"Legend has it, in the mystic land of Prydain, there was once a king so cruel and so evil that even the gods feared him. Since no prison could hold him, he was thrown alive into a crucible of molten iron. There, his demonic spirit was captured in the form of a great Black Cauldron. For uncounted centuries, the Black Cauldron lay hidden, waiting, while evil men searched for it, knowing whoever possessed it would have the power to resurrect an army of deathless warriors, and with them, rule the world." -Opening Narration
Initial thoughts before viewing: Like most folks, I had never heard of The Black Cauldron until a few years ago. One I saw that it was available on Disney+, I was really looking forward to finally watching the movie that notoriously almost killed Disney animation (more on that later). Is The Black Cauldron possibly as bad as its reputation? Does it really deserve to be erased from Disney animation's lineage? I was determined to find out!
Because so many people have never even heard of this movie, let alone seen it, here is a brief movie summary (courtesy of Disney+) to help set the stage for you: Fantasy, magic, and fun are all brewed together in this legendary adventure. Whoever releases the mysterious Black Cauldron's power will be invincible. The fearsome Horned King will do anything to possess it, but he is challenged by the most unlikely adversary: a young assistant pig keeper named Taran, who dreams of doing heroic deeds. With a motley team of the brave Princess Eilonwy, a minstrel named Fflewddur Fflam and Hen Wen, a remarkable pig who can predict the future, Taran embarks on a quest to stop the Black Cauldron's evil once and for all. Will he have the courage to succeed?
If you'd like a more comprehensive summary of The Black Cauldron, here is a link to the movie's Disney Wiki page where you can read the entire plot summary.
Highlights:
-The Black Cauldron has a complicated and fascinating history. The behind the scenes story of this movie is probably more interesting than what actually made it on the screen. Here are some of the most interesting tidbits:
Too much source material, too many ideas. To start, The Black Cauldron was based on a beloved children's high fantasy book series called The Chronicles of Prydain, which is, in turn, based on Welsh mythology. Disney purchased the rights to the five-volume book series way back in 1973. The film languished in development for nearly a decade due to the overwhelming amount or source material, and frankly, too many cooks in the kitchen. Once the film finally went into pre-production in 1980, a battle began between Disney's old guard of animators (veterans who had been around since Walt's era), and newer, less-experienced animators who were nerveless eager to prove themselves. The old guard envisioned The Black Cauldron as a fairy-tale fantasy in the vein of Snow White, while the younger animators were eager to push the boundaries of storytelling and animation with more a more ambitious, bold approach. The result is a movie that has traces of Disney charm, but in many ways feels completely unlike any other Disney animated feature.
Hide your kids (hide your wife). Once The Black Cauldron was finally finished in 1984, test screenings proved disastrous: children found the movie to be too intense and scary (they apparently ran out of the theater crying, and parents were enraged). The film was ultimately cut by an incredible 12-15 minutes, all of which were fully animated and scored. THIS IS A HUGE DEAL. Unlike live-action movies where scenes are cut and edited all the time in post-production, animation is a different beast: due to the time consuming and labor-intensive nature of how animation is created, having completed scenes cut is not only extremely rare, but incredibly wasteful. Yet, had the movie not had so many last-minute drastic changes to remove the graphic violence and horror-like shots, The Black Cauldron would have held the distinction of being the only full-length Disney animated feature film to be rated either PG-13 or R (gasp!). After months of hard work, the final film ultimately received a PG rating from the MPAA, the first ever for a Disney animated feature film.
-The Black Cauldron is like The Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, and Disney had a 80's baby. And I'm here for it. Since this movie has a reputation for being a bomb, I was expecting to be underwhelmed and unimpressed. To my happy surprise, I was neither of these things. Instead, I realized that The Black Cauldron is really just the great-grand daddy to a bunch of other high-fantasy pop culture staples like The Lord of the Rings film series and Game of Thrones. Maybe audiences in 1985 were not ready or not expecting such a high-level, dark fantasy from Disney, but I really liked and appreciated all the dramatic (and yes, sometimes gory) fantastical elements of the world of Pyrdain. That being said, I do understand that I was an adult when I watched this somewhat intense movie for the first time. Would I have liked this movie had I seen it as a child? Would it have scarred me for life like so many of the comments I read online from now-adults were who traumatized as a kid from watching the Horned King? Who's to say!
-The Horned King has gravitas. The stand out star of this movie is the villain, the Horned King. In fact, if you've heard of any character from The Black Cauldron, it's probably him (and with good reason). Like his predecessor Maleficent, the Horned King is seriously evil, and seriously cool. He's voiced by legendary British actor John Hurt, and the combined power of his commanding voice and striking appearance makes him a truly frightening screen-stealer. But alas, because his movie is so often forgotten, so too is the Horned King when it comes to top Disney villains. It's okay, Horned King -- I recognize and appreciate you.
-The Cauldron-Born Sequence is like a car crash you can't look away from (and I mean this in best way possible). This is the part of the movie that supposedly caused all the tears and outrage at test screenings and forced heavy edits. Despite the cuts the supposedly removed its goriest details, this sequence is still chock full of creepy green flames and an aggressive amount of dead bodies. Coupled with a scare-jump inducing soundtrack, the Cauldron-Born sequence is a gloriously dark showstopper. Everyone should watch The Black Cauldron for this sequence alone because I guarantee that you'll never see anything like this in a Disney animated feature ever again. (Maybe just don't watch it with your kids in the room...?)
Disliked:
-Despite how creepy he is, the Horned King doesn't really do much. He really just sits around on his thrown and orders his cronies around. The Horned King also has a very cartoonish, goblin-like sidekick named Creeper, who I think looks seriously ridiculous when compared to his stoic, frightening master.
-I really hate Gurgi. I know hate is strong, but Gurgi is really annoying. He's this weird little gopher wood troll thing that is like a shaggy version of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. He talks in the third person, is obsessed with getting one thing (in Gurgi's case, it's apples, which he calls "munchings and crunchings"), and is a freaking coward who always bails on the main group protagonists when they are in trouble. Does he eventually redeem himself? Yes. Do I still hate him? Yes.
Random Thoughts I Had While Watching:
-The unappreciated Flewddur Fflam. The Black Cauldron features an older bard character whose name is pronounced FLEW-dur flam. He's a fun and endearing minor character, but with a name like Flewddur Fflam, he is forever memorable in my book.
-Shout out to Princess Eilonwy, the forgotten Disney princess. The Black Cauldron also features a 12 year-old girl named Princess Eilonwy (pronounced eye-LON-wee). She is a fairly active character (she has magical abilities!) and is the eventual love interest of Taran, the film's main protagonist. Despite being a princess by birth, Eilonwy is not included in the official Disney Princess line-up because of Disney's general distaste for anything to do with The Black Cauldron (more on that later).
-I can't believe I'm saying this, but The Black Cauldron would be an ideal candidate for the live action treatment. From everything I've read, the source material for The Black Cauldron is an enthralling and beloved 5-book epic adventure series. The Black Cauldron film is a loose adaptation of only the first 2 books in The Chronicles of Prydain series. The movie squeezes two booksâ worth of Prydain storylines into one 80-minute movie -- imagine what could be done with more time and space to tell Taran's adventures! Disney still owns the rights to The Chronicles of Prydain. Rather than investing time and resources in mediocre live action remakes of beloved Disney animated features, Disney would be smart to create an entirely new live-action tv series based on the detailed, sprawling world of The Chronicles of Prydain. And since The Black Cauldron is not exactly a favorite amongst Disney's general fan base, the scrutiny and criticism of this live-action remake would not be as severe or extensive.
Closing Thoughts:
-The Black Cauldron is not a bad movie, and it does not deserve it's lousy reputation . The design and visuals of this film are strong (it's actually the first animated feature to utilize CGI). The Black Cauldron visually feels reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty, but with a macabre twist. Taran, the lead character, shows growth on his classic hero's journey from a boy who craves glory to someone willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. This fantasy has earnest characters, heaps of visual ambition, and ends with a lot of heart. The Black Cauldron may not be seen as a Disney classic, but it doesn't deserve its reputation as a disaster. And audiences nowadays, perhaps more accepting and appreciative of darker fantasy tales, may embrace it in a way that 1980's moviegoers never did.
-But it's def the black sheep of the Disney animation family. The Black Cauldron is unequivocally a different kind of Disney. It's much darker in theme and frankly has a handful of weird moments (like a frog stuck between a witch's boobs. Don't ask). It also notably has zero songs (Disney's first movie to not be a musical), and the movie can seem uneven and scarred from all the behind the scenes creative squabbling. Case in point: you know Gurgi was envisioned by the old animators guard as a very Disneyesque adorable sidekick character (he's not). It's interesting to think what the movie would have turned out to be like had one group of animators (old or new) had gotten their way completely.
-How The Black Cauldron almost killed Disney animation. To put it simply, the movie bombed. With a budget of over $44M, it grossed only $21M at the North American box office. While reviews were pretty mixed from critics, general audiences were either uninterested or unwilling to buy in to a darker take for Disney. At the corporate level, new Disney Studio Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg used The Black Cauldron's failure to completely restructure and revamp how animated features were made. Disney's new directive to the animation team was to push out features faster and cheaper.
-Why Disney tries to bury this movie's existence. You will be hard pressed to find any official merchandise or representation of The Black Cauldron on Disney shopping sites or in theme parks. Disney has tried for many, many years to deny that this movie exists in an effort to distance the family-friendly brand from its controversial dark themes. In fact, after the movie left theaters in 1985, Disney kept the film locked away from the public for 13 years.
The bottom line: The Black Cauldron was ahead of its time. It's not a bad movie, and YOU SHOULD WATCH IT (but if you have really little kids, maybe wait until they are asleep...?
Also, never forget the name Flewddur Fflam.
My Rating: 6/10
My Rating Scale/System:
10 - Masterpiece / Award Worthy đ€©
9 - Almost perfect / Exceptional đ„°
8 - Great / Well-crafted đ
7 - Good / Noteworthy đ
6 - Above average / Memorable đ
5 - Solidly average đ
4 - Mixed feelings / Mediocre đ
3 - Uninteresting / Struggle bus đ„±
2 - Barely watchable đĄ
1 - Failure / Why is this a thing? đ©
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