The Thief and the Cobbler appreciation thread

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I have never heard of this movie, but it reminds me of Alladin -the blue guy anyway.

You do know that "The Thief" was made 28 years before "Aladdin"?

Speaking of Aladdin, a lot of people think The Thief and the Cobbler is a ripoff of Aladdin

I'm guessing you've read the movie's history, too?

Also, I think you might be thinking of the "Arabian Knight" version. Oh, how I wish I could've seen that in theaters when I was a little kid:

Is there really a difference between Arabian Knight and The Thief and the Cobbler other than the titles?

The only differences between "Arabian Knight", "The Princess and the Cobbler" and the original workprint is the added dialogue to the originally silent characters (Tack, The Thief, and Phido), songs, and trimmed down, removed, or cheaply-animated scences.

To anyone who likes to bash the "edited" versions ("Arabian Knight" and "The Princess and the Cobbler"), read this:

BTW, that was copied from my IMDB post on the movie.

Eh.

I tried watching Princess once. I didn't get very far at all...the added dialogue with the Thief was really, really, really poorly done, COMPLETELY unnecessary, and probably ad-libbed on the spot. It was so bad, I didn't even notice how incredibly absolutely breathtaking the animation in that film is. Not to mention, the film is meant to be told with images and not with words.

Also, since the guy was trying to crack "jokes" the whole time, it really fell flat when the REAL jokes came.

Seriously, I don't get how people can watch the non-Recobbled version...but then again, there are people who prefer Blade Runner with the cheap overdubs, too =/

What The Weinsteins should've put on the "The Thief" DVD:

Both the original workprint and Majestic Films ("The Princess and the Cobbler") versions as special features.
Some of the scenes that didn't make the cut.
A commentary from Richard Williams and others that were involved with "The Thief".
Both the Miramax, Majestic Films, and Warner Bros. promo trailers.
A behind-the-scenes documentary
The whole movie remastered in THX.

But I would keep the cover and pop-up packaging.

I can guess why they don't air "The Thief" a lot of TV:

Some of the Thief's stunts could be easily imitable (for example, robbing random people without the use of weapons, climbing up the castle's drainpipes, which is almost like breaking into somebody's house.)

There are some scenes of "animal abuse" (for example, Zigzag not feeding his pet vulture, Phido, and also setting him on fire a lot).

Some of the characters mentioning the golden balls could be mistaken as sexual references (for example, in the original workprint, when King Nod turns down Zigzag's offer to marry Princess Yum-Yum, he says "We'll see who wins at the end of the day, we'll see who ends up griveing. I'll go to the One-Eyes right away, I am taking my balls and leaving!

King Nod's constant worrying of The Golden City and it's citizens falling to it's doom of if the balls were taken away from the tower (for example, in the original workprint, he has a nightmare that a wounded solider, who's coming to warn the city, that the One-Eyes are coming, gets killed by one of them and the solider's blood splashes all over the screen).

Last edited by roygerdodger on 09 May 2010, 6:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I saw this movie years ago, still have it on VHS. Funny, but I don't remember a lick of it.

I've always thought the given name for the princess (Princess Yum-Yum) was strange. It sounds like a porn star's name.

Wait, her name is Yum-Yum!? Watching this movie ASAP. And people thought I was mad for buying a VHS last year, MAD they said! But I will have the last laugh. Muahahaha

Thanks for bumping this.

I haven't been on Ebay for months, so I had forgotten about this.

I'm buying mine this week.

I've certainly heard of it and seen the trailer. I couldn't have been older then five at the time. Shame about its box office fate, the trailer on your second post makes it look breath taking.