|
You
can put out quality
release after
quality release on
the market but not
everything is going
to be good and/or be
received as such. It
even happened to U2
with their last
album, and who would
have thought that
streak would come to
an end? You can’t
win them all, and
Disney certainly
didn’t win with
The
Black Cauldron
in 1985. The company
had so much success
to that point it’s
hard to understand
how they could have
an animated feature
flop. That’s what
happened with
The
Black Cauldron
and after watching
the film, there’s a
reason why the
audience never made
a connection. I
don’t think this
movie deserves all
the spite and hatred
it gets, I will say
that. If this
cartoon was released
and distributed by
any other company
than Disney in 1985
it would have been a
hit.
Based on Lloyd
Alexander’s
“Chronicles of
Prydian” books, The
Black Cauldron’s
source material is a
little odd for a
Disney film. It’s
very dark and
brooding and
resembles nothing
that the company did
before or after the
release of the film.
The movie follows
Taran, a pig-keeper
who’s task is to
keep his prophesy
showing pig safe
from the Horned King
who is looking for a
powerful weapon
known as the black
cauldron. The
cauldron houses the
power to unleash an
evil army on the
world, which is what
The Horned King
wants to accomplish.
Taran, the young boy
who’s desperate to
be a warrior meets
up with Princess
Eilonway, Fflewddur
Fflam, and Gurgi and
it’s their goal to
find the cauldron
first and destroy it
so The Horned King
can’t get his hands
on it.
Everything about
The
Black Cauldron
is a little off. The
animation style,
(new at the time
with computer
assistance) doesn’t
look right with this
movie. It looks like
a cell-shaded video
game and it takes a
few minutes to get
used to. Also, the
characters- Gurgi in
particular- though
taken from their
source material
correctly from what
I understand- are
weird too. Gurgi
sounds exactly like
Gollum from the
Lord
of the Rings
movies… that doesn’t
sound kid friendly
to me. The one thing
right with this
movie is even though
it’s incredibly
weird, the story
still has a ton of
heart and you do end
up feeling something
for the characters
at key points. It’s
not terrible… it
just has some rather
odd qualities.
Recently Disney
released a 25th
anniversary edition
of
The
Black Cauldron
bundled with a new
game and a deleted
scene. The two games
on the disc are
games your kids will
find entertaining
and there’s also an
old Donald Duck
Halloween cartoon
that your kids might
like more than the
feature.
Despite all of its
flaws and all of its
quirks,
The
Black Cauldron
is still watchable.
There’s no doubt
that this is in the
lower echelon of
Disney releases, but
it’s not as bad as
you think it is.
It’s probably not
something that’s a
must-have but if
you’re desperate for
something to watch
it’s not the worst
thing in the world.
|