Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The Thief and the Cobbler Review












The Thief and the Cobbler


Release Date: 30th June 1994 – Australia (as The Princess and the Cobbler)


Production Companies
Allied Filmmakers
Richard Williams Productions


Genre: Animation/Family/
Fantasy

Rating: PG (Workprint/Re-
                    Cobbled Cut)
              G (Princess)

Runtime: 91 minutes
                 (Workprint)
                 77 minutes
                 (Princess)


Budget: $28,000,000


Plot Summary
The story is about a
nameless thief who
unleashes an ancient
prophecy of destruction and
death by releasing three
magical golden balls on the
top of a minaret that
protects the magnificent
Golden City, causing it to
be in danger of invasion by
an army of one-eyed men.
The only one who could
save the city is a young,
shy and poor shoemaker
named Tack with the help of
Princess Yum-Yum and her
nanny, a band of brigands
and, most unlikely, the Thief
himself. Together, they
must attempt to find the
three golden balls and
prevent the one-eyed army
and the evil grand vizier
Zigzag from conquering
the Golden City.


Voice Cast (All Versions)
Vincent Price – Zigzag the
Grand Vizier
Windsor Davies – Chief
Roofless
Stanley Baxter – Gofer/Slap
Kenneth Williams – Goblet/
Tickle
Clinton Sundberg – Dying Soldier
Frederick Shaw – Goolie
Thick Wilson – Hook
Eddie Byrne – Hoof

Voice Cast (Both Versions)
Donald Pleasence – Phido the Vulture
Joan Sims – Mad and Holy
Old Witch

Voice Cast (Original Version)
Felix Aylmer – Narrator
Sara Crowe – Princess Yum-Yum
Anthony Quayle – King Nod
Joan Sims – Princess
Yum-Yum's Nanny
Chris Greener – Mighty One-Eye

Voice Cast (The Princess and the Cobbler)
Steve Lively – Narrator/
Tack the Cobbler
Bobbi Page – Princess Yum-Yum
Ed E. Carroll – The Thief
Clive Revill – King Nod
Kevin Dorsey – Mighty One-
Eye
Mona Marshall – Princess
Yum-Yum's Nanny/Mad and
Holy Old Witch


Crew
Writer/Producer/Director/
Lead Animator – Richard Williams
Completion Producer/
Director: Los Angeles –
Fred Calvert
Writer – Margaret French
Additional Story and
Dialogue – Parker Bennett, Terry Runte, Tom Towler and Stephen Zito
Additional Story and Dialogue/Completion
Producer: Los Angeles – Bette L. Smith
Executive Producer – Jake Eberts
Producer – Imogen Sutton
Co-Producer: Los Angeles –
Jacobus Rose
Art Director – Roy Naisbitt
Artistic Supervisor: Calvert/Cobbler
Productions – Darrell Rooney
Background Styling – Errol Le Cain
Character Animation Supervisors – Neil Boyle
and Tim Watts
Master Animator – Ken Harris
Lead Animators – Art Babbitt,
Paul Bolger, David Byers Brown, Alan Simpson,
Dietmar Kremer, Denis Deegan, Gary Dunn, 
Sahin Ersoz, Steve Evangelatos, Robert
Malherbe, Mark Naisbitt, Brent Odell,
Philip Pepper, Dean Roberts,
Michael Schlingmann, Andreas-Wessel Therhorn,
Emery Hawkins, Alexander Williams,
Holger Leihe, Margaret Grieve, Jurgen Gross,
Alyson Hamilton, Mike Swindall and
Tahsin Özgür
Lead/Assistant Animator – Venelin Veltchev
Lead Animator/Animator: Calvert/Cobbler
Productions – Roger Vizard
Director of Photography – John Leatherbarrow
Lyricist: Songs – Norman Gimbel
Composer: Songs/Music – Robert Folk
Editor – Peter Bond
Additional Editor: Los Angeles –
Harry Keramidas
Supervising Sound Editor – Mike Le Mare
Sound Designer/Effects Editor –
Robert L. Sephton
Sound Re-Recording Mixers: Los Angeles –
Rick Ash and Dean A. Zupancic


Review
THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER (known as The Princess and the Cobbler in Australia) was an unfinished, bizarre animated film by Richard Williams, who animated Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I liked the film's (M.C. Escher-inspired) backgrounds, optical illusions and animation style. The latter nearly feels like CGI, except it is done in three dimensions by hand. It's a shame that it got taken from its creator after 28 years of production. Subsequently, the film was cheaply finished and edited, with half of the footage cut and turned into an Aladdin rip-off by adding unnecessary songs and dialogue for the originally silent character, Tack, which depleted the film's value.

I praise the film's surviving original content, such as Vincent Price's marvellous and final performance as Zigzag. Keeping the Thief silent and the Witch character in most scenes are effective choices. The best moments include when Tack chases the Thief for stealing Princess Yum-Yum's shoe and most of the War Machine.

Whether or not you have seen THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER, try the Re-Cobbled Cut version instead of the Australian version because this version has no forgettable songs. The Re-Cobbled Cut shows what the original version could have been if finished and is available on YouTube.

Star rating: (3/5) Average

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