This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

When I was a kid I first saw this on TV late last night and loved every moment of it, when I came back to it . . . I don't know what I saw in my adolescent mind, but it wasn't what I thought. 2 of the 3 versions are a complete mess and are complete Aladdin ripoffs (but fun fact Aladdin ripped the original premise off themselves the both 2 of the versions ripped Aladdin off ) but if you want to watch the closest to the original version, watch the recobbled cut, sure it may be a mess but this is a fan recreation, we aren't all that when it comes to Photoshop and artistry.

Pick a form: 1992, Knight, Princess or even Garrett Gilchrist's Mark 4 recobbled. I heard all this good stuff about this movie. So I got Mark IV (4) from the official site (orangecow). Story - This is a really terrible story. Horrible. Animation colors - The colors are washed out, drab and look like puke. Animation quality - On top of it all for a supposed animation masterpiece I do not see why anyone would waste time restoring this stuff. I have watched a huge number of animations from many countries and this is just terrible. There is a reason Disney never restored this trash. Its terrible. I tried to watch this on a monitor with headphones in the dark to maximize the effect. I had to watch it at 1.5x in VLC to make sure I didn't miss anything but I had to get through it as fast as possible. I still cannot see how anyone would hold this in high regard. I tried showing it to some older kids and they hated it. No laughing and no interest. Poor Garrett Gilchrist is stuck wasting his life trying to do what Williams can be bothered to finish for good reason. Anyways, on orangecow dot org in topic 8502 there is a mega link to download this Mark IV/4 version. Terrible. Respect to Garrett for trying to repair William's damaged goods.

This is the only version to get of "The Thief And The Cobbler" if you want to see something close to Richard Williams' vision for the story. You'll have to do some legwork online, download it, and then burn it. Because that's the only way to acquire it. It's gone through several revisions over the years. There is a Mk 3 edit out now, and one day a Mk 4, etc., as Garrett Gilchrist finds better versions of footage and/or continues his laborious work of carefully fixing footage. If you have seen and enjoyed any of the other versions getting hold of a copy of the "recobbled" Mk 3 DVD will be well worth your while. One day a properly restored/completed version may come into existence (don't hold your breath) but for now this will have to do. Starting point for your search should be the word "Fanedit".

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.