For more than a quarter of a century, Oscar-winning animator Richard Williams labored to bring forth his signature film, one that would rival the best of Disney. And then it was gone.

His epic work-in-progress, originally titled "The Thief and the Cobbler," was seized in 1992 by a completion bond company, which ensured investors that the film would be completed on time and on budget. Last week, Miramax Films released the wide-screen fable, retitled "Arabian Knight."

The $28-million film includes animation, dialogue and music inserted after Williams departed the project.

Williams, the director of animation in the 1988 Academy Award-winning film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," has steadfastly declined to discuss the events. But his oldest son, who spent two years as an animator on "Arabian Knight," has expressed strong reservations about Miramax's movie.

"I think the film has been substantially altered--and in my view, not for the better," Alexander Williams said in a telephone interview from his London home. "What I saw is nothing like the original."

The film's story line revolves around a humble cobbler and his adventures in ancient Baghdad. One major departure from his father's work, Williams noted, was adding voices to two major characters--the cobbler (Matthew Broderick) and the thief (Jonathan Winters)--when the characters originally were mute.

"They decided, in their wisdom, to have them speaking," Williams said. "But it's very hard to have them speaking when their lips don't move. So you have them speaking in the bits they added, and in the other scenes they didn't animate, they put voices over the top. It looks ridiculous, but that didn't stop them."

But the film's executive producer, Jake Eberts, whose British-based company, Allied Filmmakers, invested $10 million in the project over nine years, said Miramax has done a "fabulous job" taking the film to the big screen.

"It was significantly enhanced and changed by Miramax after Miramax stepped in and acquired the domestic [distribution] rights," Eberts said. "They made extremely good changes."

As for giving the cobbler and thief voices, Eberts said the original way did not work for two reasons.

"There wasn't a strong enough story line in and of itself that you could get the story through the actions and appearance of the cobbler," Eberts said.