Theatrical release poster
The Thief and The Cobbler (Disney Version) is an animated movie with clips from the Miramax version, the original version and the Allied Filmmakers version.
Plot[]
The film opens by the narrator {an older Tack} describing a Golden City, Baghdad. According to a prophecy, if the three golden balls on the top of its highest minaret are taken away, the city will fall to destruction and death.
We soon spy a nameless thief who tries his luck at the home of Tack the cobbler, Tack accidentally sews their cloths together while he is asleep and the thief is leaning over him. They stumble onto the street and ZigZag the grand vizier steps on one of Tack's tacks. He orders Tack to be arrested. When Tack is taken to the palace, the thief sees the three golden balls in the courtyard.
Meanwhile in the palace, Princess Yum-Yum, King Nod's daughter, is tired of doing nothing and wants to help her father. She tells Nanny that she is tired of living a life of "regal splendor" and sings the song "She is More". As ZigZag tries to convince King Nod that Tack should be beheaded, Princess Yum-Yum saves him by breaking her shoe on purpose and demanding that the cobbler should fix it. A brief romance is seen between Tack and Yum-Yum as he finishes the shoe, but the Nanny scolds her for liking a lowly cobbler so much, and is very negative towards Tack. Just as Tack starts to settle in the palace life, the thief, who has managed to break into the palace through the sewer system, steals the shoe, and Tack {with his friends} chases him through hallways filled with optical illusions. After Tack manages to get the shoe back, ZigZag find him and puts him in a cell {Pooh & friends luckily get out of trouble by the King for now}.
Outside the city, a race of one-eyed men, led by the Mighty One-eye, plans to conquer it. Unknown to them, a soldier is still alive and goes to warn the king. Meanwhile, ZigZag tells his pet vulture Phido his plan to marry the princess and take over the kingdom.
King Nod has a nightmare of the one-eyes and their mass destruction, calling for ZigZag immediately. When ZigZag has managed to convince the king that there is no threat as long as the three golden balls are on the minaret, the thief manages to steal them, but they fall to the ground. The balls start to bounce causing panic and chaos, during which ZigZag's minions take them and Tack breaks out of his cell using his tools. The dying soldier finally arrives and warns Nod about the one-eyes. After the king sees that the balls are gone, he tells about it and his vision to his subjects.
ZigZag receives the balls from his minions and attempts to blackmail the king to let him marry his daughter. However, the King refuses to let ZigZag marry Yum-Yum because he finds it ridiculous that his minister, who is a sorcerer, should wed a princess, who is only allowed to marry someone pure of heart. Having been denied, ZigZag decides to join the one-eyes instead. Nod sends Yum-Yum, Tack to ask for help from a witch, who is the benevolent twin sister of the evil One-Eye and lives deep in the heart of the desert.
The princess and Tack meet a band of brigands in the desert, who are a troupe of loafers who were sent twenty years ago by the King to guard his borders. Because none of them are literate, they do not know when to return and have become banditti. They sing the song, "Bom Bom Bom Beem Bom" to describe their situation. Thinking they can be of some use, the princess declares them as her royal guard. Together they travel to the hand-shaped mountain where the witch resides. When they meet the witch, the Witch gives them advice: "Attack, Attack, ATTACK! A tack, see? But it's what you do with what you've got!".
Meanwhile, ZigZag goes to the Mighty One-eye and impresses him with his skills as a sorcerer and by taming the alligators that the one-eyes throw him to. They then prepare to attack the city. Pooh, his friends, Princess Yum-Yum, Tack, the brigands and the thief return to the city while the one-eyes' huge war machine is approaching the city. Tack shoots a tack at ZigZag, who is riding in front of the one-eye army. Although he misses, the tack starts a chain reaction that causes the war machine to slowly collapse, killing the one-eye army. ZigZag falls in a pit when trying to escape and is eaten alive by Phido and the alligators. The Mighty One-eye is apparently killed during the fall of his machine. When One-eye's army has been broken, the Thief emerges from stealing the balls out of the war machine and {pricked by conscience} hands the Golden Balls to the king.
When Tack and the Princess marry. Tack becomes Prince and the first Arabian Knight. Whilst they do, the thief attempts to steal the balls again. Tack ends the story by saying: "So whenever you see a shooting star, be proud of who you really are. Do in your heart what you know is right, and you too shall becom an Arabian Knight." When Tack and the Princess marry, there are flashbacks of all their times together, while the song "It's So Amazing" plays. As for the thief, he eventually remained in jail for years, but when released, he gave Tack his word that he would never steal again. As the film ends, the thief appears one last time to steal the golden THE END letters, then breaks the fourth wall by taking the film itself before scurrying away.
After the Thief steals the film, the end credits of the South African/Australian prints from "The Princess and the Cobbler" show scenes from the movie that were scrapped from the edited versions, including him narrowly avoiding getting his arms chopped off, behind the credits.
Cast[]
| Character | Actors |
|---|---|
| Tack the Cobbler | Matt Damon |
| The Thief | Jonathan Freeman |
| Zigzag the Grand Vizier | Michael York |
| Princess Yum-Yum | Linda Larkin |
| King Nod | Jim Cummings |
| Princess Yum-Yum's Nanny | Russi Taylor |
| Mad and Holy Old Witch | Susanne Blakeslee |
| Chief Roofless | Brad Garrett |
| Mighty One-Eye | Keith David |
| Phido the Vulture | Eric Idle |
| Brigands | Peter Cullen Bill Fagerbakke Kevin Michael Richardson Frank Welker Jeff Bennett Clancy Brown Dee Bradley Baker |
| One-Eyes | |
| Citizens of the Golden City | |
| Dying Soldier | Jeff Bennett |
| "Am I Feeling Love?" pop singers | Arnold McCuller Andrea Robinson |
in end credits[]
| Character | Actors |
|---|---|
| Zigzag the Grand Vizier | Michael York |
| Princess Yum-Yum | Linda Larkin |
| Tack the Cobbler | Matt Damon |
| The Thief | Jonathan Freeman |
| King Nod | Jim Cummings |
| Princess Yum-Yum's Nanny | Russi Taylor |
| Mad and Holy Old Witch | Susanne Blakeslee |
| Chief Roofless | Brad Garrett |
| Dying Soldier | Jeff Bennett |
| Mighty One-Eye | Keith David |
| Phido the Vulture | Eric Idle |
| Brigands | Peter Cullen Bill Fagerbakke Kevin Michael Richardson Frank Welker Jeff Bennett Clancy Brown Dee Bradley Baker |
Front Covers[]
Trivia[]
- Several previously mute characters were given voices, most notably the thief (as Tack explains in this version, the thief is "a man of few words, but many thoughts"). Other characters that have added voices are Phido and the alligators.
- The Golden City is called Baghdad, though Tack is the only character who calls it that.