Black Cauldron

Some of you might be scratching your head going "Black Cauldron? What's that?" Well, the Black Cauldron is constantly branded as a black sheep of the Disney canon and every reviewer is practically contracted to state this when reviewing or mentioning the film. So there you go. Why is it the black sheep though? For one it was considered a flop, and since it's from a darker time at the studios it's much easier to pretend it doesn't exist.

So. Is it a good film? Weeeell......kind of. The biggest problem commonly given to this film is the poor animation, which again has notable cel's showing. There's a lot of rough animation here, though I do admit I really enjoy the Morva backgrounds and the shots of the Horned King's lair. One part of the animation that I also really liked was when Hen Wen (the oracular pig) does her vision in the beginning of the film, as well as most of the big scenes with the Horned King, such as when he first enters, when he teleports into his throne room and his death scene at the end.

The biggest problem I had, however, was with the story. Disney, for whatever reason, decided to do a LOT of  tinkering with the story of the Black Cauldron, a number of characters were cut out and the villain of the original book was changed into the evil spirit that inhabits the cauldron. The Horned King was lifted from the first book of the Prydain series, though the only reason for this that I have heard is "Because he has horns like Maleficent and Chernabog." So...there you have it. Randomness at it's best? So because Disney did this, we get a lot of back and forth in the plot and some unneeded filler that could have better been used as development for the characters. One minor thing to note is that this film is lacking -any- songs at all, not even a single song to play over the background!

On the note of the characters the vast majority of them do stay the same. I do want to point out that both Gurgi and Taran do have small character growth during the film, but it's not quite on the same level as Beast from Beauty and the Beast for example. Princess Eilonwey is an interesting character who certainly has a bit of spunk, though sadly or perhaps thankfully, she will never be part of the horrid Princess franchise. The Witches of Morva are an interesting trio, and I have always had a small fondness for them, even if their entrance was badly handled. We could have had more scenes giving them some background. The final character I really want to talk about is the Horned King. This guy is -awesome- and is pretty much the reason this film is actually rated PG, or so I presume. He can be quite frightening, and despite a simplistic robe and appearance he really sticks out and is wonderfully voiced. A very good addition to the villain roster.

So. All in all, the Black Cauldron does suffer from plot hindrances and from relatively plain characters, yet there is still an enjoyability factor to it. Perhaps with some plot work, and maybe some character development, this could have been a much better film.

2 1/2/5