Review: ‘The Black Cauldron’
Fantasy author Lloyd Alexander was beloved for his imaginative series, the [[[Chronicles of Prydain]]] so anyone who read the series, originally released between 1964 and 1968, were no doubt apprehensive to see the entire story collapsed into an 80 minute animated feature from Walt Disney.
The filmmakers decided to focus on the second book, [[[The Black Cauldron]]], and substantially altered characters, settings, and events so when it opened July 24, 1985, fans of the material were not happy. Worse, people unfamiliar with the source material were not particularly entertained leading to a box office collapse. That this film came at the tail end of a period where creativity was clearly lacking meant that it looked and felt like a generic Disney animated film. Jeffrey Katzenberg arrived on staff just prior to the film’s release and he could merely nip and tuck sequences, but recognized their most expensive feature to date, and the first to use computer-generated animation, was not working.
Now released in a standard DVD 25th Anniversary edition, the movie has been cleaned up a bit but still lacks suspense and imagination. Rather than visually embrace the Welsh mythology that Alexander mined for his novels, Disney made everything look fairly bland.
In short, the Horned King (John Hurt) is attempting to find the legendary Black Cauldron which would give him the power to rule the world. According to a trio of witches, no one had been looking for the magical artifact in over 2000 years, but now the time seemed ripe. What the tall, shadowy figure did not count on was the plucky band of adventurers to stand in his way towards global domination. Leading the charge was the teenaged Taran (Grant Bardsley), who we meet as he laments his having just missed out on participating in the last war. Instead, he works as the assistant pig keeper to a wizard, unaware the prize pig, Hen Wen, can conjure up images of the future. When the pig goes missing, Taran goes in search only to encounter a talking creature named Gurgi (John Byner), followed by a dim-witted princess Eilonwy (Susan Sheridan) and Fflewddur Fflam (Nigel Hawthorne), a broken down balladeer.
The movie barely resembles the book with characters altered beyond recognition and the Horned King a possible threat, as opposed to the malevolent force he is in the books. Instead, the standard quest story and coming of age for Taran are inserted much to the disappointment of the readers. Comical elements are there for the children but overall there’s no spark to ignite the imagination.
The new edition comes complete with a deleted scene, “The Fairy Folk”, that would have added to the exposition and you see it in semi-complete and pencil form with the soundtrack. A scene Katzenberg ordered cut, is not here. Also new to this set is “The Witches’ Challenge”, a trivia game for the youngsters. “The Quest for the Black Cauldron” game and art gallery are preserved from the previous release along with the 1952 Donald Duck short “Trick or Treat” included merely because it featured a witch.
The Black Cauldron SUCKED on almost every front. For instance, the cuteness of the character Gurgi in the Disney Movie was a complete distortion of how he appears in the books, which is sort of a cross between Golum from Lord of the Rings, a badger and a shambling mound of filth. All of the characters lost whatever made them magic in the novels.The movie was the first Animated Film from Disney with a PG rating. There are some scary images there, like of armies of skeletons. Angry parents would leave the theater with their crying toddlers and insist on getting refunds. We would say, “Didn’t you see that it was PG? There were skeletons on the Movie Poster!” This didn’t matter. It was DISNEY and DISNEY wasn’t supposed to be that scary. (Frankly, there are scarier parts in Snow White, but they don’t involve skeleton armies.) This is one Disney Movie that deserves to go back into the vault and not come out again.
The Black Cauldron SUCKED on almost every front. For instance, the cuteness of the character Gurgi in the Disney Movie was a complete distortion of how he appears in the books, which is sort of a cross between Golum from Lord of the Rings, a badger and a shambling mound of filth. All of the characters lost whatever made them magic in the novels.The movie was the first Animated Film from Disney with a PG rating. There are some scary images there, like of armies of skeletons. Angry parents would leave the theater with their crying toddlers and insist on getting refunds. We would say, “Didn’t you see that it was PG? There were skeletons on the Movie Poster!” This didn’t matter. It was DISNEY and DISNEY wasn’t supposed to be that scary. (Frankly, there are scarier parts in Snow White, but they don’t involve skeleton armies.) This is one Disney Movie that deserves to go back into the vault and not come out again.
I was introduced to the Prydain books by a girlfriend, and didn’t see the movie until a couple of years ago; gotta tell ya, I was nauseated. Even focusing on just the second book, Disney gutted it, pretty much ruining everything. If they’re gonna release this piece of go-se, Disney needs to release it all, including a remastered Song of the South.
I was introduced to the Prydain books by a girlfriend, and didn’t see the movie until a couple of years ago; gotta tell ya, I was nauseated. Even focusing on just the second book, Disney gutted it, pretty much ruining everything. If they’re gonna release this piece of go-se, Disney needs to release it all, including a remastered Song of the South.
Weirdly I had wanted to see the movie as a kid but never got around to (disappeared from screens real quick?) but I ended up reading the books. Imagine my surprise when I finally did see the movie. So yes, the one good thing I can say about the movie is that introduced myself and a generation of kids to Lloyd Alexander’s superb work.
The Black Cauldron SUCKED on almost every front. For instance, the cuteness of the character Gurgi in the Disney Movie was a complete distortion of how he appears in the books, which is sort of a cross between Golum from Lord of the Rings, a badger and a shambling mound of filth. All of the characters lost whatever made them magic in the novels.The movie was the first Animated Film from Disney with a PG rating. There are some scary images there, like of armies of skeletons. Angry parents would leave the theater with their crying toddlers and insist on getting refunds. We would say, "Didn't you see that it was PG? There were skeletons on the Movie Poster!" This didn't matter. It was DISNEY and DISNEY wasn't supposed to be that scary. (Frankly, there are scarier parts in Snow White, but they don't involve skeleton armies.) This is one Disney Movie that deserves to go back into the vault and not come out again.
Weirdly I had wanted to see the movie as a kid but never got around to (disappeared from screens real quick?) but I ended up reading the books. Imagine my surprise when I finally did see the movie. So yes, the one good thing I can say about the movie is that introduced myself and a generation of kids to Lloyd Alexander's superb work.
I was introduced to the Prydain books by a girlfriend, and didn't see the movie until a couple of years ago; gotta tell ya, I was nauseated. Even focusing on just the second book, Disney gutted it, pretty much ruining everything. If they're gonna release this piece of go-se, Disney needs to release it all, including a remastered Song of the South.