In my last review I looked at the officially released, highly edited version of The Thief and the Cobbler. I said it was one worth avoiding because there was an alternate version that was more in line with the late Richard Williams' vision. This is the Recobbled Cut, and is it overall a better film than the Miramax release?
The plot is the same, a young cobbler named Tack gets in trouble with the grand vizier named Zigzag after scuffling with a thief, which gets him taken to the palace where he meets the Princess Yum-Yum. After the thief takes some magical balls that protect the Golden City in which they live, the king panics, especially after hearing that the evil King One-Eye is coming to conquer their city. Now, Tack and the Princess must find a way to protect their city and defeat the evil King One-Eye, but the vizier Zigzag has his own plans to wed the princess and rule the city. Again, the plot is solid, nothing special but I gotta say, the inclusion of some deleted scenes make the plot so much better than a B, definite A- grade. We actually get to see the villain's demise, see what Zigzag was planning to do with the imprisoned Tack, and the Witch in the desert even tells the group what they need to do to defeat the villain. Again, this plot is nothing special, but including these scenes took the plot from a B to an A- in grade.
The characters have been improved a little bit too. First off, the narration is gone! That's right, the re-edit removed Tack's narration, in fact, the film removes Mathew Broderick completely, and now Tack no longer comes off as a generic hopeless romantic, it's really funny how removing a character's dialogue can actually improve them. Speaking of which, they also cut out Jonathan Winters from the film, and trust me when I say that makes this film a lot better. There is no more annoying dialogue that shoe-horns in modernisms and references, and so much of the Thief's thoughts are communicated through his body language, which is so much more interesting than having someone narrate everything he thinks. The other characters don't have too much drastic changes from them, but I don't think they're too bad. The characters no longer come off as generic tropes, which is a drastic improvement. While they still are not the best characters, they stand out a bit more from the Miramax version.
In some other good news, this film has no songs! Hooray! The songs really were the worst part of the Miramax cut, since they tried way too hard to be a Disney movie and it really showed in the songs, which were weak and forgettable. That being said, not everything I didn't like about the Miramax cut has been removed, the "Night on Bald Mountain" reference is still there, and some of the editing I mentioned is still here. In the case of the latter, I'm going to assume the film was going to be like that in the first place, probably not how I'd do it, but it is what it is. In the case of the former, I'm going to assume that because "Night on Bald Mountain" is a public domain piece, it really didn't matter. Oh well.
The animation is, again, superb, beyond excellent. It's so smooth and fluid and even surreal at times. The Recobbled Cut also includes some unfinished test animation, storyboards and deleted scenes, and the flux in visual quality can be a bit distracting, I never thought it was too much. There are times they cut to an unused shot that is only about half-a second long which got a bit distracting, but other than that I was not too bothered by it. I suppose it will depend on the viewer, so if the constant cutting from completed footage to incomplete storyboards will bother you, I get it, but if you can let it slide, well then I'd recommend checking out this version.
Yeah, I think this is a much better cut of the film than the Miramax cut. I'd go as far to say that this is the only version that anyone should view. The characters are better, the plot is better, it feels less like it's trying to be a Disney film. It's funny how slight improvements to the elements make this a much better film. Overall, while I can't say it's incredible or that great, it is definitely worth checking out. You can find it online if you're curious, though depending on where you live that might not be very easy to find. Still, if you're willing to search, I'd recommend it, it's a fascinating and beautiful film and a great way to honour the legacy of the late Richard Williams.
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