The Black Cauldron (1985)

Rating: 30%

I've been curious about this film for a long time. In fact I became more curious to see it when i saw a trailer to it on the DVD to Great Mouse Detective. And I was pretty interested in it then because it sounded like a nice, Disney version of a mix of between Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Legend of Zelda video games. Now this was not the case considering A) this was based off of a book series called The Chronicles of Prydain from around the 60's. (So it turns out that once again, Disney has actually based one of their movies on a book series that was once again, more recent than one from the 19th century.) and B) While Lord of the Rings was around for decades, Legend of Zelda still had another year for their first game anyway. *sigh* But boy do I wish that was actually the case. So here's Disney movie review # 24: The Black Cauldron.

Plot: Taran is a assistant pig keeper who dreams of becoming a mighty warrior. But then the pig he is in charge for, Hen Wen is threatened by the Horned King who intends to use Hen Wen's power to find the Black Cauldron: a cauldron with the power to summon an army of invincible undead soldiers. enchanter Dallben sends Taran to take Hen Wen to a hiding place. But on the way, Taran's day dreaming causes Hen Wen to get captured. Taran goes to rescue Hen Wen, but after he succeeds, he gets captured and then comes across Princess Eilonwy and musician Ffewddur Fflam who help him escape and aid him in his journey to find the Black Cauldron and destroy it.

Well the good news is, this movie is pretty loyal to SOME of the stuff from the book series, the bad news is...well... I didn't really care for it. From what I hear, the book series has WAY more depth in it which would've helped this movie if there was. Especially since there were things in the movie that weren't explained.  For example, Fflam has a harp that has strings that snap off whenever the stretches the truth. And they never explain it. It took me a while for me to realize why his harp kept doing that. I mean I may not have the sharpest mind ever, but still.

Characters:
Taran: I didn't really like Taran. In a way, he made The Black Cauldron look like a prologue to Quest for Camelot when it comes to that film's main character Kayley. You see in that film, Kayley also dreams of having adventures and all that, but she often has to be saved all the time. There was one time where she actually saved someone but that was it. With Taran, he was roughly the same thing only that at least once he had his sword he helped a fair bit. And I'll admit it's good that in the end of the movie he's not as stubborn and he's more honest and faces reality a bit more than Kayley which I really liked...but not enough to like the character.
Princess Eilonwy: eh, she was okay. There wasn't anything bad about her but there wasn't anything that really stood out compared to other characters like her.
Gurgi: Gurgi...Gurgi was a bit messed up when it comes to the voice. Why? Because he sounds like Gollum - or at least how I sound like with my Gollum impression. Other than that, he was just an okay character.
The Horned King: The Horned King is definitely not one of the best Disney villains. Because to me, what ruined it with this character was that they showed his face. I just thought he was a little more menacing without seeing his face.

Music: nothing special.


 And that's my review for The Black Cauldron. If you want to be entertained from this kind of story, read the books.