The Thief & the Cobbler (Live-action film)

The Thief & the Cobbler (or Arabian Knight) is a British-American fantasy-adventure musical comedy film & a live-action remake of the 1992 animated film of the same name by the late Canadian-British animator Richard Williams. This film uses elements from mostly the Miramax version, Arabian Knight.

Produced by Miramax, the film will be theatrically released by Paramount Pictures in the United States.

Plot
The film opens with Tack (as the narrator) describing the Golden City of 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 & death; however, the city can be saved by the "simplest soul with the smallest & simplest of things". Outside the city, a race of monstrous one-eyed men, led by the warlord Aeur the Mighty, plans to conquer it. Unknown to them, a single soldier of the army they have just defeated is still alive, though mortally wounded, & rides to warn the Sultan. Living in the city is the good-hearted cobbler Tack, named for the ubiquitous pair of tacks held in his mouth, & a nameless, unsuccessful yet persistent thief. When the thief tries his luck at the home of Tack, Tack accidentally sews their clothes together while he is asleep & the thief is leaning over him. They stumble onto the street, & Ziya the rhyming grand vizier, who is proceeding through the street, steps on one of Tack's tacks. Angered by the pain, he orders Tack to be arrested, while the thief manages to escape. When Tack is being taken to the palace, the thief sees the three golden balls in the courtyard. Ziya takes Tack before the sleepy sultan, King Nadeem, & his beautiful daughter, Princess Yasmeen, who takes a liking to Tack (& vice versa). Before Ziya can convince the sultan to have Tack executed, Yasmeen saves him by breaking her shoe on purpose & demanding that the cobbler should fix it. Tack fixes her shoe while developing a romantic bond with the princess that leaves Ziya, who harbors great lust for Yasmeen, intensely jealous. After he is done, the thief, who has managed to break into the palace through the sewer system, steals the shoe, & Tack chases him throughout the palace. After Tack manages to get the shoe back, he bumps into Ziya, who notices that the shoe has been fixed & uses the opportunity to lock Tack away in a prison cell.

Later, Ziya tells his starving pet vulture Phido his plan to marry the princess and take over the kingdom. Phido hates Ziya due to the fact he does not feed him & treats him badly (accidentally setting him on fire multiple times). The following morning, King Nadeem has a vision of the Golden City's doom by the One-Eyes & calls Ziya immediately. When Ziya has managed to convince the king that they are "safe from any threat as long as the three golden balls are on the minaret", the thief manages to steal the balls after several failed attempts, but drops & loses them to Ziya's minions. Meanwhile, Tack breaks out of his cell using his cobbling tools while people panic over the loss of the balls. The dying soldier finally arrives & warns Nadeem about the One-Eyes. After seeing that the balls are gone, the horrified Sultan tells his subjects about the dire situation & prepares the city's defense for an invasion. Later that night, Ziya receives the balls from his minions & attempts to blackmail the Sultan to let him marry his daughter Yasmeen. When King Nadeem refuses, explaining to Ziya that Yasmeen can only marry someone pure of heart, Ziya decides to defect to the One-Eyes instead & give them the golden balls.

Nadeem sends Yasmeen, her nanny, & Tack on a perilous journey to ask for help from the Mad & Holy Old Witch, the twin sister of Aeur who lives in the desert. The heroes meet a band of dim-witted brigands in the desert, whom Yasmeen declares as her royal guard. Together they travel to the hand-shaped mountain where the Witch lives. The Witch says that Tack can save the Golden City, & gives him the advice: "Attack, Attack, ATTACK! A tack, see? But it's what you do with what you've got!". Meanwhile, Ziya goes to Aeur the Mighty & impresses him with his skills as a sorcerer & by taming the alligators that the One-Eyes throw him to. They then prepare to attack the city.

The protagonists return to the city while the One-Eyes' huge war machine is approaching. Remembering the witch's riddle, Tack steps forward & shoots a single tack into the enemy's midst. The tack starts a Rube Goldberg-esque chain reaction that causes the war machine to slowly collapse, destroying the whole One-Eye army in the process. When trying to escape, Ziya falls into a dark pit where he is ambushed by the alligators & Phido. Because Ziya has not kept his promise to feed them, they eat him alive. The thief, while evading many deathtraps, steals the balls from the war machine, but they are taken from him by Tack: The thief, who has had various misadventures throughout the film, finally gives up & lets him have them. With peace restored & the prophecy fulfilled, the city celebrates as Tack becomes Prince & the first Arabian Knight, & he & Yasmeen marry. During the wedding, the thief attempts to steal the balls again. Tack ends the story by saying: "So next time you see a shooting star, be proud of who you really are. Do in your heart what you know is right, & you too shall become an Arabian Knight." Tack also mentions that the thief eventually remains in jail for years, but when released, he becomes the Captain of the Guards.

Cast
Also, Laurence Rickard portrays a Brigand.
 * Reyn Robinson as Tack: The main protagonist, a young, modest, & quiet shoemaker's apprentice living in Baghdad.
 * TBA as Ziya the Grand: The main antagonist, the Grand Vizier to the Sultan who seeks to seize the throne. He is the film's version of Zigzag.
 * Francesca Heyward as Princess Yasmeen: The main deuteragonist, the Princess of Baghdad who wishes to prove to her father, the Sultan, that she is more than a "pretty face". She is the film's version of Princess Yum-Yum.
 * TBA as the Thief: The titular antihero, an unsuccessful but persistent thief.
 * TBA as King Nadeem: The Sultan of Baghdad. He is the film's version of King Nod.
 * TBA as Princess Yasmeen's Nurse: The nurse of Princess Yasmeen who doesn't approve of Tack at first, but soon starts to appreciate him.
 * Queen Latifah as the Mad & Holy Witch: The twin sister of Aeur the Mighty who has his other eye, which she uses for good.
 * Vinnie Jones as Chief Rauf: The leader of the group of brigands living outside of Baghdad. He has a pet snake named Salome, whom he is strongly affectionate towards. He is the film's version of Chief Roofless.
 * Idris Elba as Aeur the Mighty: The secondary antagonist, the leader of the One-Eyes who is seeking to conquer the City of Baghdad. He is the film's version of the Mighty One-Eye.

Music

 * "She is More"
 * "Am I Feeling Love?"
 * "Bom Bom Bom Beem Bom (That's What Happens When You Don't Go to School)"
 * "It's So Amazing"

Differences & similarities from the animated films

 * Most of the characters' names were changed into more Arabic-sounding names. Also, Aeur's name means "one-eyed" (أعور 'aeur).
 * Tack's name is the only exception (تك tak).
 * In the chase scene, Tack chases the Thief throughout the palace rather than through hallways filled with optical illusions.
 * Unlike in the animated films, Auer's slave women aren't treated like human furniture.