I admit myself on the fence about this movie because… while I’m well aware of the fact that this movie is generally regarded as the worst of Disney’s animated films… I actually love this movie.
Yes I know that it took a beating at the box office, that rotten tomatoes gave it 55% rotten, it made $4 million less than it’s production cost, and it took Disney a decade to release it for home viewing but really, I don’t get it.
Yes the movie was dark, but that was part of its charm. The movie was edgy and not really intended for the younger audiences. It was an experiment in an area where The Hunchback would go years later… ironically to a much greater extreme.
In many ways it pays homage to an almost Tolkienesque world. If you watch Lord of the Rings and then watch The Black Cauldron, you’ll see the similarities. The story surrounds an assistant pig keeper who wants to be a great warrior… yet loses the pig he’s supposed to be protecting 5 minutes into being out on his own… kind of a record, don’t you think?
The other characters include a Princess… of what I’m not sure as it’s never really established, although the bad guy says she’s a maid so let’s assume it’s the princess of the broom closet, a minstrel whose harp breaks whenever he lies, and Golem… er… Gurgi. Yeah, Gurgi… A… oh who am I kidding, it’s a freaken furry version of Golem!
The bad guy in the movie is the slow-moving and eerily majestic Horned King. This guy scared the pants off me when I was a child. He had no eyes for most of the movie, you couldn’t tell if he were human or some kind of undead demonic entity. It also helped that he was portrayed by John Hurt, arguably one of the most legendary voice actors of all time. He has an annoying henchman, Creeper, played by Phil Fondacaro. Don’t know who that is? Me either, all I know is he played an Ewok in Star Wars, which probably explains why his voice reminds me of Warwick Davis.
Anyway, the story at first seems to surround Hedwig the Pig and this young keeper… although the pig get’s removed from the story pretty quickly despite being a major plot device. The pig keeper wants to be a warrior and finds a magical sword to beat his enemies. It quickly becomes his most prized possession… even though we don’t really get into the how and why of it’s enchanting, simply that it’s a legendary sword. But I guess that doesn’t matter much as it disappears as quickly as it came when the keeper trades it to three witches to get to the Black Cauldron.
So long story short, the pig keeper meets up with Golem, the phony princess, and an off-key minstrel. They set out to find the Black Cauldron, succeed, and proving what a great hero he is, he sacrifices himself heroically to destroy the Cauldron… yeah right. Try again, Gurgi (Golem) sacrifices himself to prevent his only friend from doing it. Apparently feeding the Cauldron souls intensifies its hunger and it begins to suck in anything close by.
The pig keeper goes to see if he can save Gurgi, but is confronted by the Horned King. Despite all of the Horned King’s powers, his majestic movements, and his evil tone, he proves to be no match for… … … … The pig keeper kicking him in the stomach. Really? Probably the only major character who is at all interesting gets defeated by being kicked in the stomach!?!? COME ON! THIS IS DISNEY WE”RE TALKING ABOUT!!!!
So the kick apparently throws the Horned King off-balance and he get’s rather grievously sucked into the Cauldron. Somehow evil spirits cancel out the Black Cauldron’s power and turns it into a normal ugly cauldron. Well the witches come back and want the cauldron… for some reason… so they offer the pig keeper his sword back. The keeper declines the sword and asks for his friend Gurgi back.
The witches make the deal and Gurgi turns out to still be alive. The group walks off into the distance going home… wherever home is. The enemy is defeated and all is well. Now would someone please explain to me what the hell happened!?
I guess you could say that this is my major problem with this film, despite how dark and edgy it is… and how awesome the Horned King is… it really doesn’t explain anything in great detail. There is little to no backstory of why the magical pig has its powers, what the Horned King is, what the sword is, why the harp breaks when the minstrel lies, where the supposed princess comes from… the list goes on.
But with all of it’s flaws, I actually love this movie and count it with my collection. Why? Because like I said, it goes places most Disney movies before, and for a long time after, refused to go. It was dark, nightmarish, and based on Llyod Alexander’s incredibly dark tale of the same name. While the book is infinitely superior, if you read it, you would then be asking yourself, “Why would Disney even bother to try making this into a movie? What depraved lunatic came up with that idea?”
So in the end, does the movie have its flaws? Absolutely. Is it a bad movie? I don’t think so. At the very least, it’s an interesting peak at the direction Disney would later on be taking it’s movies. Give it a watch, I doubt you’ll be disappointed… but I promise nothing.