Forgotten Features: The Black Cauldron (1985)

The production of Disney’s 1981 release The Fox and the Hound marked the ‘passing of the baton’, as the original artists were replaced by an influx of a new generation of animators. Since Walt’s death in 1966, the studio’s output had become tired and stale, the aforementioned flick proving to be no exception. Consequently, Disney saw fit to try a different, darker approach, in an attempt to appeal to an older audience and showcase their true potential. The result was The Black Cauldron (1985), a surprisingly dreary departure from Disney’s typical offerings, and altogether something of a black sheep in the Disney canon.

Based on the series of novels The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, The Black Cauldron follows assistant pig-keeper Taran who, with the help of a trio of loyal misfits, must locate the Black Cauldron before the tyrannical Horned King, who intends to utilise it to resurrect an army from the dead. As the premise suggests, it is, undoubtedly, much darker than most features of the Disney canon, but that does not necessarily mean it is bad, as such. Far from it, in fact; there are certain elements that work well. For starters, the animation quality, for the most part, is sublime, particularly the sequence in which Hen Wen, the pig, is hunted down by the Horned King’s winged dragons. The film itself also manages to maintain a gloomy and, at times, sinister tone. Whether this appealed to contemporary audiences or not is inconsequential – this was clearly their intent.

Despite my having said that, however, the film is profoundly flawed. Firstly, there are numerous occurrences that make little sense and require far more explanation. Princess Eilonwy’s magic bauble, for example, is given no reason for its existence other than that it is ‘magic’, and vanishes shortly after its first appearance. The Horned King’s demise at the film’s climax is equally bewildering, as the powers of the cauldron are never fully explained. Perhaps these unclear aspects of the plot derive from it having been an adaptation of a book series and therefore too complex a narrative to condense lucidly into a feature film format. Regardless, the film feels somewhat rather underdeveloped. Another issue I had, personally, was with the voice acting, particularly Taran and Eilonwy. Taran’s voice is frankly insipid, while Eilonwy’s simply does not suit her. In addition, there are one or two scenes that do not seem to serve a purpose and, as a result, have a strange, slow and altogether rather jarring effect on the narrative. For example, following their escape from captivity, one peculiar scene depicts Taran and Eilonwy engaging in an altercation, almost as though they were intent on establishing a romance or at the very least a firm alliance between the characters, yet this is bizarrely never realised, not only rendering this entire scene devoid of purpose, but also reinforcing the film’s underwhelming conclusion.

But it’s not all bad. So, the film’s not perfect – that doesn’t mean it’s truly awful. While the film’s flaws diminish its quality and enjoyableness quite considerably, it nonetheless exhibits ‘glints of greatness’, by which I mean it clearly had potential, and could have been far better had more consideration gone into its plot. Visually, the film is very rich and its settings, though desolate and repetitive, are nonetheless detailed and enchanting. The Black Cauldron may not be one of Disney’s finest, but it is one of their most daring and unconventional, and is at least worth seeing for its atypical artwork and unsettling premise. In that respect, it’s commendable; otherwise it’s no surprise that the future of the Disney flick in the mid-80s was looking, well, black.