DVDizzy Forum

What eventually happened with Roy's crusade, and what's he doing now?

Last I knew he was buying the Harlem Globetrotters.

I'm really curious aswell, but I have no idea. It's strange; we haven't heard about anything concerning him since he was fired from the Disney Board of Directors.

Any UD members who know a bit more?

Oh, he's up to about 76 years or so by now I think.

I think after Eisner quit, Roy came to a truce with the company.

That sounds about right. I'm guessing Roy and Eisner never really liked each other in the first place.

Well it was Roy who brought Eisner to the company in the first place. Roy is still involved with the WDC, he's just not on the board of directors anymore. He is currently a Director Emeritus and consultant for the company, not to mention a very large shareholder. He's also still president of Shamrock Holdings, though I don't know how much of his time that consumes, as I think it's mainly for controlling his own money and investments. I would like to see him brought back to the Board or the Animation Dept., but I'm happy that he's still at least involved. Just because we aren't hearing much about him doesn't mean he's not around. He's obviously very passionate about the company, so I'm sure he's keeping himself in the mix.

-Aaron

I wonder if his name will be included on the next set of Walt Disney Treasure DVD Tins. Does anyone know if it will or won't.

Anyone know if he's still interested in having The Thief and the Cobbler restored?

enigmawing wrote:Anyone know if he's still interested in having The Thief and the Cobbler restored?

I've actually just been reading about that film lately. There's a guy who did a restored cut and its online. The animation is pretty amazing even though the film was never properly finished.

You can see it here:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 54FBA[url]

Maerj wrote:

enigmawing wrote:Anyone know if he's still interested in having The Thief and the Cobbler restored?

I've actually just been reading about that film lately. There's a guy who did a restored cut and its online. The animation is pretty amazing even though the film was never properly finished.

You can see it here:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 54FBA[url]

I didn't know anything about that film until I read it mentioned on here. At first I was confused because I only knew it as what I thought was an aladdin knock-off called the princess & the cobbler, a non-disney release form the mid 90s right? This is that same movie isn't it? I started trying to look up some info on it...evidently some reincarnation or another of it was in production for a long time.... was disney ever involved? its interesting to find out the history of this.

Wow, that movie looks amazing. I only watched the trailer but some time I'll have to sit down and watch it all. Thank you for posting that link.

totallyminnie86 wrote:I didn't know anything about that film until I read it mentioned on here. At first I was confused because I only knew it as what I thought was an aladdin knock-off called the princess & the cobbler, a non-disney release form the mid 90s right? This is that same movie isn't it? I started trying to look up some info on it...evidently some reincarnation or another of it was in production for a long time.... was disney ever involved? its interesting to find out the history of this.

That's exactly what I thought when I was little. This is the movie with the guy named Tack (or Tac or Tak or Taq...I dunno how he spells it) and the cover of the video had some blue character that looked like a combination of Genie and Jafar.

Oh wow my dad actually took me to this movie when I was a kid! But that's about all I remember...it's obviously a visual masterpiece, but I guess the story was not as well-told and memorable as Disney's films. Still, I might like to own a restored version of this work of art. But what would Roy Disney have to do with it? Does he really want to restore a film he wasn't involved with? If he's just doing it because he appreciates the art, and wants to give the film the respect it deserves, then that's really impressive and commendable.

And apparently, totallyminnie86, this film inspired Aladdin, and thus it was not a knock-off of it. However, I read that Disney bought it and edited it in an attempt to make it more mainstream, and released that as Arabian Nights. But I though the title in theaters when I saw it was The Thief and the Cobbler...so I don't know.

Disney Duster wrote: But what would Roy Disney have to do with it? Why would he want to restore something he(or Disney) wasn't involved with?

Miramax is owned (now) by Disney.

I want to ask whether there's been any development regarding Richard Williams' The Thief and the Cobbler restoration (the fan edit doesn't count). I don't know if Roy Disney is still interested, but I think I read somewhere (Wikipedia?) that a few years ago Don Hahn mentioned that all the art from the film was sitting at the Disney Animation Research library.

I think the only way we might ever see this film completed is if all the current surviving material is restored and remastered, and the remaining incomplete 15 minutes of screen time be animated at Walt Disney Animation Studios and integrated with the older material.

Unfortunately Richard Williams will likely not want to have anything to do with any restoration process. He's disassociated himself from the film.

I've only seen YouTube clips of the film, and the animation looks glorious beyond anything I've ever seen done at Disney. And the art direction? It gives me chills ...

Yes, Iger reached out to him and made peace.

The Thief and the Cobbler is a bad movie. I have all the respect in the world for Richard Williams and his work on Roger Rabbit but The Thief and the Cobbler is BAD. The characters are one dimensional and uninteresting and the story just sucks, not to mention the whole thing just drags. The problem is Williams thought of a bunch of fantastic sequences and animated them beautifully but never really had a story to piece them together. Miramax tried to save what they could with some bad new voice overs, crappy songs, and cutting up the jumbled mess even more. The original bad movie became worse.

I only recommend you watch the movie if you want to see some great animation. If you want a good movie then you might want to skip this one.

jpanimation wrote:The Thief and the Cobbler is a bad movie. I have all the respect in the world for Richard Williams and his work on Roger Rabbit but The Thief and the Cobbler is BAD. The characters are one dimensional and uninteresting and the story just sucks, not to mention the whole thing just drags. The problem is Williams thought of a bunch of fantastic sequences and animated them beautifully but never really had a story to piece them together. Miramax tried to save what they could with some bad new voice overs, crappy songs, and cutting up the jumbled mess even more. The original bad movie became worse.

I only recommend you watch the movie if you want to see some great animation. If you want a good movie then you might want to skip this one.

I just watched the Recobbled Cut and I must agree on the quality of the story. I was underwhelmed. Various gobsmackingly brilliant sequences of animation seemed to exist solely to show off the animation (e.g. the climax with the thief and the machine).

In the end, though not as artistically ambitious, I think Disney's Aladdin is the better movie.