The Black Cauldron (1985 film)

The Black Cauldron is a 1985 American animated adventure fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and loosely based on the first two books in The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander. It is the 25th animated feature film in the Disney animation canon and directed by Ted Birdman and Richard Rich, and was released on July 25, 1985. It is also the first animated Disney film to receive a PG rating and to not to be a musical, as well as the first to feature computer-generated imagery.

Plot
In the land of Prydain, Taran is an "assistant pig-keeper" who dreams of becoming a warrior whilst living on the small farm of Caer Dallben, home of Dallben the Enchanter. Dallben learns that the Horned King is searching for the mystical Black Cauldron, which is capable of creating an unvincible army of undead warriors known as the Cauldron-Born. Fearing that he may try to seek out his pig Hen Wen, who has oracular powers, to aid in his evil deeds, Dallben directs Taran to bring her someplace safe; unfortunately, Taran's carelessness and daydreaming of becoming a warrior gets the best of him and he allows Hen Wen to wander off. While searching for Hen Wen, he comes across a small, furry creature named Gurgi, who wants to be his friend to the former's annoyance. Taran witnesses Hen Wen being attacked by a pair of dragon-like Gwythaints and feebly tries to save her, to no avail. The pig is carried to the Horned King's castle, with Taran following and leaving a fearful Gurgi behind.

Taran manages to sneak into the castle and successfully allows Hen Wen to escape, but is himself captured and imprisoned. He is freed by Princess Eilonwy, who is trying to make her own escape. In the catacombs of the castle, the pair discover the ancient burial chamber of a king, where Taran arms himself with the king's sword. The sword proves to be of magical property, and it allows Taran to effectively fight the Horned King's minions and fulfilling his dreams of heroism, and they, alongside a comical, middle-aged bard named Fflewdder Fflam, escape the castle and reunite with Gurgi. Upon discovering their escape, the Horned King orders his goblin companion Creeper to send out the Gwythaints to search for them.

The four companions follow a trail of Hen Wen's tracks to the land of the Fair Folk, who have been keeping Hen Wen under their protection. When Taran vows to destroy the Black Cauldron before the Horned King can obtain it, King Eddilig, the leader of the Fair Folk, reveals the location of the Black Cauldron to be in the Marshes of Morva and orders his right-hand man Doli to guide them there while Hen Wen is left in the Fair Folk's care. They discover the cauldron to be in the possession of three witches - the grasping Orddu, who acts as leader; the greedy Orgoch; and the more benevolent Orwen, who falls in love with Fflewdder at first sight, which catches him off guard. Orddu agrees to trade the cauldron for Taran's sword, and he reluctantly agrees, although he knows that he will be costing his chance at heroism. Before they leave, the witches reveal that the cauldron is indestructible, and that its power can only be broken by someone who climbs in by free will, which will kill him. The group consider the cauldron to be useless without doing such a thing, an irritated Doli leaves the group. As Taran begins to despair, his companions begin to show their belief in him, and, just as it seems that he and Eilonwy will kiss, they are discovered and captured by the Horned King's soldiers, who have just arrived at the swamp. Only Gurgi manages to escape as the others are taken back to the castle. The Horned King uses the cauldron to raise the dead and the Cauldron-Born army begins to pour out into the world; two of the Horned King's minions are killed by the Cauldron-Born, while the rest flee from the castle in terror.

Gurgi manages to sneak in and free the prisoners and Taran resolves to cast himself into the cauldron, but Gurgi, not wanting to let his friend die, dives into the cauldron himself. As the undead army begins to collapse, the Horned King catches Taran and, having become fed up with his interference, attempts to throw him into the cauldron; however, the magic has gone out of control, and the Horned King is consumed by the cauldron, while the cauldron's power uses up the last of its power, which begins to destroy the castle. The three witches return to recover the Black Cauldron, but Taran convinces them to revive Gurgi in exchange, giving up his sword permanently. When the three witches prove reluctant, Fflewdder challenges their power and his remarks successfully persuade them. Gurgi is resurrected and pushes Taran and Eilonwy into a kiss, and the four friends begin the journey back to Caer Dallben. Dallben and Doli watch them in a vision created by Hen Wen, and Dallben finally praises Taran for his heroism.

Why It's Great

 * 1) It is unique in that it is different from the animated films that Disney would usually make at the time, having a much darker, more somber tone that most (even more so than Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio, which had equally dark and disturbing content). It's made even more interesting when one looks into this film's history and learn how many cuts were made.
 * 2) The Horned King is definitely the most memorable character of the entire movie; he owns every single scene that he is in, has a very creepy design that is reminiscent of Skeletor, and is perfectly performed by John Hurt.
 * 3) Princess Eilonwy, who is often referred to as one of the forgotten Disney princesses, deserves a lot of credit for being more physically active than many of the heroines before her and can serve as a good role model by how she proves that a girl can be just as independent and heroic as the male characters in the group. This just proves that she deserves to be in the Disney Princess lineup.
 * 4) The characters themselves are actually a lot like their counterparts from the books, which, character-wise, makes it a pretty faithful adaptation
 * 5) The animation is really good. This film had a bunch of new animators working at Disney after its seniors retired, and the new batch put in a lot of effort to make it look as good as possible. And as this was the first animated Disney film to make use of computer animation, particularly for the titular cauldron and bubbles, the dedication really shows.
 * 6) The climax is one of Disney's darkest, as it is full of atmosphere and imagery never before imagined and a creepy soundtrack that is very reminiscent of the climax in Raiders of the Lost Ark