El caldero mágico

I must say first that my opinion on this film is slightly biased. I was one of the handful of people to have seen this film on its initial theatrical run. I was also 11 and a boy (a target audience of this film). I owned the Gurgi and Hen Wen plushes, got excited by the preview on the "Pinocchio" video, etc.,etc.

After seeing the movie, I remember being entertained (maybe not enthralled) by the film and was saddened by Gurgi's sacrifice at the end.

Years passed. And passed. And passed. And people seemed to have forgotten "Black Cauldron" in the wake of "Little Mermaid" and her successors.

I must admit that I became somewhat obsessed with finding out why Disney thought of the film so poorly and why everyone gave me "blank stares" when I mentioned it. To say the least, I longed for a video release of the film.

A year or two ago, I got my wish, and now that I'm older and "wiser" I'm able to make a better judgement of the film. Is it Disney's worst film ever? Absolutely not. "Black Cauldron" is probably the finest animated film of the 1980's ("Little Mermaid" not withstanding). It IS a scary film for young kids (hence the PG rating) but I think audiences today are able to deal with that more than they were back in 1985 (just look at "Dinosaur," "Road to El Dorado," and the upcoming "Titan AE" which are all rated PG). The story may not be up to Disney standards, but for a film of its genre (i.e fantasy) it has a very compelling and understandable story. The animation has its highs and lows. But this film was made by a large number of people over a long period of time, so it is inevitable that there should be some fluctuation in quality.

Lastly, I too have read Lloyd Alexander's books, and I too adore them. No, Disney's film does not even begin to compare to the books, but what movie does?

On its own terms, "Black Cauldron" stands as a remarkable achievement in animation, and a film for those people who don't just think cartoons are "babysitters for kids."

I first saw this movie when I was a kid (probably 7 or 8) and I loved it. After that I didn't know what happened to it. Then last year (or so) it appeared on video. Naturally I snapped it up.

Well? Had the years been kind? Somewhat. Of course the build-up I had given it could never have been lived up to, but I enjoyed it. Watching it again, without the preconceptions, I thought it was wonderful. Maybe not as good as I thought as a kid, but still great.

Sure, some of the animation isn't as polished and crisp as the likes of 'The Little Mermaid' or 'Beauty and the Beast' (2 of my favorites) but it still looks great (especially the cauldron scenes near the end). And the team didn't feel the need to squeeze songs in where they would have been unwelcome. There are NO songs in this movie.

Overall, I can see why some people don't like it, but that's surely true of any movie. This is an atypical Disney release, but a classic. One of my favorites.

There were many good things going on in the Black Cauldron. First, there were NO SONGS, which really helped move things along. Second, the villain was truly frightening, the supporting cast was a lot of fun, and the movie's breakneck pace held my interest and entertained me throughout. But, there were some bad things as well. Taran wasn't really a character at all. Every important thing that happened to him was by luck or accident. And at the end of the story he's right back where he started. Also, the plot was little more than a succession of action sequences, with little sense holding it together. The heroes simply fell out of one situation into the next, perhaps the result of squeezing two full-length novels into one movie. And don't get me started on the ending. Our hero stumbles through the picture so that -- his furball sidekick can become the true hero of the piece. Yech. Still, I was entertained, and I'd see it again. But for those looking for the REAL Black Cauldron, read "The Chronicles of Prydain" by Lloyd Alexander. You'll be glad you did.

Always curious about The Black Cauldron, I finally got around to it after seeing a DVD at the rental store. Despite a lot of grating elements, I ended up liking it overall.

The movie starts off on the wrong foot. The voices come across as recorded at low fidelity, and when combined with the sometimes hard-to-understand British accents, can be somewhat off-putting. Issues with voice and script become even more pronounced with characters such as Gurgi and his Gollum-esquire speech patterns. Indeed, the second time I watched the DVD I threw the English subtitles on, and not just for Gurgi.

Other problems with voicing include an exceedingly dull lead actor for Taran (he simply can't emote), and an overly chirpy female lead for Eilonwy.

Most other elements of the film proved passable if predictable in the Disney mold of plot, hero design, sidekicks, etc. Where it branches out for the better is in avoiding any and all musical interludes and along the way offering some scenarios and graphic effects that are more mature than most other Disney animated feature films (though later in the '90s the likes of The Lion King, Hunchback, and Tarzan would also tangle with mature themes).

Animation is also spectacularly mixed in quality, an odd distinction among Disney films but a distinction nonetheless. Usually solid, there are high points such as external shots of a dark castle or a visceral chase sequence. There are also low points such as unnatural shifts in hair color that overemphasize different environments, or obvious spots where animation was rushed (a rock slide sequence).

Yet for all these lows and highs, as an animation fan I ended up siding with the high points. Many sequences are inviting to re-watch, even if the entirety of the movie may not be. For all the talk of failure that continues to surround this movie, one can see in the film itself elements of a more mature Disney that could have been extremely promising with a more seasoned batch of animators and a world less hostile to PG animated fare.

1st watched 10/2/2004 - 7 out of 10(Dir- Ted Berman & Richard Rich): Well-done overlooked Disney film. This is one of the movies that came out before "Little Mermaid" in 1989 similar to "The Great Mouse Detective" that didn't get much attention but nevertheless was a well-done story & production. This may have been the first animated Disney film to be rated PG as well, which may have kept people away. The PG rating may have been given for a small blood being shown on the mouth of our hero or the very scary zombie-like "Horn King" who has to rate up there as one of the truly scary villains in the Disney films. The story revolves around the Horn King's reign and his attempt to have greater reign over the world by finding the Black Cauldron. An enchanted pig that is able to see the future is also much wanted by the Horn King in order to find out where the Black Cauldron is. What makes this movie good is the story, the animation, the music, and the overall presentation. I also like that it didn't follow other Disney films and became it's own entity. This may be another reason it's not associated with Disney often. Overall this is a very groundbreaking Disney film, but it was so forgotten that it's not had any impact on the future of Disney.