensitive princess.
There's the villain, ZigZag, which is voiced by none other than the great Vincent Price. He says his sentences in rhymes, which is a cool concept for a villain. Along with him is his bird, Phido.
There's a plot where the cobbler, Tack is getting arrested by ZigZag, however, King Nod, the Nanny, and Princess YumYum allowed Tack to be hired as a shoemaker. The thief tries to steal the shoe, and then, Tack chases the thief.
But, the thief is willing to get the three golden balls. Meanwhile, King Nod had a vision that the One-Eyes are going to take over Baghdad. But, it was not a dream.
ZigZag, however, was about to do his evil stuff... because he's a villain. Yes, don't ask. Anyway, the thief gets the balls, and then, the balls were dropped, as ZigZag gets the balls so he can give them to the one eye.
Tack, the Nanny, and YumYum travel to fight the One-Eyes. This results with the band of Brigand and the old hag witch.
Then, they battle, with the Thief getting the balls back, and trapped in the fire and in the battle for his wild ride.
Tack, the nanny, and YumYum defeated ZigZag and the one-eyes, as they get the balls back to King Nod.
This has got to be the greatest animated classic ever! Really! In fact, there's a bootlegged fan DVD of it restored with classical music playing. This could be the best bootlegged fan DVD ever.
FINAL VERDICT (for the original, adult-oriented, uncut, better-than-sex version): 10/10!
Now, it's been 3 decades in the production, and of course, it was about to be released in 1992 for Warner Bros., but ended up unreleased due to Disney's release of Aladdin.
So, Fred Calvert completed The Thief and the Cobbler as fast as he can, and of course, he alienated the lost, unfinished, animated masterpieces of all time.
This results in The Princess and the Cobbler, released in the UK, Australia, and South Africa in 1994 by Allied Filmmakers (those that are responsible for the awful 1993 movie, Super Mario Bros. (based on the popular NES/SNES game) and Tim Burton's produced stop-motion film, James and the Giant Peach), and they call it, The Princess and the Cobbler.
This is mediocre. It added '90s pop-like songs from characters that are rejects from either Richard Rich films or Don Bluth films. They do keep the original Vincent Price voice. Notice that even though the Thief isn't talking in this version like the original version, he only screams, grunts, and gasps.
Overall, this is not all the way as good as the original.
FINAL VERDICT (for the Allied Filmmakers version): 5/10
Now, in 1995, one year after that version was released in Australia, UK and South Africa, Miramax used that version, but they called it Arabian Knight, and... oh my god! What am I doing? Why am I reviewing the Weinsteins' version? WHY?!? Well, here we go.
This one is brain dead. In fact, they added the inappropriate voice of Mathew Broderick. What?!? However, they do keep the Vincent Price voice, so I'll give Miramax a bit of a credit. Then, there's the Thief, and what have they done? They made the Thief TALK in this film... IN HIS MIND! But, the thief isn't the only one, the alligators and Phido also talk in their thoughts. What, the director of Homeward Bound took over the production?! And of course, the montage, and the great parts were all distorted and cut-out. That's a very generic idea for Miramax! Overall, it sucks! It's worse than Disaster Movie, Batman & Robin, Catwoman, High School Musical, Superman IV: Quest for Peace, Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen, and every single Uwe Boll movie ever made.
FINAL VERDICT (for the Miramax version): 0/10!!!
So please, watch the original version. You may like it. In fact, a long time ago, Roy E. Disney was to restore the original version. So there has to be hope! Maybe.
The characters are the sneaky, greedy Thief. He doesn't hate himself. He just likes his job. He can steal anything, including the three golden balls. He reminds me of Jason from the Friday the 13th film series, except he doesn't kill anybody. You know what, fine, he reminds me of Scrat from the Ice Age film series.
Then, there's the hero, Tack the cobbler, whose also a lonely, silent shoemaker. When I look at him, he reminds me of Jojo from Horton Hears a Who. The Blue Sky Studios version. Anyway, Tack finds his true love, Princess YumYum, who reminds me of Megara from Disney's Hercules, except not a Daria-like princess, nor a manly woman princess. Just a kind, innocent, sensitive princess.
There's the villain, ZigZag, which is voiced by none other than the great Vincent Price. He says his sentences in rhymes, which is a cool concept for a villain. Along with him is his bird, Phido.
There's a plot where the cobbler, Tack is getting arrested by ZigZag, however, King Nod, the Nanny, and Princess YumYum allowed Tack to be hired as a shoemaker. The thief tries to steal the shoe, and then, Tack chases the thief.
But, the thief is willing to get the three golden balls. Meanwhile, King Nod had a vision that the One-Eyes are going to take over Baghdad. But, it was not a dream.
ZigZag, however, was about to do his evil stuff... because he's a villain. Yes, don't ask. Anyway, the thief gets the balls, and then, the balls were dropped, as ZigZag gets the balls so he can give them to the one eye.
Tack, the Nanny, and YumYum travel to fight the One-Eyes. This results with the band of Brigand and the old hag witch.
Then, they battle, with the Thief getting the balls back, and trapped in the fire and in the battle for his wild ride.
Tack, the nanny, and YumYum defeated ZigZag and the one-eyes, as they get the balls back to King Nod.
This has got to be the greatest animated classic ever! Really! In fact, there's a bootlegged fan DVD of it restored with classical music playing. This could be the best bootlegged fan DVD ever.
FINAL VERDICT (for the original, adult-oriented, uncut, better-than-sex version): 10/10!
Now, it's been 3 decades in the production, and of course, it was about to be released in 1992 for Warner Bros., but ended up unreleased due to Disney's release of Aladdin.
So, Fred Calvert completed The Thief and the Cobbler as fast as he can, and of course, he alienated the lost, unfinished, animated masterpieces of all time.
This results in The Princess and the Cobbler, released in the UK, Australia, and South Africa in 1994 by Allied Filmmakers (those that are responsible for the awful 1993 movie, Super Mario Bros. (based on the popular NES/SNES game) and Tim Burton's produced stop-motion film, James and the Giant Peach), and they call it, The Princess and the Cobbler.
This is mediocre. It added '90s pop-like songs from characters that are rejects from either Richard Rich films or Don Bluth films. They do keep the original Vincent Price voice. Notice that even though the Thief isn't talking in this version like the original version, he only screams, grunts, and gasps.
Overall, this is not all the way as good as the original.
FINAL VERDICT (for the Allied Filmmakers version): 5/10
Now, in 1995, one year after that version was released in Australia, UK and South Africa, Miramax used that version, but they called it Arabian Knight, and... oh my god! What am I doing? Why am I reviewing the Weinsteins' version? WHY?!? Well, here we go.
This one is brain dead. In fact, they added the inappropriate voice of Mathew Broderick. What?!? However, they do keep the Vincent Price voice, so I'll give Miramax a bit of a credit. Then, there's the Thief, and what have they done? They made the Thief TALK in this film... IN HIS MIND! But, the thief isn't the only one, the alligators and Phido also talk in their thoughts. What, the director of Homeward Bound took over the production?! And of course, the montage, and the great parts were all distorted and cut-out. That's a very generic idea for Miramax! Overall, it sucks! It's worse than Disaster Movie, Batman & Robin, Catwoman, High School Musical, Superman IV: Quest for Peace, Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen, and every single Uwe Boll movie ever made.
FINAL VERDICT (for the Miramax version): 0/10!!!
So please, watch the original version. You may like it. In fact, a long time ago, Roy E. Disney was to restore the original version. So there has to be hope! Maybe.