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New Releases with Cyrus: "The Black Cauldron"
THE BLACK CAULDRON: THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (DVD)
Many of you are asking yourselves, "Now why is Cyrus devoting web space to a review of some Disney direct-to-DVD title?". Surprisingly, at least as far as Disney's post-theatrical treatment of their 1985 adaptation of Lloyd Alexander's "Chronicles of Prydain" series of books, "The Black Cauldron" was one of their major animated theatrical releases. It was even a benchmark for them in a number of ways; it was the first of their films to integrate CG into the animations, it was the most expensive animated film ever made at time of its release, and, most tellingly, it was the first of Disney's animated features to get stamped with the dreaded PG rating. It seems silly now, but a lot of parents kept their children away from the film in droves because of its slightly darker story than was per-usual for the company. Seeing rated R screening after rated R screening packed with parents bringing their toddlers in with them these days, 1985 seems like a LOOOONG time ago.
Taran (Grant Bardsley) is a young and unhappy pig keeper who works for an enchanter (Freddie Jones) in a small cottage in the Middle of Nowhere, Shitsville, Magical Fantasy Kingdom. His days are mainly occupied with caring after the enchanter's prize pig, Hen Wen, until the pig, revealed as having special oracular powers, is abducted by the minions of the Disney Villain™, The Horned King (John Hurt). He wants to use its mad scrying skills to ascertain the location of the perhaps mythical Black Cauldron, which has the power to create armies of undead warriors. Taran is sent out, rather under-equipped if you ask me, to chase down Hen Wen, and unsurprisingly, almost immediately ends up in the dungeons of The Horned King, awaiting the time that the villain bothers to do something with him. He's rescued by a fellow prisoner, Princess Eilonwy (Susan Sheridan) and the two hook up with a old bard (Nigel Hawthorne) with a magical harp whose strings break loudly when he lies (why would you keep that around?) as they make their way out of the castle. They begin their own quest to find the Black Cauldron before the big horny evil guy does, although what they think they're gonna do with it once they actually find it seems unclear. Oh, and did I mention they're accompanied by the single most annoying animal Disney side-kick since Gilbert Gottfried played a parrot? It's no wonder I almost forgot; John Byner plays the weird, creepy thing called Gurgi, that I can only presume is related to Grover or Gonzo as part of some unidentified, talkative, and irritatingly needy cryptozoological species.
"The Black Cauldron" isn't horrible or anything, it mainly suffers from a feeling of being rushed. This isn't surprising, as it speeds around through the plot of the first two books of Alexander's pretty awesome fantasy series. Make no mistake, as a kid, the Prydain books were my second favorite just after Narnia and there's good reason for that: they were frelling amazing. Disney more often than not is adapting from folk tales or nursery rhymes so their 'Disneyfication' of their stories doesn't seem as painful (or as obvious) as it does here. None of the characters seems particularly well-fleshed out, Gurgi and the odd little fairy/elf/collectible figure creatures they run into are made into annoying and little more than marketing cute toy schemes, but at the very least, there's no singing. Worst of all, the actor voicing Taran, who only worked in the industry once more after this, is just terrible and flat. It's hard to get past not particularly liking your lead.
I don't want to give the impression that this was a waste of time either. Fans of animation are definitely going to want to check this out as it certainly holds up to Disney's standards of theatrical releases and holds an important place in the history of it as well. The CG inserted into the film, used largely around the activated Cauldron's smokey tendrils, looks fab, and the hand-drawn work, while easily stamped as from the Disney studios, is distinctive nonetheless. There's also no denying that things get pretty cool towards the end, with the undead tromping around. Call me predictable, but the moment you get anything vaguely like zombies involved, I perk right up.
Despite not releasing this to Blu-Ray (WTF Disney?) they managed to clean it up nicely and even snuck a few extras on there. There's two kids games on there, as there always is with these, that is utterly skipable if you're past the age when you still find sandboxes irresistible. Better is a classic 1952 Donald Duck cartoon, "Trick or Treat". Best of all is a ten minute, albeit, unfinished, scene from the film referred to as "The Fairfolk". That, combined with the fact that this is the first time this has been available in anamorphic wide screen, are what make this, despite its many problems, a worthwhile purchase for fans of Disney's animated features. Come on, don't be embarrassed, you know you're out there. Fess up. If Cyrus can do it, you can. I'll even start the 'slow clap' for ya if you do. How's that?
CLICK HERE TO BUY The Black Cauldron: 25th Anniversary Special Edition
Comment
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Comment by Cyrus on September 21, 2010 at 9:58am
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Ursus, it JUST came out again. You can buy it now.
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Comment by Úrsus M Tyrannus on September 21, 2010 at 8:57am -
I'm sitting here wondering how did I miss this movie, I was a Disney kid, oh yea, in the 70's. This came out when I was in a most bizarre place in life not known for reflecting real life values or situations, high school. I'm sure I was too cool to go see a kids movie. As an animation fan I must thank Cyrus for pointing out this lost treasure to me. Does this mean we cant buy this again for another 10 years or has Disney eased up on its release restrictions?
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Comment by Gift of the Magi on September 20, 2010 at 9:42pm -
Wow...I so missed this old film. The undead warriors were actually a bit creepy to me as a kid.
And yes folks, go read the books. NOW.
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Comment by Hero on September 20, 2010 at 10:34am
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Heard of this one ( It's Disney and I'm gigantic Animation Buff..connect the dots ) just never knew it had this much history wrapped around it, It sounds really cool I'd like to check it out, I think the reason I haven't seen yet is that it's not one of the popular Disney flicks and... *sighs*.. saying this type of thing gets you kicked out of animation geek parties... I grew up in the late 90s, so I caught all those amazing 90s Disney movies like Lion King and Tarzan... but I also grew up with movies like Emperor's New Groove and Lilo and Stitch.. which I still love ( well... just Lilo and Stitch... Emperor is good not great. ) to this day.
Anyway... I'll check it out... it seems ( from the comments ) everyone had a life changing experience with this movie.
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Comment by Dr. Detfink on September 20, 2010 at 6:17am -
By far, my faaaaavorite 2-D animation of all time. Not saying it's the best one or even 10 best but on a personal level, my favorite. My brother bought it for me on VHS on my birthday...and it shall be mine again. Man, 25 year anniversary? That makes me feel my age.
This was one of the animations Tim Burton worked on as a concept artist. Anyone know if there is truth to the rumor that it was also the project that Disney chose not to re-hire him for more work for a significant amount of time in the 2-D animation department?
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Comment by ghostwriter on September 20, 2010 at 5:44am -
I never saw this one when it came out....1985 was not a good time for me.
I'll put it on my Netflix list and give it a go. Great review as always, you make Mom proud!
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Comment by Harris on September 20, 2010 at 1:55am -
@Fungusmonkey: this was the movie that made me a life-long reader, you know. After falling in love with the movie, my mom later took me to a local book-store and the clerk there introduced me to the Prydain chronicles. I distinctly remember picking up the books and saying "You mean there's *more*?!"
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Comment by Brutuxan on September 19, 2010 at 10:26pm -
I'll have to check this out.
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Comment by Mr. Regarde on September 19, 2010 at 8:34pm -
I thought this would be fun, HAPPY Disney when I saw it, all those years ago... not one singing animal in sight. Just frickin' scary skeletons. Eep.
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Comment by Yesteryear on September 19, 2010 at 6:09pm -
Ah nostalgia. This one is of one the many odd Disney flicks we had on VHS,don't remember what I thought of as a kid but I must of liked it. Rewatched it again when I was 13 still liked it. I agree looking back its very dry on substance but its has enough to be really watchable.
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