Needless to say, the Grand Vizier called Zig-Zag (with faithful vulture companion Phido in tow) not only craves power for himself but the Princess' hand, too, and he secretly connives with a warring people intent on conquering Arabia to this end. Both also have other weird characteristics: the Cobbler's mouth is shaped like two nails set side by side with their points meeting, while the Thief is constantly being followed by a swarm of buzzing flies! The plot basically revolves around three golden balls atop the King's (shouldn't that be Caliph?!) palace which, if removed, would bring disaster upon the land and, sure enough, the Thief is after them. ![]() Of course, we have a hero (the Cobbler), a heroine (the Princess), a comic-relief sidekick (the Thief) and a villain (the Grand Vizier) the latter is recognizably voiced by the late great Vincent Price (running the whole gamut of emotions in the process), while one of the more interesting aspects of the film is that the titular figures are given no dialogue (except for one silly line by the Cobbler at the very end). It's a typical Arabian Nights fantasy and it's no secret that the Disney Studios 'borrowed' some of its ideas for their hugely successful ALADDIN (1992). 8/10 Bethany Coxįamously ill-fated animated feature by the renowned Richard Williams, which remains uncompleted despite his having worked on it for almost 30 years! the film was eventually released in two bastardized versions under the titles of THE PRINCESS AND THE COBBLER (1993) and ARABIAN KNIGHT, while bootlegs actually a workprint closer to Williams' original vision have also surfaced (which is the edition I acquired). Overall, despite the tinkering it has suffered, this is an excellent movie. While the story is very nice and an interesting concept, there are parts when it feels a little draggy and drawn out. Tack the Cobbler, although he never speaks here, and personally I think it is better that way, is still an engaging enough protagonist, and the scripting is good. The characters are fine, Zig Zag is a great villain, and Yum Yum is quite vivacious for a princess. ![]() Also the climax is brilliant, utterly riveting. I do think Vincent Price deserves more praise for his voice work for Zig Zag, for it was absolutely superb, so deliciously evil, hammy and arch, very like when he voiced Ratigan in Great Mouse Detective. The music too is wonderful, I noticed some of my classical music favourites like the Force of Destiny Overture(Verdi), Night on Bare Mountain(Mussorgsky) and Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis(Vaughan Williams) all used to surprisingly good effect. ![]() The animation is done in a somewhat unique style, the backgrounds are sophisticated enough, the colouring is lovely and the character features are quite impressive. Based on my overall thoughts of this film, this is very underrated and very well done. Neither of the other cuts felt the same, "Arabian Night" in particular I couldn't get into at all due to the mediocre songs and Jonathan Winters sometimes got on my nerves as the thief. It is really a shame with what has happened to this movie, to be honest they should have left it as Richard Williams envisioned. I will give you my honest opinion, and say that the Recobbled Cut is the best version of this ambitious but excellent film.
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