It's kind of weird to be talking about a half finished film. But alas it's the only way we can talk about it.
There are no other versions (Recobbled Cut Mark 4) out there that are more complete.
It does make it a little difficult to judge. The movie will occasionally cut out of place and transition to a different scene in a very awkward manner in what I can only presume is a part of the incomplete editing process.
Really it's only happens twice and it's not a big deal.
But it does hinder trying to watch this thing as a coherent experience.
Still despite all that this is a surprisingly enjoyable.
I'm certainly not the first to come to that conclusion and tons of other people have already talked about it.
Seems most have a universal praise for this little movie and I can't blame them for it.
The hardships of trying to get this darn thing made, alongside being screwed over by the Greedy Mouse makes it a prime candidate for the encourageable plucky underdog.
Still despite all that I do have a few criticisms. I feel as if the Thief character is a little underused and he's only really there for semi comedic moments and an excuse to show off some of the more fun animation.
He kind of feels useless at times even though he is the primary character to get the ball moving. (Pun semi intended there.)
You could have taken his character out of the movie and you wouldn't have lost much. You would just need another excuse to get the magic balls back
He reminds me of this weird little squirrel creature from the CGI movie 'Ice Age'. The little guy was constantly after an acorn and small segments of the film we're dedicated to showing them trying to get said acorn.
And that's all the thief does here. He even goes so far as to literally steal the film way at the end.
He must be working for the mouse.
Anyways that's only a light criticism and it's not even a true one at that.
For the animation is the star of this whole film. The Strange fluid art style and the way everybody moves, combined with the Rube Goldberg machine approach to defeating the evil Army of One Eye towards the end.
That little segment just goes on and on with all these different destructive scenes. As you watch this massive machine fall apart mainly due to a bit of luck on the Cobblers part.
There's this evil vizier who wants to take over the kingdom but in order to do this he has to overthrow the current king. And the only way he can do this is to manipulate a situation in where a barbarian Army invades.
He takes over as a representative for them and then marries the princess (''Yum-Yum'' what a name) thus continuing the loyal line and guaranteeing himself a royal lineage that would make him the Undisputed leader of the Kingdom.
This by the way is a real life technique that just about every Invader would do after conquering some sort of Empire. Marry into the already existing monarchy and just make it indisputable that you are in fact the true leader with the continued bloodline that's been controlling a nation for hundreds if not thousands of years. Just ask the old Persian monarchy itself, which was able to survive for nearly 2,500 years.
Intermixed with this plot is the poor story of a little cobbler who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time as a thief (who was trying to steal from him) accidentally gets him accused by the Vizier who then wants to send them off to prison to be killed.
But as luck would have it the cobbler then finds himself in the right place at the right time as the would-be Princess Yum-yum looks into his incredibly blue and mesmerizing eyes and Falls almost instantly in love with a little guy.
This leads to an entire subplot in where the Vizier really wants the cobbler dead as he wishes to marry the princess for that precedes power from earlier.
So he send them off to the dungeons anyway after he fixes the shoe for Princess Yum-yum that she purposely broke so she could keep the little guy around. And then later on we see the cobbler escaping. He than witnesses the Thief stealing these magic balls from atop a very tall Spire in the middle of the city. It's intermixed with this myth that as long as the balls remain there the city is Untouchable to any foreign Invaders.
And what I like so much about this aspect of the story is that is never proven if the balls actually work.
They're just pieces of gold at the end of the day. And there is an invading Army that shows up but only because they were convinced by the Vizier that an invasion was possible now that the Golden Balls were gone. It's a matter of belief not a fact.
And I really like that aspect especially considering that there's other semi legitimate magic within this story.
There are weird little creatures who have the ability to manipulate the world around but even then you can shop a lot of that up to Illusions and trickery as well.
Maybe everything except for the weird little which we see at the end of the film who claims that the cobbler is the one who will save the day. And he's not destined or anything she literally just closes her eyes and pick someone.
Everything about this movie is just so fun in that way. It's perceived magic but never proven.
And I love how the romance is just kind of there. The two characters don't have any long conversations with each other they don't fall for each other in separate scenes where they didn't yearn to see one another or in the case of some other Arabian inspired films, get some sort of Love Potion or fake identity so they can pretend to be someone else to then manipulate the affections of somebody they care for (or at least claim they care for) so he can hook up with her with disingenuous Notions.
There's none of that here.
The two characters just look at each other think that they're both cute and want to spend more time with one another.
Really it's the Princess who makes all the moves. The cobbler is just kind of there going along for the ride with more in-difference to anything.
And I certainly don't blame the Princess for falling in love with him at the first sight.
Just look at the little guy.
He's adorable. if I was the Princess I'd want to marry him too.
Every character is fun. And they all have their own unique little Corks And personalities and your kind of rooting for each one because there's just so much effort and Intrigue. Rather its the evil vizier trying to seize power the invading Army led by one eye who's the really creepy concept of a villain more for how many teeth he has in his mouth anything else. There's just something uncanny about seeing rows and rows of teeth. I'm sure that's a phobia somewhere.
You also have the bandits living out in the middle of nowhere who speak with these really downtrodden midlander English accents. Some of them speak with Southern accent. some with North but most of it's the Working Man accent.
I just like that concept of a stereotyped British white guys out in the middle of nowhere. We don't stereotype Persian culture.
Although we do have some Persian stereotypes to be sure.
Like chopping off the thieves hands or the ridiculous over-the-top costume designs of some of the characters along with the very sleepy and kind of bashful King rules the Land.
Part of me wants to call in the Salton, but I don't know if the film ever acknowledges him as such.
After all this kingdom is technically a fictional area.
It's not set anywhere particular it just borrows heavily from Persian imagery. It also borrows from Arabian imagery but what are you going to do. Those two cultures get intermingled all the time even though they are quite separate and quite their own things. But whatever it's not like people confuse German and French culture all the time. Same Deal.
On a side note I love how The Cobbler gradually gets a tan after having a sunburn from being out in the open sun for so long.
And then for the rest of the movie he just keeps that colour. It's a real minor detail. But it adds to be overall imagery the film was going for.
And there's just so many little details like that in this. It's a beautiful spectacle and it's kind of sad that so many other cartoon films don't feel that way.
You're an animated feature at the end of the day, you should utilize the medium and do anything you'd want.
Get out there, go ridiculous, have fun with it. In the case of a film like 'The Thief and the Cobbler' the story is a secondary element anyways.
So you might as well have fun with the animation. There's nothing worse than a boring cartoon movie.
And we are anything but here. Even towards the end with the ridiculous destruction scenery. It goes on for quite a while and should get boring but there's just so much variety and intrigued. That even the mundane will be able to keep your attention.
Really at the end of the day I'm just mesmerised by the amount of extra work that went into this. The film didn't technically go anywhere and it's just been the ambition of various people over the years. Adding little bits to it and trying to recreate what was once the lost. Now it's just on the internet. You can find it if you look up 'Thief and the Cobbler'. Look for Mark 4 I think that's the most complete version.
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