I have to give credit to Disney for the fact that The Black Cauldron was a very bold move on their part. I mean it was a huge risk! The 80’s wasn’t a time when fantasies could be box office successes -even revered films now like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal were commercial failures when released. So I admire they took a chance ...it just didn’t pay off.
Adapted from Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain series based loosely in Welsh mythology, The Black Cauldron tells the story of a pig-keeper called Taran tasked with keeping his oracular pig Hen Wen out of the hands of the evil Horned King who’s searching for a relic called the Black Cauldron. Said Cauldron can create for him an army of the undead which he intends to use to conquer Prydain. Along his journey, Taran comes across other opponents of the Horned King who unite to search for the Cauldron themselves.
This premise is very basic fantasy in that it’s about unlikely heroes trying to stop a dark lord villain from gaining an item to use as a weapon to take over the world. It’s Lord of the Rings essentially, as many fantasy stories are. But rather than a nine hour trilogy, this film completes that story in less than an hour and a half, which does really hurt it. I’m not saying this should have been a long drawn out series as sometimes less is more, but because of how quickly the story has to progress it’s pacing is really rushed. And it doesn’t allow for much world establishing or character development. Hen Wen winds up just being a plot device, lazily discarded as soon as he’s no longer narratively relevant. And rather than devote time to comic relief fairies and witches, we should have seen more of the world or at least gotten an idea that what the heroes are fighting for is worth something. But we don’t, meaning we don’t care about the stakes or invest in whether or not the Horned King succeeds.
The Black Cauldron is a very dark film though, stepping well out of Disney’s comfort zone and I do respect that. There is some intense imagery and frightening scenes as well as just an overall gloomy tone. I have to wonder if Disney may have taken hints from other animated films in this regard: the evil army reminds me of the Ringwraiths in Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings and the Horned King’s hands are very similar in design to Nicodemus’ in The Secret of NIMH. However the darkness while interesting and effective in scenes like the castle escape, doesn’t always work for a few reasons. One is that this was not the time for Disney to take such a major risk. It’s not like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, where Disney was in such a comfortable place financially they could afford to try something radically different. They hadn’t had a big success in a while before The Black Cauldron so further alienating the audience was unwise. There’s also the fact that this was a dark fantasy trying to be a Disney movie at the same time, leading to an identity crisis. It goes for cute and whimsical moments which are out of place given the films’ atmosphere. The machinations of the Horned King are offset by his own henchman and goofy witches (also, this film really likes big-breasted women). The dark mood also affects the setting in that everywhere in this world we see is grim, foggy, or dismal. There are a couple moments in slightly pastoral forests but generally the world just seems unpleasant. Again it doesn’t make this a world whose safety is worth investing in when everyone seems to already be living in Mordor. Another animated fantasy, Tales from Earthsea, showed us more of the world and how beautiful it is, allowing us to invest more in its preservation from the forces of evil.
Something else that alienated audiences was probably the character names, the likes of Taran, Eilonwy, and Fflewddur Flam being very Welsh. The characters themselves didn’t help either. There isn’t much room for them to grow but a few stand out. Eilonwy voiced by Susan Sheridan is the most assertive princess in a Disney movie thus far which is great, and it’s actually a shame she’s not part of the official Disney Princess line-up. Unfortunately she’s underdeveloped, and for every banter she has with Taran there’s a cry for him to save her when in trouble. Taran himself is your reckless dreamer protagonist, who we’ve seen in a number of fantasy stories before. He’s mostly bland and his moments of sudden courageousness aren’t believable, especially at this pace. There’s no constitution for his actions apart from the fact that he’s the main character. And Fflewddur is a complete waste of Nigel Hawthorne, simply a befuddled old man. He’s a captive minstrel though, which I don’t think I’ve seen as a significant character before. In fact I think all four leads being underdogs from different backgrounds have potential, it’s just not realized here. The best character is the Horned King who though a very cut and dry villain (Sauron much?) has a presence to him that’s intimidating. His design is great, he’s adequately scary, and he’s voiced with a devious eloquence by John Hurt. Though lines like “you bring news of the pig?” are utterly ridiculous coming from him. His henchman is annoying and looks like a rejected extra from Sleeping Beauty, there are a pair of fairies who are trying to be Doc and Grumpy from Snow White, but even they are nothing compared to the dog-thing called Gurgi. The irritability of Gurgi is heinous! Imagine a love child of Gollum, Elmo, Dobby, and The Raccoons and you have a “comic relief” who can give the kittens from The Aristocats a run for their money. His voice is obnoxious, his mannerisms unintelligent, and the film at one point tries to gouge sympathy for his character which fails miserably. His design is pretty ugly too. In general the character animation is fine but at times the textures don’t match from shot to shot. The Black Cauldron also marked the first use of computer animation in Disney: on the Cauldron and a couple other sequences. It’s a little noticeable but mostly integrates alright. Where it needs to be especially frightening or sorcerous the film looks terrific, but overall it’s not as engaging to look at as a fantasy film should be.
The Black Cauldron was a gamble and a ballsy one that I respect, but it is undeniably disappointing. Even given how fantasy films were generally received at the time, this could have been better executed. But I can understand why it has something of a cult following. It does try to be unlike Disney’s usual fare and in so doing is somewhat unique. But the plot sure isn’t, the characters and world undeveloped and uninspiring -one of whom is ungodly annoying, and it doesn’t quite know what it’s doing.
However there are apparently plans in the works for Disney to reboot The Chronicles of Prydain and I’m actually interested by that. The Black Cauldron I think was wasted potential, so if that potential can be realized I’m all for it. They’re going to make it live-action, but I think it could still work in animation which can be a great place for this kind of fantasy. Tales from Earthsea was great and I could see an anime version of this or Chronicles of Narnia or even Harry Potter really being exemplary. But in any case Lloyd Alexander’s characters and world are going to get another opportunity. And if there’s a chance it will turn out better than The Black Cauldron, I’m definitely interested.
Next Week: The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
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