The Thief and the Cobbler (Miramax version)

The Thief and the Cobbler (known as Arabian Knight during it's theatrical run by Miramax and as The Princess and the Cobbler in other territories) is a 1993 animated fantasy film directed by the famous animator Richard Williams.

Why This Dub Is What Happens When You Don’t Finnish School

 * 1) The main problem with this theatrical version of the film completely butchered Williams' original vision for the film, as he wanted it to be unique from other films such as showing the character through their personalities and showcasing the story with the film's visuals, however, once the Completion Bond Company came in and kicked Williams' out of production and then given to Harvey and Bob Weinstein, both of the brothers decided to modernize the film with pop-culture references and adding a few more celebrities to cast some of the characters, and cut some of the film's content out ready for release, and once it did, it ended up being a shadow of it's former self and nothing more than a shameless knock-off of Disney's Aladdin.
 * 2) Bad voice-acting, even from actors like Matthew Broderick and the other large amount of celebrities that make up the movie's cast.
 * 3) *On top of the voice acting coming off as poor, the celebrities here only feel like they were casted in the film for the sole purpose of attracting moviegoers to watch the film. These casting choices also severely waste the talents of the talented actors that stra in the movie, such as the aforementioned Matthew Broderick as Tack/The Narrator (who also plays Simba from The Lion King, Dr. Niko "Nick" Tatopoulos from Godzilla (1998), Adam Flayman from Bee Movie, and Despereaux from The Tale of Despereaux), as well as Jennifer Beals as Princess Yum Yum (who also plays Alex Owens from Flashdance, Claudia from The Book of Eli, and Coach Valorie Kondos-Field from Full Out (2015)), Jonathan Winter as the Thief (who also plays Grandpa Smurf from The Smurfs, James Howard "Fats" Brown from The Twilight Zone, Lennie Pike from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World), Clive Revill as King Nog (who also plays Alfred Pennyworth from Batman: The Animated Series, 	4th Earl of Ambrose from The Headless Ghost, and Kickback from Transformers (1984)), and Vincent Prince as Zigzag (who, on top of his fame when it comes to cooking and writing, had myraid roles in countless TV shows, films, radios, plays, and songs alike).
 * 4) Repetitive monologue from Tack and even the Thief where they never stop talking.
 * 5) The characters are one-dimensional and boring. For example, Yum Yum is your typical princess who's tired of her old life and dreams of wanting more, Tack is the hero, Zigzag is the big bad villain who desires to take over the kingdom by marrying Yum Yum, and King Nog is the lazy father. This was also one of the few issues present in the film's far superior fan-edited version, as while the characters were certainly more likable there, they still weren't exactly very complex. Make no mistake, they still certainly had more depth there than they do here, but not as much as they could.
 * 6) Very odd names such as Tack, Zigzag, and Yum Yum. (The Nostalgia Critic said that these names feel more like words that infants would say for the first time.) This is another one of the few problems that weren't fixed in The Recobbled Cut. Although to be fair, these names for the characters was part of the original workprints of the movie. And since that version of the film was making it it's mission to be as faithful to said workprints as possible, they didn't alter that aspect.
 * 7) Some scenes have been switched and edited, whilst Miramax added new scenes like Tack speaking and removed scenes that they didn't want audiences to see.
 * 8) Speaking of scenes, there are many errors, like how Tack's skin goes from pale to tanned after coming out of the temple at nighttime.
 * 9) Crappy songs, with some of them being rip-offs of similar ones from Disney's Aladdin. And even the ones that aren't are still incredibly unoriginal and bland.
 * 10) *"It's So Amazing" is just another generic "I want more out of life" song.
 * 11) *"Am I Feeling Love" isn't just a blatant rip-off of "A Whole New World", but it also has some ridiculously lazy and laughable lyrics such as "I close my eyes and see his eyes" and "Don't fight your feelings" says my heart, A heart I will obey".
 * 12) While the balls are stated to be incredibly powerful as well as serving as MacGuffins for the film's plot, it's never really explained nor demonstrated just what kind of actual power they bear.
 * 13) Too many nonsensical pop-culture references (similar to Doogal). An example being when the thief is stealing the golden balls and mentions Disneyland while monologuing to himself about all he'll be able to buy using them. Also, what does Disneyland have to do with a movie that takes place centuries ago? Disneyland didn't even exist at that time!
 * 14) The film overall doesn't have the slightest clue of what it truly wants to be and just tries all it can to appeal to all of it's possible audiences. It does so by throwing in a large amount of unneeded dialogue and annoying characters so it can try and be funny so that it can try and get kids to possibly enjoy it and casts in a large amount of famous celebrities so it can grab the attention of adults. But it's so over-the-top and obnoxious in these attempts makes the film itself an unpleasant experience that it ends up pleasing no one since it can't be enjoyed by any demographic.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Aside from a few errors, the animation is beautiful.
 * 2) The fan restoration of this film, "The Recobbled Cut", removes all of the problems listed above and closely follows Williams' workprint.
 * 3) Although the voice acting isn't very good, Vincent Price played Zigzag pretty well.
 * 4) The Brigand's song "We're What Happens When You Don't Finish School" is funny and catchy.
 * 5) Tack is a very adorable and charming main character.