The Black Cauldron (1985)
The Black Cauldron was released in 1985 and is considered to be one of Disney’s darkest movies, being the first to receive a PG rating and the only one since. It is loosely based on the first two books in The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, a series of five novels that are, in turn, based on Welsh mythology.
Set in the mythical land of Prydain during the Early Middle Ages, the film centers on the evil Horned King who hopes to secure an ancient magical cauldron that will aid him in his desire to conquer the world. He is opposed by a young pig keeper named Taran, the young princess Eilonwy, the bard Fflewddur Fflam, and a wild creature named Gurgi who seek to destroy the cauldron, to prevent the Horned King from ruling the world.
The Plot
In the land of Prydain, Taran is an "assistant pig-keeper" on a small farm, home of Dallben the Enchanter. Dallben learns that the Horned King is searching for a mystical relic known as the Black Cauldron, which is capable of creating an invincible army of undead warriors, the "Cauldron-Born". Dallben fears the Horned King may try to steal his pig Hen Wen, which has oracular powers, and use her to locate the cauldron. Dallben directs Taran to take Hen Wen to safety; unfortunately, Taran's foolish daydreaming causes Hen Wen to be captured by the Horned King's forces.
Taran follows them to the Horned King's stronghold. Along the way, he encounters the small, pestering companion Gurgi, who joins Taran on his search. Frustrated by Gurgi's antics, Taran leaves the former to sneak into the castle and rescues Hen Wen, but although Hen Wen escapes from the castle, Taran is caught and thrown into the dungeon. A fellow captive named Princess Eilonwy frees Taran as she is trying to make her own escape. In the catacombs beneath the castle, Taran and Eilonwy discover the ancient burial chamber of a king, where Taran arms himself with the king's magic sword. Along with a third prisoner, the comical, middle-aged bard Fflewddur Fflam, they escape from the castle and are soon reunited with Gurgi. Upon discovering that Taran has escaped, the Horned King orders his dwarf companion Creeper to send monsters to follow Taran and bring him back alive.
Following Hen Wen's trail, the four stumble into the underground kingdom of the Fair Folk who reveal that Hen Wen is under their protection. When the cheerful, elderly King Eiddileg reveals that he knows where the cauldron is, Taran resolves to go destroy it himself. Eilonwy, Fflewddur, and Gurgi agree to join him and Eiddileg's obnoxious right-hand man Doli is assigned to lead them to the Marshes of Morva while the Fair Folk agree to escort Hen Wen safely home. At the marshes they learn that the cauldron is held by three witches. They agree to trade the cauldron for Taran's sword, and he reluctantly agrees. Before vanishing, the witches reveal that the cauldron is indestructible, and that its power can only be broken by someone who climbs in under his own free will, which will kill him. Although Taran feels foolish for aspiring to destroy the cauldron alone, his companions show their belief in him. Suddenly, the Horned King's soldiers appear. They seize the cauldron and capture everyone but Gurgi, and take their prisoners back to the castle. The Horned King uses the cauldron to raise the dead and his Cauldron-born army begins to pour out into the world.
Gurgi manages to free the captives and Taran decides to cast himself into the cauldron, but Gurgi stops him and jumps into the cauldron himself. The undead army collapses. When the Horned King spots Taran at large, he infers the turn of events and saying that Taran has interfered for the last time, throws the youth toward the cauldron; however, the cauldron's magic consumes the Horned King, as well as destroying the castle, using up all its powers forever. The three witches come to recover the now-inert Black Cauldron. However, Taran has finally realized Gurgi's true friendship, and he persuades them to revive the wild thing in exchange for the cauldron, forcing him to give up his magical sword permanently. Fflewddur challenges the reluctant witches to demonstrate their powers by the revival, and upon hearing Fflewddur's remarks, the witches honour the request, restoring Gurgi back to life. The four friends then journey back home where Dallben and Doli watch them in a vision created by Hen Wen, and Dallben finally praises Taran for his heroism despite the fact that he prefers to be a Pig-Boy.
Did You Know…?
This is the first Walt Disney film to feature the "classic" Walt Disney Pictures logo that you can see on this blog’s background. This logo would be used until the new CGI logo was introduced 2006 (the live action style one).
This is the first Disney animated feature to not contain any songs, neither performed by characters or in the background.
Known by many as "the film Disney tried to bury," fans of both the fantasy genre and the film itself have tried many times to get the film's deleted footage restored.
The version of the film released to theatres omits about 10 to 15 minutes fully animated footage due to their dark themes that one can notice if they look for jumps in scenes.
According to animation artist Michael Peraza Jr., when Disney started having screenings for the public at the studio theatre to gather their reactions to the rough cut of this film, he knew that the "un-dead" section would most likely be revolting to some in the audience who would not expect to see a bunch of rotted corpses slowly fermenting. When the film reached the "un-dead" sections close to the end of the film, the doors opened and a mother was angrily leaving with her two wailing children. She was followed by another, and soon there was a sizable exodus of crying kids and upset parents fleeing from the theatre. The un-dead sections were quickly cut from the film.
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