Review of The Thief and the Cobbler

26 years in the making, The Thief and The Cobbler has truly become one of my all time favorites. From Richard Williams, the 3-Time Academy Award Winner who dazzled us with his shorts The Little Island, and A Christmas Carol, his directed debut film Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure, and his animation direction on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, comes the ultimate masterpiece in 2-D Animation. Taking place in a golden city, the story tells about a cobbler named Tack who falls in love with the beautiful Princess Yum-Yum and a sneaky little Thief (a man of few words but many thoughts who shall be...nameless.) who tries to steal 3 Golden Balls which protects the city from destruction and death. When they fall into the hands of Zig-Zag the Grand Vizier he plans to take them to the evil King One-Eye, his army, and war machine. The Miramax Cut and Recobbled Cut are my favorite cuts of the film. I love the Miramax Cut because in my opinion it's one of the watchable edited version anyone can watch. I loved Jonathan Winters work as The Thief, but the only thing that bugged me in this cut was the talkative Phido and talkative alligators and the fact that it's 73 minutes long. But besides that, it is pretty watchable. The Recobbled Cut, the ultimate restoration to the original by fan Garrett Gilchrist is too my favorite version. Not only is it close to Richard Williams' original version, but it's my favorite version to watch over and over again! Garrett's fan edit is truly amazing and with his updated Mark III with a new 35mm showreel source and with a bonus disc, there's a good reason why you should own it! It's a damn shame that Ricard Williams' original version never saw the light of day. I recommend you buy either the Miramax Cut and the Recobbled Cut from Garrett Gilchrist since they both watchable and laugh-out loud funny! And let me tell you, the animation is so breathtaking, so unbelievable, so lovingly, so imaginative, it's no wonder why it took 26 years to make. Let's hope one day, Williams' original version finally gets released to the public.