OneEightNine Media
I am reviewing the fan-edit of the film I was shown somewhere by someone. I'm told That version is easy to find and could be on YouTube right this second, honestly I haven't checked. Anyway, on to my review of the fan-edit, AKA Recobbled. Frankly, it was a huge mess and I was wondering why this even has a following.. until the end of it. The ending is simply awesome. Seeing the whole war-machine "battle" or sequence or whatever made the me glad I kept watching the film. I'll have see what the official DVD release looks like. And there is even a documentary about this fan-edit from what I'm told. But I have to be honest with you, the fan-edit just jam packs everything into it. It was like they threw in every scrap, drawing or whisper of the film they could find. It is basically a major non-edit. Anyway, the fan-edit of the film has its moments but it can not touch anything Disney put out in the 90s. So yeah, after I watch the DVD release I will revisit this review. For now, the fan edit gets a six out of ten. Honestly, this film had a lot of potential and that is why so many people are passionate about it.
TheLittleSongbird
I will give you my honest opinion, and say that the Recobbled Cut is the best version of this ambitious but excellent film. It is really a shame with what has happened to this movie, to be honest they should have left it as Richard Williams envisioned. Neither of the other cuts felt the same, "Arabian Night" in particular I couldn't get into at all due to the mediocre songs and Jonathan Winters sometimes got on my nerves as the thief. Based on my overall thoughts of this film, this is very underrated and very well done. The animation is done in a somewhat unique style, the backgrounds are sophisticated enough, the colouring is lovely and the character features are quite impressive. The music too is wonderful, I noticed some of my classical music favourites like the Force of Destiny Overture(Verdi), Night on Bare Mountain(Mussorgsky) and Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis(Vaughan Williams) all used to surprisingly good effect. I do think Vincent Price deserves more praise for his voice work for Zig Zag, for it was absolutely superb, so deliciously evil, hammy and arch, very like when he voiced Ratigan in Great Mouse Detective. Also the climax is brilliant, utterly riveting. The characters are fine, Zig Zag is a great villain, and Yum Yum is quite vivacious for a princess. Tack the Cobbler, although he never speaks here, and personally I think it is better that way, is still an engaging enough protagonist, and the scripting is good. While the story is very nice and an interesting concept, there are parts when it feels a little draggy and drawn out. Overall, despite the tinkering it has suffered, this is an excellent movie. 8/10 Bethany Cox
Wayne Talbot (wadetalon)
I am one of the privileged view to have seen the original version of this movie . I studied animation in college and there was a copy of this movie uncut on video in the colleges animation library. It is a masterpiece of film. I can only imagine the amount of work that went into this film and to think Disney bastardised it and made Aladdin.Im not surprised at this though Disney have done this with many a movie in the past. Princess Mononoke being prime example they stopped this from being released for a very long time. John Lassiter is to thank for GIbli studios now having the ability to release their own movies in the states without having to rely on the thieving gits that are Disney.
missxlexie
If you've seen the ORIGINAL VERSION, this is not true. Disney DID NOT originally help the creator of this movie. I don't know the entire movie, but if you go to www.thiefandthecobblar.com it includes a short biography of the man who originally began this project. I watched the original movie when I was VERY VERY little. You can NO LONGER PURCHASE IT ((if you can...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME...)) Although some minor video stores still carry it. The original, if found, was BEAUTIFUL and I must say, absolutely hilarious. No matter who watched it with me, it was always loved. Just this evening I watched the version I'm certain that you speak of. The dubbed version, I believe bought by Disney, is total CRAP. It hurt me to watch it. I don't even want to know what happened when they renamed it Arabian Knight. All I know is if you can find the original, it's an incredible animated masterpiece.