Review of The Black Cauldron (1985) by Edith N — 13 Feb 2011

"Additional Dialogue by Roy Edward Disney" Probably Not a Good Sign.

I didn't see this in the theatre. In fact, I think the first time I saw it was on those tapes which circulated, crazy with generation loss, the same way [i]Song of the South[/i] is still out there. (Honestly, given how Disney hid this one, I thought [i]Song of the South[/i] would get a DVD release first. At least it has a song everyone knows.) This not only has a reputation of being about the darkest Disney release but as not actually being any good. Several Disney movies have come out of the Vault onto DVD twice since Disney started releasing things on DVD, and this only came out a few months ago. Wikipedia doesn't even list a home video release. It wasn't so much that I was pleased that it had come out on DVD--though I was pleased to get it for $9--as that I was astonished.

Taran (Grant Bardsley) dreams of greatness, as of course do we all. He is, alas, stuck as an assistant pig-keeper. His charge is the magical Hen Wen, who turns out to show the future. She shows Taran's employer, Dallben (Freddie Jones), that the Horned King (John Hurt) is seeking the Black Cauldron, a powerful magical artifact which would give him the power to rule the world. Dallben tells Taran to take Hen Wen far away lest she show the Horned King a vision of where to seek the cauldron. Taran is on the path to where he's sent when he gets distracted by imagining himself as a warrior and lets Hen Wen wander off. This of course inevitably leads to Hen Wen's ending up in the Castle of the Horned King and all sorts of mishaps. Along the way, he meets Cute Animal Gurgi (John Byner), Princess Eilonwy (Susan Sheridan), and hapless bard Fflewddur Fflam (Nigel Hawthorne). Adventures are had by all.

Lloyd Alexander himself said that the movie has really very little to do with his books. For one, Hen Wen in the books is not little and cute. However, he also said that the movie was enormous fun. I do not always believe "but it's fun!" is an excuse for venturing so far from the path of the author's works. It is also true that I snarl at Stephen King's approval of certain adaptations of his works. However, I think I'm with Lloyd Alexander on this one. This movie does not attain the lofty standards of much Disney fare; it is not, in my opinion, a classic. Gurgi is a little much, and the story is extremely disjointed. The characters are not exactly well-defined; I don't think we ever get even a vague acknowledgement that What's-His-Name obviously has an enchanted harp. But fun, at least.

I will also say that the animation is . . . Don Bluth-y. One of the reasons it used to be so hard to convince people that not all theatrical-release animation was Disney was that Don Bluth went from being a big name at Disney to releasing his own movies with a very similar artistic style to where Disney releases were at the time. The year after this came out, the visually-similar [i]American Tail[/i] was released. Of course, it doesn't help that the studio was in a bit of a slump at the time. The quality of animation and story both had been in a decline. I think perhaps Disney has never really recovered from the death of Walt, and certain strong figures have risen over the last forty-five years to twist where the studio goes. Don Bluth left an impression on visual style that took time to shake off.

We've talked before about how people will tell you that Disney is the same as syrupy, sanitized fare. And you mention things like this, and they say, "Oh, that doesn't count." Even if they had nightmares about the Horned King when they were children. And it's true that there's been some real treacle from Disney over the last eighty-odd years. On the other hand, I think people forget the bits which aren't. It's easy to pick on the Disney Death. Yes. The villain generally falls from a great height so that we need not be bothered with a corpse--so that children need not see one. On the other hand, there have been corpses onscreen in Disney movies before. The first five Disney films all have moments which could give a kid nightmares, I think, and it's only the silly fare of World War II, your [i]Saludos Amigos[/i] and the post-war wanna-be pop [i]Fantasia[/i], that gets away from that. But I bring you two quotes which indicate that Disney has never been about all sweetness and light. There's Madame Medusa of [i]The Rescuers[/i]--"You are a homely little child, aren't you?" And, say it with me, "Mother?".