Released between two regimes at Disney, The Black Cauldron was an attempt to craft a new dark fantasy.
The film was greenlit by Ron Miller. Miller was Disney’s son-in-law, and had been President of Walt Disney Productions since 1980. Miller was responsible for greenlighting Tron and Condorman, and he founded Touchstone Pictures as an outlet for more adult-skewing movies.
Miller’s era is considered a down period for the studio - it saw declining box office and the Don Bluth-led walkout of animators, which saw Disney’s position as the main American producer of animation challenged.
Miller’s decisions reflect an attempt to chart a new course with a variety of different films which did not fit the studio’s previous output, The Black Cauldron is an attempt to push the envelope - at least in terms of tone.
In some ways, The Black Cauldron is a return to an older Disney tradition - Milt Kahl, one of Disney’s ‘Nine Old Men’ of animation, was brought out of retirement to work on the project, specifically the main characters.
Milt Kahl was responsible for the design of many iconic characters, and it feels like the filmmakers seemed to be worried by the shift in tone, and wanted to keep one foot in the familiar style.
While the characters are stiff cyphers, there are some interesting aspects to them:
Taran has dreams of becoming a great warrior, but he is not destined for greatness. Instead that role is for his pig Henwin, who is gifted with precognitive abilities.
Henwin does not appear to be anything other than a normal pig, and seems to be unaware of her power. The movie loses out when she disappears early on.
It is a bad sign when an ordinary pig has more personality than the protagonist.
The movie wants to be about humbling Taran, and making him think of others. It is a solid idea, but the film seems to avoid getting too deep into it, and the character is so flat there is no sense of a character shift.
But bland leads are not unknown in Disney movies. What about the villain?
The Horned King seems set up for greatness. He is a giant skull faced man voiced by the great John Hurt.
Sadly, the film seems unsure how to present him.
It tries to split the difference by hiding his face during his initial introduction, but then midway through this scene, he is shown with full face in a mid shot.
It feels a bit deflating - with all the characters scrambling around him, he starts to feel like a slightly darker Scooby Doo villain.
The Horned King is also a little too stock. He looks great, and Hurt is great casting, but the character is just pure evil, without the personality of Maleficent or similar Disney villains.
To rub salt in the wound, he is not even the film’s most iconic character.
That honour goes to Gurgi, a furry con artist and thief who attaches himself to Taran. His croaky voice was a big influence on Andy Serkis’s characterisation of Gollum, and it is impossible not to make that connection.
The character is also rather similar to Tolkien’s. While his design evokes classic Disney animated sidekicks (A moustachioed furball), he is devious and self-centred. As with Taran, it goes nowhere but he adds a little bit of flavour to the ensemble.
The animation style is rich and textured - the detail on the environments makes everything feel old and lived-in.
The character design is a bit odd - certain characters such as Gurgi and Creeper are super-cartoonish, while the Horned King and zombies evoke more graphic horror imagery.
The film is more violent - while there is no blood, there is a lot of physical combat involving swords.
There are also some attempts at jump scares - Taran being surprised by a guard during the escape from the Horned King’s castle.
The film is more sexual than one would expect - there is a scantily-clad dancer who is ogled by the Horned King’s soldiers; the witch who falls in love with Fflewddur Fflam (the bard) - he is transformed into a frog, which leads to a sight gag in which he is stuck between her cleavage (shown in an extended close-up.
While the project was long-gestating, it all feels like a response to Don Bluth.
The big problem is that while the design is evocative, the filmmakers do not seem to have a feel for the tone. Bluth commits to the darkness and knows how to create a sense of stakes.
The big issue is that the characters are all bland - the film is more interesting in terms of its animation and as tour of different (though familiar) fantasy environments.
This problem comes to the fore in the third act, which is asking for a level of emotional investment that is undermined by the lack of characterisation.
Gurgi’s sacrifice feels underwhelming because it seems like he becomes best friends with Taran too quickly.
It does not help that the Horned King’s death is an accident.
Aesthetically pleasing but dramatically inert, The Black Cauldron teases with the promise of something magical and terrifying, but a tease is all it is.
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