Post by Seven on May 4, 2009 19:22:47 GMT -5
I imagine that most everyone reading this will already know of Asila's perfectionism. Though I know we've all occasionally teased her about it, I doubt anyone would say it's a bad thing since it also means whatever Asila does, she does exceptionally well. Forgive me for sounding like an old geezer, but I care to relate one story in particular. Last time she ventured out to come visit Pan and myself, we opted to do some good old ceramic figure painting at a nearby place (despite this generally being an attraction for kids, not a bunch of nearly 20-year-olds). Well, considering that we were a group of three self-proclaimed artists, you can imagine that we wound up spending the whole day there trying to perfect our sculptures. But, while we all took pride in our creations, it seem Asila worked especially hard on hers. While Pan and I finished ours about an hour before closing time, Asila was only half way done with hers at closing time.
Now, make no mistake, I am of course not saying this to make jibe as Asila (i.e. ASILA PLZ DON'T HIT ME!), but rather I am trying to express a feeling of awe for her workmanship and incredible attention to detail. If I ever considered myself a perfectionist, then I knew that she had to be a SUPER-perfectionist, dedicated to creating real beauty in her art.
You're probably wondering why I chose to begin what will probably be a lengthy spiel about Richard Williams with an anecdote about Asila and the paint shop. It was to put something in perspective. If Asila is a SUPER-perfectionist, then the genius Canadian animator Richard Williams was at least TWENTY SEVEN Asilas put together with the SUPER-perfectionism raised to the tenth degree. And now you're probably wondering why I chose the number 27, no? Well, perhaps it's just my little way of paying tribute to the fact that he worked on his masterpiece animation, The Thief and the Cobbler for TWENTY SEVEN YEARS.
And here is where I continue to strengthen my unending love-hate relationship with humanity. Watching the animation in this movie is beyond astounding. The movie, entirely hand drawn (after all, production DID begin in the 60s, before a lot of that fancy computer graphic stuff), has such a high level of detail and incredible beauty (some of that stuff looked like it MUST HAVE been CG it was so good!) that it is still painstakingly clear even as I watched it via a fuzzy Youtube video.
And the tragedy.....that such artistic GENIUS was stolen away for Richard Williams at the last 10 minutes of animation and sloppily re-edited beyond recognition.
The truth is, you probably already know of Williams even if you don't remember. His biggest key to fame was his animation of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Ironically, this movie could also be contributed to the completion AND downfall of The Thief and the Cobbler. The latter was supposed to be his life's work, his ultimate masterpiece. He had self-funded it for more than 20 years, trying to see his dream through. Once Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a success, he thought he would finally have the finicial backing to complete his dream. The only problem was that he was still a perfectionist.
His backers had given him a deadline to complete the movie by--but with only ten more minutes of animation to go, he missed it, and the backers became nervous, and unsure their investment was a good one, they pulled the rug out from beneath Williams and fired him from his own piece of work. I personally can only imagine the extreme depression he must have endured from such an unspeakable deed. Fired after 27 years of painstaking work....only for some idiot to look over what he had done and declare it "not marketable enough." Yes, that's right, the investors turned the project over to Fred Calvert, who promptly ruined the movie.
As an extra note, I would like to mention that Disney's Aladdin was actually inspired by Willaim's Thief. This is actually painstakingly clear, considering that as I was watching Thief, I realized that Disney's Aladdin had all but copy and pasted the script from Thief. Characters like Grand Vizier Zigzag could easily be identified with Jaffar's villain and the Genie's appearance. Aladdin himself was nothing more than a fusion of the Thief and the Cobbler characters in one.
Well, though it was Thief that inspired Aladdin, in the end, Calvert seemed to just try his best to copy exactly what Aladdin was...if that makes sense. Here, let me give you an idea. Gooey musical numbers were added at random which seemed like "Disney Songs gone Horribly Wrong." (Not to mention that all the animation that Calvert added to the film absolutely sucked, retaining all the quality of a cheaply made home movie. ) The Princess of Thief managed to turn into a really bad Princess Jasimine Wannabe. There is so much more I could say, but I rather not ruin the movie, for anyone interested in watching it. The point is, the versions officially released were a far call from the masterpiece Williams had intended.
Well, the fact that not only was Williams film stolen from him, but that a masterpiece of 27 years in the making was massacred just to make it more "mainstream, kid-friendly, marketable," and so on, basically put me at "Misanthropist to the 100000000000000000th Degree" at this point. But, it seems that whenever I think that humanity is a bad of maggots that out to be burned alive, revived, and then buried alive, it seems that I always find hope for us yet. Disregarding the fact that there are geniuses like William to begin with, there are also hard working people with morals. One of said people is Garret Gilchrist.
Garret Glichrist single-handedly reconstructed The Thief and the Cobbler by himself. I can only imagine how much "homework" this must have been. I don't know how he managed to find sources, but from clip-its, lost footage, foreign versions, and so on, he created a fanedit (called the "Recobbled") which, though not perfect, shows the film the way it was intended to be seen. At times, you will notice, that in place of animation, there are stills, pens-tests, and pictures from the story boards. These parts would signify the unfinished animation or the parts the William simply destroyed out of spite once he was fired.
In any case, I highly recommend this film, giving it Seven Stars Up (*ba-dum-chi*), and while the quality of Youtube isn't the best, I think everyone here can appreciate it for not only what it could have been, but what it is. Thank you, and enjoy.
Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgQy2I9NCS8
Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPnPIuS4oVI
Part 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ7cY4OEZN8
Part 4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA5ydO4I8bI
Part 5: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuRIJ15pt80
Part 6: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpeTnydgVOk
Part 7: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRAY2a47LdA
Part 8: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRPPC2uaoEw
Part 9: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPiAbVFnpKY
Part 10: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX1o3O1zlNE
Part 11: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZjVvOClTCQ
EDIT:
I figured so that I won't be rambling to myself about how much better the original is than the mainstream-itized edits, I decided to post the links to said videos so that my argument won't be without justification. Presenting to you, Arabian Knight, the first edit, and The Princess and the Cobbler, the second. Below, I am also including my commentary and opinion on each video, though I don't suggest you read that until after watching the movie clips. Enjoy!
Arabian Knight
1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=doVCzB_byq4
2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-udjqQtA3kY
3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZN5n1e1e0I
4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Ttk3OJbek
5: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdUfYyHEcH8
6: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXFbPHGGg_4
7: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPmr2838Jg8
8: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln6dWHiugeo
Seven's Notes:
I have to admit, when it comes to this movie, I am actually not sure where to begin. From Youtube comments, I could tell a lot of people actually liked this movie a great deal. Not to blame them, since at its fundamental core, it still is a great piece of work, filled with lots of scenes of beautiful animation, interesting characters, and of course, Vincent Price as the villain Zigzag. What's there not to like?
Had I seen this version first, I would have still considered Arabian Knight quite the feat, and had I not known of William's tragedy and loss of his production, I'd probably worshiping Fred Calvert for his incredible vision. The only problem with all this is that having seen The Recobbled Cut to begin with, I know that the ONLY parts I like about this movie are the parts which followed William's intent....and everything else they added is garabage and stuff I wouldn't have liked much even if I had seen Arabian Knight as a stand alone.
To begin with are the clear additions of obnoxious, unnecessary narration on part of Tack and the Thief. Tack, I love you, in the Recobbled Cut, you became one of my all time favorite protagonists, being cute, pure, but not over the top in the heroic, good-two-shoes manner that tends to annoy me with most children movies. However, in this movie, I could only consider Tack CAPTAIN OBVIOUS, restating everything that was being done for no real reason. Also, there is the fact that he's narrating the story from the past tense, giving away plenty of plot points from the very beginning, such as he and the Princess marrying in the end.
But more than the annoying narration, what affected me most significantly was how Tack's character actually diminished from his speaking roles. Through the genius of William's animation, no words were necessary to convey Tack's thoughts or character. Just through his body language and artful story telling, that became incredibly clear. Tack is a humble man, pure and good. The fact that he is mute actually contributes to that sort of humble innocence about Tack. Therefore, the narration is only annoying at best, not worst. At worst is the fact that Tack's character is severely changed from him speaking. Rather than not speaking of out something humble, simple, and inherently kind about him, he speaks little (though narrates a LOT) to the Princess because he's SHY and can't "think of anything to say." At this point, I could only roll my eyes. They changed Tack's character into a modern day geek in the worst possible way. Rather than being kind and pure, he's a stuttering idiot that acts pouty whenever he's alone for not being able to impress the Princess.
Another point I'd like to make--a strange sense of arrogance about Tack. While clearly both Tacks have a crush on the Princess, there's a stronger feeling that original Tack would not have even dared dream of winning the Princess over, but because he's good and kind, he'll help her at his expense and ask for nothing in return (no reciprocation). But Arabian Knight Tack seems to even have the typical "I'm Special" syndrome that so many heroes seem to be plagued with. Especially once he's thrown in jail, he constantly narrates how he HAD to get back to the Princess to "warn her." Warn her about what, exactly? Nothing was going on for christ's sake! Sure, he might not like Zigzag for constantly trying to imprison/kill him, but technically, Zigzag wasn't doing anything wrong at the point. As Grand Vizier, it was in his full power to execute who he thought necessary. So, Arabian Knight Tack is clearly pompous rather than humble in thinking that he has to warn the princess about the Vizier (though he COULD HAVE warned her about the perfectly legitimate concern about A THIEF TRYING TO STEAL THE GOLDEN BALLS!....though THAT never crosses his mind *rolls eyes*) The other part in which he is quite pompous is in assuming (and calling himself) the "only person the Princess could trust." Arrogance much? Especially considering you've known each other for all of FIVE MINUTES? Love, though a powerful thing, seems to undermine a lot of the character's thoughts to the point that they're ridiculous. While he might have trusted the Princess and liked her, he had no foundation to think that the Princess felt he same way.
There's more I could rant about Tack's changes, but I won't. I'll save that for discussion later.
Next topic: OBNOXIOUSLY INAPPROPRIATE THIEF THOUGHTS!
I found out later that in William's own words, the thief is an idiot. Single-track, one objective idiot. If he wasn't, he would have known that the golden balls are there for national security, not ornament. He's simple. He's not really stealing to make a profit, he just does it with the sheer determination and tenacity of a kleptomaniac Raven trying to fill its nest with shiny objects. After all, for a profit, you could steal lots of easy pickings rather than 3 near-impossible ones. These were all ideas I understood just from watching the film alone.
Once again, Arabian Knight decides to overhaul the character. The only way to do so is by narrating his thoughts, it in itself a pointless idea since it contributes nothing to the progression of the story. And why would they do such a thing? Trying to make more mainstream comic relief by constantly referencing popular, mainstream culture. Which, once again, is entirely inappropriate, considering the story takes place probably aeons ago. I do have to note that this is a fairly used technique though, to give an antiquarian fable modern culture references for humor; it's like breaking the fourth wall for laughs. The only thing is that Thief's thoughts really aren't all too funny and just make the movie seem like a loud-mouth jerk in the movie theater is talking too loud. At best, the thoughts can seem like a fan-made parody of the move, like Yugioh/Naruto/misc.-Anime Abridged Series. But considering this is something made for profit and not giggles, it just takes away from the movie.
Granted, there were times that the comments got a giggle out of me, such as in the beginning when the Thief references Tack living like a college student, but not often. I have a theory on it, actually. They try TOO hard. By trying to make a pun literally EVERY SECOND, it just gets old REALLY FAST. That....and I also thought that the voice actor they got for Thief seemed off for the animation.
Princess Yamyam also didn't escape my objections. First of them being that she is not longer Princess Yumyum as she is "Princess I Wish I Were Jasmine, I WISH I were Jasmine!" Calvert apparently wanted to add a progressive feel to the movie by making Yamyam complain about her life of "regal splendor" and wanting to make a difference. While normally, I wouldn't criticize what is apparently a femminist addition....except in this case, it really wasn't. Apart from bursting into her ridiculous "She Is More Than This" musical number (which, I must comment, was a terrible song with bad animation), she just comes off as a whiny spoiled, brat Princess, ungrateful for the luxory she's living in. Rather than making a difference, she complains that she can't. In contrast, the original version she makes no such complaints. Instead, the viewer is left with the feeling that Princess YumYum IS a strangely progressive, intelligent, and confident woman, despite living in a time which women are not viewed equally. Once again, the original shows implements actions over words. She does things fearlessly and effortlessly, such as saving Tack's life by cleverly breaking her shoe and sweetly requesting to have a cobbler. She is not afraid to use her leverage as Princess and things generally taken for granted, such as attitude, to fix things. She doesn't dance around in her room singing about how it's so unfair that she only gets to be a Princess, which inevitably left me feeling like if something DID happen, she'd be crying for help. That, and her Nanny became a bit of a bitch as well.
I don't feel I need to comment on the musical numbers, they pretty much speak for themselves. In other words, I realize I should cut my rant short since I'm, well, ranting. And everyone is probably sick of it by now.
The Princess and the Cobbler:
1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyaxpeWllJY
2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=da3AZf5AVX8
3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bNqbHNZ3K0
4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl7r8WBCKQ0
5: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ9bScOX_zM
6: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4NbmX-Psjs
7: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-mxSLZTw48
8: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTd2zJOdogM
9: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKa7Qq-bjCQ
Pan, I believe this is the one you remember from your childhood. To be honest, I've only gotten half way through it myself (because of the stress of finals), but even if I had finished it, I doubt I'd have as much to say as Arabian Knight. From what I have seen, it's not as bad as Arabian Knight, though not as good as the original. It's not very different from Arabian Knight, but it does fix some things. Like removing Thief's thoughts, which was a godsend for me. However, I still retain my other complaints from Arabian Knight, such as the changing of character personality and ooey gooey musical numbers. Other than that, it's fairly all right, and without any comparison to the original, can be considered pretty good movie.
Now, make no mistake, I am of course not saying this to make jibe as Asila (i.e. ASILA PLZ DON'T HIT ME!), but rather I am trying to express a feeling of awe for her workmanship and incredible attention to detail. If I ever considered myself a perfectionist, then I knew that she had to be a SUPER-perfectionist, dedicated to creating real beauty in her art.
You're probably wondering why I chose to begin what will probably be a lengthy spiel about Richard Williams with an anecdote about Asila and the paint shop. It was to put something in perspective. If Asila is a SUPER-perfectionist, then the genius Canadian animator Richard Williams was at least TWENTY SEVEN Asilas put together with the SUPER-perfectionism raised to the tenth degree. And now you're probably wondering why I chose the number 27, no? Well, perhaps it's just my little way of paying tribute to the fact that he worked on his masterpiece animation, The Thief and the Cobbler for TWENTY SEVEN YEARS.
And here is where I continue to strengthen my unending love-hate relationship with humanity. Watching the animation in this movie is beyond astounding. The movie, entirely hand drawn (after all, production DID begin in the 60s, before a lot of that fancy computer graphic stuff), has such a high level of detail and incredible beauty (some of that stuff looked like it MUST HAVE been CG it was so good!) that it is still painstakingly clear even as I watched it via a fuzzy Youtube video.
And the tragedy.....that such artistic GENIUS was stolen away for Richard Williams at the last 10 minutes of animation and sloppily re-edited beyond recognition.
The truth is, you probably already know of Williams even if you don't remember. His biggest key to fame was his animation of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Ironically, this movie could also be contributed to the completion AND downfall of The Thief and the Cobbler. The latter was supposed to be his life's work, his ultimate masterpiece. He had self-funded it for more than 20 years, trying to see his dream through. Once Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a success, he thought he would finally have the finicial backing to complete his dream. The only problem was that he was still a perfectionist.
His backers had given him a deadline to complete the movie by--but with only ten more minutes of animation to go, he missed it, and the backers became nervous, and unsure their investment was a good one, they pulled the rug out from beneath Williams and fired him from his own piece of work. I personally can only imagine the extreme depression he must have endured from such an unspeakable deed. Fired after 27 years of painstaking work....only for some idiot to look over what he had done and declare it "not marketable enough." Yes, that's right, the investors turned the project over to Fred Calvert, who promptly ruined the movie.
As an extra note, I would like to mention that Disney's Aladdin was actually inspired by Willaim's Thief. This is actually painstakingly clear, considering that as I was watching Thief, I realized that Disney's Aladdin had all but copy and pasted the script from Thief. Characters like Grand Vizier Zigzag could easily be identified with Jaffar's villain and the Genie's appearance. Aladdin himself was nothing more than a fusion of the Thief and the Cobbler characters in one.
Well, though it was Thief that inspired Aladdin, in the end, Calvert seemed to just try his best to copy exactly what Aladdin was...if that makes sense. Here, let me give you an idea. Gooey musical numbers were added at random which seemed like "Disney Songs gone Horribly Wrong." (Not to mention that all the animation that Calvert added to the film absolutely sucked, retaining all the quality of a cheaply made home movie. ) The Princess of Thief managed to turn into a really bad Princess Jasimine Wannabe. There is so much more I could say, but I rather not ruin the movie, for anyone interested in watching it. The point is, the versions officially released were a far call from the masterpiece Williams had intended.
Well, the fact that not only was Williams film stolen from him, but that a masterpiece of 27 years in the making was massacred just to make it more "mainstream, kid-friendly, marketable," and so on, basically put me at "Misanthropist to the 100000000000000000th Degree" at this point. But, it seems that whenever I think that humanity is a bad of maggots that out to be burned alive, revived, and then buried alive, it seems that I always find hope for us yet. Disregarding the fact that there are geniuses like William to begin with, there are also hard working people with morals. One of said people is Garret Gilchrist.
Garret Glichrist single-handedly reconstructed The Thief and the Cobbler by himself. I can only imagine how much "homework" this must have been. I don't know how he managed to find sources, but from clip-its, lost footage, foreign versions, and so on, he created a fanedit (called the "Recobbled") which, though not perfect, shows the film the way it was intended to be seen. At times, you will notice, that in place of animation, there are stills, pens-tests, and pictures from the story boards. These parts would signify the unfinished animation or the parts the William simply destroyed out of spite once he was fired.
In any case, I highly recommend this film, giving it Seven Stars Up (*ba-dum-chi*), and while the quality of Youtube isn't the best, I think everyone here can appreciate it for not only what it could have been, but what it is. Thank you, and enjoy.
Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgQy2I9NCS8
Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPnPIuS4oVI
Part 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ7cY4OEZN8
Part 4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA5ydO4I8bI
Part 5: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuRIJ15pt80
Part 6: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpeTnydgVOk
Part 7: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRAY2a47LdA
Part 8: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRPPC2uaoEw
Part 9: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPiAbVFnpKY
Part 10: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX1o3O1zlNE
Part 11: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZjVvOClTCQ
EDIT:
I figured so that I won't be rambling to myself about how much better the original is than the mainstream-itized edits, I decided to post the links to said videos so that my argument won't be without justification. Presenting to you, Arabian Knight, the first edit, and The Princess and the Cobbler, the second. Below, I am also including my commentary and opinion on each video, though I don't suggest you read that until after watching the movie clips. Enjoy!
Arabian Knight
1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=doVCzB_byq4
2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-udjqQtA3kY
3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZN5n1e1e0I
4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Ttk3OJbek
5: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdUfYyHEcH8
6: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXFbPHGGg_4
7: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPmr2838Jg8
8: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln6dWHiugeo
Seven's Notes:
I have to admit, when it comes to this movie, I am actually not sure where to begin. From Youtube comments, I could tell a lot of people actually liked this movie a great deal. Not to blame them, since at its fundamental core, it still is a great piece of work, filled with lots of scenes of beautiful animation, interesting characters, and of course, Vincent Price as the villain Zigzag. What's there not to like?
Had I seen this version first, I would have still considered Arabian Knight quite the feat, and had I not known of William's tragedy and loss of his production, I'd probably worshiping Fred Calvert for his incredible vision. The only problem with all this is that having seen The Recobbled Cut to begin with, I know that the ONLY parts I like about this movie are the parts which followed William's intent....and everything else they added is garabage and stuff I wouldn't have liked much even if I had seen Arabian Knight as a stand alone.
To begin with are the clear additions of obnoxious, unnecessary narration on part of Tack and the Thief. Tack, I love you, in the Recobbled Cut, you became one of my all time favorite protagonists, being cute, pure, but not over the top in the heroic, good-two-shoes manner that tends to annoy me with most children movies. However, in this movie, I could only consider Tack CAPTAIN OBVIOUS, restating everything that was being done for no real reason. Also, there is the fact that he's narrating the story from the past tense, giving away plenty of plot points from the very beginning, such as he and the Princess marrying in the end.
But more than the annoying narration, what affected me most significantly was how Tack's character actually diminished from his speaking roles. Through the genius of William's animation, no words were necessary to convey Tack's thoughts or character. Just through his body language and artful story telling, that became incredibly clear. Tack is a humble man, pure and good. The fact that he is mute actually contributes to that sort of humble innocence about Tack. Therefore, the narration is only annoying at best, not worst. At worst is the fact that Tack's character is severely changed from him speaking. Rather than not speaking of out something humble, simple, and inherently kind about him, he speaks little (though narrates a LOT) to the Princess because he's SHY and can't "think of anything to say." At this point, I could only roll my eyes. They changed Tack's character into a modern day geek in the worst possible way. Rather than being kind and pure, he's a stuttering idiot that acts pouty whenever he's alone for not being able to impress the Princess.
Another point I'd like to make--a strange sense of arrogance about Tack. While clearly both Tacks have a crush on the Princess, there's a stronger feeling that original Tack would not have even dared dream of winning the Princess over, but because he's good and kind, he'll help her at his expense and ask for nothing in return (no reciprocation). But Arabian Knight Tack seems to even have the typical "I'm Special" syndrome that so many heroes seem to be plagued with. Especially once he's thrown in jail, he constantly narrates how he HAD to get back to the Princess to "warn her." Warn her about what, exactly? Nothing was going on for christ's sake! Sure, he might not like Zigzag for constantly trying to imprison/kill him, but technically, Zigzag wasn't doing anything wrong at the point. As Grand Vizier, it was in his full power to execute who he thought necessary. So, Arabian Knight Tack is clearly pompous rather than humble in thinking that he has to warn the princess about the Vizier (though he COULD HAVE warned her about the perfectly legitimate concern about A THIEF TRYING TO STEAL THE GOLDEN BALLS!....though THAT never crosses his mind *rolls eyes*) The other part in which he is quite pompous is in assuming (and calling himself) the "only person the Princess could trust." Arrogance much? Especially considering you've known each other for all of FIVE MINUTES? Love, though a powerful thing, seems to undermine a lot of the character's thoughts to the point that they're ridiculous. While he might have trusted the Princess and liked her, he had no foundation to think that the Princess felt he same way.
There's more I could rant about Tack's changes, but I won't. I'll save that for discussion later.
Next topic: OBNOXIOUSLY INAPPROPRIATE THIEF THOUGHTS!
I found out later that in William's own words, the thief is an idiot. Single-track, one objective idiot. If he wasn't, he would have known that the golden balls are there for national security, not ornament. He's simple. He's not really stealing to make a profit, he just does it with the sheer determination and tenacity of a kleptomaniac Raven trying to fill its nest with shiny objects. After all, for a profit, you could steal lots of easy pickings rather than 3 near-impossible ones. These were all ideas I understood just from watching the film alone.
Once again, Arabian Knight decides to overhaul the character. The only way to do so is by narrating his thoughts, it in itself a pointless idea since it contributes nothing to the progression of the story. And why would they do such a thing? Trying to make more mainstream comic relief by constantly referencing popular, mainstream culture. Which, once again, is entirely inappropriate, considering the story takes place probably aeons ago. I do have to note that this is a fairly used technique though, to give an antiquarian fable modern culture references for humor; it's like breaking the fourth wall for laughs. The only thing is that Thief's thoughts really aren't all too funny and just make the movie seem like a loud-mouth jerk in the movie theater is talking too loud. At best, the thoughts can seem like a fan-made parody of the move, like Yugioh/Naruto/misc.-Anime Abridged Series. But considering this is something made for profit and not giggles, it just takes away from the movie.
Granted, there were times that the comments got a giggle out of me, such as in the beginning when the Thief references Tack living like a college student, but not often. I have a theory on it, actually. They try TOO hard. By trying to make a pun literally EVERY SECOND, it just gets old REALLY FAST. That....and I also thought that the voice actor they got for Thief seemed off for the animation.
Princess Yamyam also didn't escape my objections. First of them being that she is not longer Princess Yumyum as she is "Princess I Wish I Were Jasmine, I WISH I were Jasmine!" Calvert apparently wanted to add a progressive feel to the movie by making Yamyam complain about her life of "regal splendor" and wanting to make a difference. While normally, I wouldn't criticize what is apparently a femminist addition....except in this case, it really wasn't. Apart from bursting into her ridiculous "She Is More Than This" musical number (which, I must comment, was a terrible song with bad animation), she just comes off as a whiny spoiled, brat Princess, ungrateful for the luxory she's living in. Rather than making a difference, she complains that she can't. In contrast, the original version she makes no such complaints. Instead, the viewer is left with the feeling that Princess YumYum IS a strangely progressive, intelligent, and confident woman, despite living in a time which women are not viewed equally. Once again, the original shows implements actions over words. She does things fearlessly and effortlessly, such as saving Tack's life by cleverly breaking her shoe and sweetly requesting to have a cobbler. She is not afraid to use her leverage as Princess and things generally taken for granted, such as attitude, to fix things. She doesn't dance around in her room singing about how it's so unfair that she only gets to be a Princess, which inevitably left me feeling like if something DID happen, she'd be crying for help. That, and her Nanny became a bit of a bitch as well.
I don't feel I need to comment on the musical numbers, they pretty much speak for themselves. In other words, I realize I should cut my rant short since I'm, well, ranting. And everyone is probably sick of it by now.
The Princess and the Cobbler:
1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyaxpeWllJY
2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=da3AZf5AVX8
3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bNqbHNZ3K0
4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl7r8WBCKQ0
5: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ9bScOX_zM
6: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4NbmX-Psjs
7: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-mxSLZTw48
8: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTd2zJOdogM
9: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKa7Qq-bjCQ
Pan, I believe this is the one you remember from your childhood. To be honest, I've only gotten half way through it myself (because of the stress of finals), but even if I had finished it, I doubt I'd have as much to say as Arabian Knight. From what I have seen, it's not as bad as Arabian Knight, though not as good as the original. It's not very different from Arabian Knight, but it does fix some things. Like removing Thief's thoughts, which was a godsend for me. However, I still retain my other complaints from Arabian Knight, such as the changing of character personality and ooey gooey musical numbers. Other than that, it's fairly all right, and without any comparison to the original, can be considered pretty good movie.
