Lawbolisted Powerful

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

zsofikam I should state that I am a massive Prydain Chronicles fan. Naturally, when I heard there was a movie I of course had to check it out. After my dad finished reading me the books he rented the movie for me. My 7-year-old self knew that the movie wouldn't be exactly like the books due to time constraints and that it was only based on the first two books anyway, but the only similarity between this film and the books is the character's names. For one thing, there are tons of characters missing such as Coll and Gwydion, and the characters that do make it in are virtually unrecognizable. For example, Taran should have had black hair, both Eilonwy and Doli should have had red hair, and Fflewddur should have had blond hair. But these are all minor differences compared to some others. Dallben and Coll are also combined into one. If you read the books, Dallben is essentially Merlin in all but name while Coll is the pig keeper that Taran is apprenticed to. Also, the gwythaints are birds in the books but here are dragons for some reason. Lord Arawn isn't looking for the Black Cauldron but already has it. Gurgi is the same for the most part though I imagined him to be a bit taller. Also I found Creeper annoying, not like his powerfully imposing master. But how does it fare on its own? Well, there are definitely some good aspects. For one thing, the animation, while not the best I've seen, is very detailed, especially on the Horned King. Also, I like the fact that there are no songs. Nothing against musicals (there are some really good ones like Little Shop Of Horrors, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Mary Poppins), but it feels like every other animated movie has musical numbers and quite frankly it gets kind of tiresome. But the best thing about the movie by far is the Horned King, who reminds me a bit of Cyvus Vail for some reason. While he may not be particularly action-oriented, he has a very imposing presence and a truly amazing voice (I must confess that until I went on IMDb I thought they just followed around some 90-year-old man with a mic). Conclusion: A surprisingly enjoyable and entertaining movie with a truly fascinating villain. Some fans of the books (which I am one of) might be disappointed but I found myself liking it.

flavia_cj Need to say, the only good thing about The Black Cauldron it's good quality of backgrounds animation, a quality that was not seen in the Disney studio since "Sleeping Beauty" (1959). But honestly, I don't care if this film has become "cult". Remains as bad as ever.First, Taran is the most forgetabble protagonist in Disney history. Unlike other friendly boys as Mowgli (1967) or Arthur (1963), Taran is boring and has no charisma. All other characters also suffer from the same problem. The villain looks like a character who was taken from some cheap episode of Scooby-Doo. Fairies / gnomes (or what the hell are those things) sound like dull rip-offs of the Seven Dwarfs. Gurgi was created to be friendly and for we to care with him, but he's just an animated version of Jar Jar Binks we wish to see dead.As if things were not already worse enough, the script of this film is problematic. In the beginning, we have a nut with "magical" powers (in my opinion the only sympathetic character in the movie), which seems to be the essential key to the climax of the film, but in half the movie to the end, she simply leaves to follow Taran and disappear in history. In my view, a serious flaw script. Add to the fact that history doesn't have any memorable moment, and we realized the disaster that The Black Cauldron is.

Anssi Vartiainen The 80s is known for its dark films. And even Disney films of the time are no exception. Their art style is muted, using heavy shadows, stark contrasts and swaying away from the cartoony colours. Their story lines are rather adult and depressing. Well, in comparison at least. And the crowning achievement of this is none other than The Black Cauldron, the most peculiar of the Disney canon films.At the time Disney Animation Studios were not doing so well. In fact the company was seriously considering closing them down and focusing solely on theme parks and merchandise. This movie was originally meant to change that course, but it almost ended up being the sole thing to ruin the whole studio. It wanted to take Disney to a whole different direction, picking as its source material a dark fantasy novel and staying very faithful to its tone, earning the PG rating.And yes, before you ask, the pig is in the book as well. Disney didn't add that to give the movie a mascot. Gurgi is in the book as well. I'm never reading that book, no matter how much you'd pay me.So what went wrong? Well, what didn't. The Black Cauldron is a mess. It was a major flop upon its release, and I can definitely see why. It has since garnered a cult following, but the fact still remains that it simply isn't a Disney film. Families went in expecting a typical Disney experience with fairytale stories, kid friendly messages and all around merriment. Instead they were treated to a medieval fantasy story leaning heavily towards dark and horror.But, that could be forgiven. I actually somewhat like the idea in principle. Great heroics, one scary villain, myths and legends, sword and sorcery, all done by one of the greatest animation studios on Earth. What's not to like? How about the fact that the main character is an unlikable, lazy jerk, the side characters have no, you know, character, the plot wanders around worse than a drunken minstrel, the end twist is unimaginably disappointing, the MacGuffin pig is ludicrous, the villain while certainly scary has no charisma or presence beyond looking like the devil and as a whole I'm simply not feeling the epicness. It's clear Disney had never done anything like this, and had no idea how to adapt to a different kind of storytelling tone. A dark fantasy story differs greatly from fairy tales, though they both certainly utilize the same character tropes and source materials. But whereas fairy tales are about morals and simple lessons about good and evil, dark fantasy is more about the struggle against eternal darkness, the meaning of hope in the midst of despair and about guts and glory. I don't get that from The Black Cauldron.The movie has its upsides, definitely. It looks great, the villain is certainly the scariest Disney has ever done and about one third of the story is actually pretty captivating. But it has flaws, many many flaws. Not my personal favourite, but you should still check it out to see if it speaks to you.

Sean Lamberger A notorious relic from Disney's back catalog that was censored and shunned internally for years due to its "distressing" content. In a modern light, it's tough to see what all the fuss was about. A few marching skeletons? A bit of swordplay? It all seems so quaint now, with the benefit of hindsight on our side. Not that the film should be mentioned in the same breath as the studio's calling cards, of course. It's short, shallow and more than a little murky, with a distinct lack of Disney charm, but it still has a lot going for it. The animation, for instance, is superb - a great blend of photo-reference and vivid exaggeration that looks and feels like a Don Bluth classic (though Bluth himself, having departed six years prior, was uninvolved with the production). It also enjoys a much more loyal fantasy tone than many of Disney's efforts, sharing many themes (and maybe a few characters) with the then-neglected Lord of the Rings trilogy. Fascinating for many reasons, most of which occur behind the scenes, it's too narrow-sighted and streamlined to be taken all that seriously.