The Thief and the Cobbler (1993) Review:

Animation has been proven time again that cartoons can be just as engaging as regular live action films. It's also known that animation gives filmmakers the power to create anything they want that the real world may be too hard to try and materialize. One person who knew this well was animator Richard Williams, a man who really knew the profession inside out. Whether it be creating fun title sequences to the Pink Panther films, or helping to create Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) one of the most memorable live-action cartoon films to date, Williams had the hand for eye catching animation. Sadly, he never achieved his lifelong dream, of finishing this film. As well respected as he was, this has remained never fully completed the way he wanted it to be done.

"Ohhh,...how did we ever knock-off Aladdin?!"

Co-written by Williams, Margaret French and a slew of other ghost writers from over the years, the story is about a cobbler by the name of Tack (Matthew Broderick) who happens to be wound into a crazy adventure because of a bumbling thief (Jonathan Winters). The thief wants to steal three golden spheres from the kingdom of Nod (Clive Revill) that provide protection from the evil one eye army. Scheming behind the king's back is ZigZag (Vincent Price), hoping to not only rule the kingdom but also marry King Nod's daughter Princess YumYum (Jennifer Beals). Overall the story is okay, but because the final cut of the film suffered from so much meddling, there's a lot to be desired.

The Miramax re-edit has enough dialog throughout the film, but much of it feels to be in the wrong places. Both Tack and the thief say very little of anything outside of their heads. This leads to very little interactions between the essential characters and ultimately a lack of development within the story. Princess YumYum & Tack have scenes where they are together, yet there's only a couple where they share an actual conversation. Much of the time, audiences will hear more of Jonathan Winters' dialog for the thief's inner monologue. By no means can the characters be criticized for not having distinct personalities, but as a whole they're level of investment is low.

The voice acting is enjoyable though. Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Beals from Flashdance (1983) and Vampire's Kiss (1988) have acceptable chemistry. And as much of Jonathan Winters' dialog adds nothing to the plot, his moments are comical too. Of course, the best though goes to Vincent Price for his performance as ZigZag, the every other line rhyming antagonist. All the words recorded from Price are so entertaining to listen to. There's also other characters like Mighty One-Eye (Kevin Dorsey), Chief Roofless (Windsor Davies) and Phido the Vulture (Eric Bogosian). All who have interesting dialog as well.

Princess Yum Yum & the Cobbler

As mentioned before the character designs themselves are very unique and captivating to look at because of the way they were animated. John Leatherbarrow was credited as cinematographer to this picture, although it's unclear as to what he contributed since this is an animated feature. Either way, the animation is still a dazzling array of sequences and colors that only Williams could conjure up. The film score and songs were composed by Robert Folk. Having experience working with scores focused more on comedies and or militaristic settings, hearing his music to this feature was a nice surprise. Not only did it fit the film well, but was very pretty, as were the songs sung by Bobby Page.

It's unfortunate that Richard Williams did not receive the proper treatment for his dream goal film, but his memory will live on in the separate cuts of each film. While the Miramax cut is certainly not the best, it isn't the worst either. Sadly, the dialog used doesn't really develop its characters well, which is a big problem. But the characters do have charm, there are funny moments, the music is wonderful and the animation is mesmerizing.

Points Earned --> 6:10