The Black Cauldron

1985

Action / Adventure / Animation / Family / Fantasy / Horror

44
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 48% · 36 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 48% · 25K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 44647 44.6K

witch based on novel or book pig magic sword fairy

Plot summary

Taran is an assistant pigkeeper with boyish dreams of becoming a great warrior. However, he has to put the daydreaming aside when his charge, an oracular pig named Hen Wen, is kidnapped by an evil lord known as the Horned King. The villain hopes Hen will show him the way to The Black Cauldron, which has the power to create a giant army of unstoppable soldiers.

Director

Richard Rich Photo
Richard Rich

Top cast

Grant Bardsley Photo
Grant Bardsley as Taran
Phil Fondacaro Photo
Phil Fondacaro as Creeper / Henchman
Susan Sheridan Photo
Susan Sheridan as Eilonwy
Pat Fraley Photo
Pat Fraley as The Gwythaints
720p.BluRay 720p.WEB 1080p.BluRay 1080p.WEB
735.83 MB
1280*544
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 20 min
Seeds 6
736.2 MB
1280*534
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 20 min
Seeds 8
1.48 GB
1920*816
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 20 min
Seeds 29
1.42 GB
1920*800
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 20 min
Seeds 47

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Articulated_Jaw 6 / 10

Doesn't deserve to be dismissed as harshly as it has been

Always curious about The Black Cauldron, I finally got around to it after seeing a DVD at the rental store. Despite a lot of grating elements, I ended up liking it overall.The movie starts off on the wrong foot. The voices come across as recorded at low fidelity, and when combined with the sometimes hard-to-understand British accents, can be somewhat off-putting. Issues with voice and script become even more pronounced with characters such as Gurgi and his Gollum-esquire speech patterns. Indeed, the second time I watched the DVD I threw the English subtitles on, and not just for Gurgi.Other problems with voicing include an exceedingly dull lead actor for Taran (he simply can't emote), and an overly chirpy female lead for Eilonwy.Most other elements of the film proved passable if predictable in the Disney mold of plot, hero design, sidekicks, etc. Where it branches out for the better is in avoiding any and all musical interludes and along the way offering some scenarios and graphic effects that are more mature than most other Disney animated feature films (though later in the '90s the likes of The Lion King, Hunchback, and Tarzan would also tangle with mature themes).Animation is also spectacularly mixed in quality, an odd distinction among Disney films but a distinction nonetheless. Usually solid, there are high points such as external shots of a dark castle or a visceral chase sequence. There are also low points such as unnatural shifts in hair color that overemphasize different environments, or obvious spots where animation was rushed (a rock slide sequence).Yet for all these lows and highs, as an animation fan I ended up siding with the high points. Many sequences are inviting to re-watch, even if the entirety of the movie may not be. For all the talk of failure that continues to surround this movie, one can see in the film itself elements of a more mature Disney that could have been extremely promising with a more seasoned batch of animators and a world less hostile to PG animated fare.
Reviewed by ghbarratt-1 6 / 10

A Uniquely Brave Disney Movie

I personally really appreciate the interesting story, tone, and mood this movie conveys. Disney took some interesting chances with this film, and financially it did not pay off, I assume because Disney's audience in the '80s could not appreciate the slightly darker tone of the film, then again, if you compare this movie with the likes of The Dark Crystal or Labyrinth, this movie is mild in its creative weirdness. The story feels like a rushed epic, but in the end, the movie remains as something that, in the world of animated films, Disney never attempted again, and it is a shame.
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