Horned King is definitely the scariest villian. My mom loves The Black Cauldron. I don't remember it much, I haven't seen it since I was a kid. I could totally see a 10 episode tv show covering the books.
With disney+ not having as many newer shows and they love remakes, why not a chronicles of pyrdain series. Their are 5 books. It could be disneys answer to game of thrones.
I see no need to defend this. This female main character was more independent and interesting than many Disney-Princesses. We get a lot of Fake-Feminism from Disney, actually... not a good sign... Sure it was improve-worthy, but Black Cauldron is still rather high quality and better than some of the current Disney-Princesses. And you know what should be the logical conclusion of all this? Improve-worthy and such? REMAKE! Obviously! Remake!
It came out the year I was born so I feel this weird tie to it...but I think its a film that people should see even if it doesn't become their favorite.
I always loved the horned king, a truly powerful and vile, being, complex yet simple to understand. Would love to see a live action take on this secret Disney gem. They could more closely follow the books or even change some key elements, so long as the horned king was adequately adapted.
I know there was talk of it prior to the pandemic. Not sure if that has ceased and been nixed or if it might just be pushed back in the long run. Only rumors right now.
Josh- this is the best- one of my absolute favorites and always wondered why it received such a bad reception! I’ve never been so worried about a little pig in my whole life! - Horned King was an amazing villain... Thanks for this!
I know the black cauldron has its problems, but i still love it. It could’ve been so good if so much of it hadn’t been haphazardly cut out, and if the development in general had gone smoother. It deserved so much better tbh.
Disney felt their legacy was animation and that they had to make those films but the suits at Disney never gave animation a real budget and asked them to meet ridiculous deadlines during this period. The film really never got a fair shake.
@@ModernMouse Disney said that the box office failure of this film nearly convinced them to abandon animation entirely. Until the Great Mouse Detective changed their minds.
The Black Cauldron (Live Action) Tom Holland as Taran Angourie Rice as Princess Eilowney Willed Dafoe as The Horned King Andy Serkis as Gurgi Frank Walker as Hen Wen
I lowkey think this movie is great for what it wanted to achieve and the ambitions . It could have really changed the animation industry as we know it I just wish so much of it wasn't cut and it got a PG 13 rating
I loved this movie. I was 20 in 1985 and in the Navy in San Diego at the time it came out. I saw it several times. It was a refreshing change from the typical Disney sappy musical type fare.
I think The Black Cauldron would work better as a Live action TV series for Disney Plus seeing as it worked very well for The Mandalorian. It could cover the lore of all the books they would have so much time to tell the story and let the characters grow properly. Not to mention how dark it could be with it being live action, look at Pirates of the Caribbean or Rogue One.
I hadn't seen it until recently and had to rewatch it for this video (2nd ever viewing) because I didn't pay attention the first time I put it on. Worth it though. A good Halloween movie.
My second-grade teacher showed me this film when I was maybe eight. I liked it a lot back then, but it wasn't my favorite Disney film. But I definitely get a craving to watch it every so often. And BREADSWORD convinced me two years ago that The Black Cauldron is actually a pretty stellar Halloween film. I've been watching it every Halloween since (along Hocus Pocus, Ichabod & Mr. Toad, Nightmare Before Christmas, Mickey's House of Villains, the Halloweentown films, Twitches 1 & 2, and The Haunted Mansion).
I made this video because I feel it fits the Halloween theme. I would agree that it doesn't rank among Disney's best, but it is something different and is something I'll revisit again because I enjoy it.
The Black Cauldron was doomed from the beginning, to be honest, it had too many cooks in the kitchen trying to go in too many directions where you have the old guard vs the young guys and nobody was in really in charge because nobody could stay around long enough to have a stable vision for this movie. And it didn't help matters they were trying to cram 2 books of the Chronicles of Prydain into one movie and in doing so they threw out a ton of material from both books. And then came all the later meddling with Katzenberg. Basically Disney in the late 70s/early 80s was just not ready to do a dark fantasy movie, heck even in 2022 I doubt Disney has the stomach to do a dark animated movie period anymore.
It's honestly my all time favorite Disney film. I absolutely love the art style, colors and themes. It's also great to see Disney break their own formula.
The black cauldron was without a doubt one of the on told classics!!! It was one of my favourite movies from childhood, especially all the Celtic mythology, I’m from a Celtic minority so it really felt great watching it.
@@ModernMouse A good question I don’t know, I love them personally but I don’t know if they’re all that well known to the general public, at a rough guess if I asked people in the street 8 or 9 out of 10 would have no idea what I’m talking about, it might be more popular in Ireland, Wales and Scotland, I’m Cornish so of course I love all other Celtic films and mythology, but I don’t know what the English think or know about it.
This movie was such a huge part of my childhood. I was born near the end of the 90s so by that time this movie was already sort of a no-no subject for Disney. I was able to buy it ONCE on DVD. They “released it from the Vault” as part of that stint where they were updating all the VHS movies to disc versions. This movie freaked me out yes, but it fascinated me. I loved the creepy undertones and how hard the characters seemed to actually struggle, rather than the ending being handed to them on a golden platter. Many years later I’m an adult who specializes in high fantasy artwork and am in the process of taking this on as my career. And most of this is because of films like Black Cauldron, Last Unicorn, and many 80-90s anime from various countries. I love this movie and that is never going to change
It is actually quite surprising how dark that time period was. Animation was willing to be a bit darker in tone. I wish we would see more stuff like it in this day and age.
@@ModernMouse I couldn’t agree more. Perhaps with a little encouragement from the fan base well eventual be gifted with a new “Dark Disney” film. Surely 2020 inspired some ideas haha
Good points and good push for it! I’ll keep it in mind, especially because I’m reading “The Princess & The Goblin” so they both seem to be in that realm
I'm actually really excited for the Willow series. Hopefully if things like that do well, they will look at exploring the possibilities of the Black Cauldron again. I know it was in the works a while back.
I unironically love this film so much. Maybe it’s just the nostalgia speaking, but I really do appreciate it for what it is. It could have been so much better though. It’s such a shame it got stuck in development hell; if it hadn’t for that I think it could have been a massive success. Just goes to show how damaging executive interference can be. It’s very rare for films to shed a light on the more obscure folklore of the British isles though, which is one of the film’s strong points. It has some great worldbuilding and an eerie, otherworldly atmosphere. Unfortunately, it does feel a little like a rough draft in terms of the script. Sure, it gets many fundamental elements of story building right (such as making things hard for the protagonist and forcing them to work hard) but the characters are rather underdeveloped. They do go through arcs, yes, but those arcs aren’t handled very well and feel rushed. In my opinion the dialogue is the film’s biggest flaw. The way the characters speak (with the exception of the Horned King) is rather formulaic and stilted. But enough of my ranting. The point is; while I think this film could’ve been better and I am aware of its flaws, I do genuinely enjoy it for what it is. Sincerely, a high fantasy, folklore and science fiction fanatic
I appreciate it's history. The fact that it took so long to make it and it became the film where a new generation of animators really took charge....but the story itself is interesting, unique for Disney, and had it come out in a different time period, probably would have done better.
When you see THE OWL HOUSE, AMPHIBIA and CENTAURWORLD especially, its influence has been as great or greater than many more successful Disney animated canon films.
I've been a big fan of The Owl House and Amphibia the last few years. The high fantasy concepts are all there. I haven't checked out CentaurWorld. I know it's on Netflix so maybe I'll give it a go soon.
After seeing what Amazon is doing to butcher the lord of the rings, I never want to see a remake of this by disney. It would be mangled and destroyed by modern nonsense. The book series is perfect and I hope disney never tries to destroy it.
I really wish they'd put more effort into making the cast engaging, it was the main turn off for me when I watched it. I totally agree that it would work a lot better as a series, since it could better cover the source material and spend more time making in-depth lead characters.
Only bad thing about the Horned King was his anticlimactic demise. Otherwise I agree with you that this needs to be a series as opposed to an hour and a half movie smashing two books together
I feel like many Disney villains have an anticlimactic ending but the Horned King looks so scary, his downfall should have been bigger. I can agree with that!
Disney has had some flops over the many years. But that doesn’t mean they’re all bad. In fact I like lots of their financial bombs. Including The Black Cauldron. Also Treasure Planet, John Carter, Pete’s Dragon, Atlantis, Hocus Pocus. All underrated.
I have the Black Cauldron on DVD, and I think it’s one of the most underrated animated Disney films out there. I’ve actually read the Black Cauldron book and the first book in the Prydain Chronicles, The Book of Three(incidentally, the horned king was the main villain of that book, not the Black Cauldron). The Black Cauldron was not a low budget film, it cost 44 Million dollars to make, and only recouped a mere 21.3, making it a financial disaster. In fact, it was blamed for almost bankrupting Disney. But I agree, it is a film that was ahead of it’s time and deserves a watch.
As much as I'd like to say that, their investment in remakes has really been in their most successful films and not in the lesser known animated films, which would make more sense to remake. I'm hoping for it but I'm not 100% on it.
@@ModernMouse i'm not saying they'll do it in the inmediate future, but sooner or later they'll run out of films to remake that Disney won't have more choices than remaking it.
I see no need to defend this. This female main character was more independent and interesting than many Disney-Princesses. We get a lot of Fake-Feminism from Disney, actually... not a good sign... Sure it was improve-worthy, but Black Cauldron is still rather high quality and better than some of the current Disney-Princesses. And you know what should be the logical conclusion of all this? Improve-worthy and such? REMAKE! Obviously! Remake!
I had a conversation about this movie last night with a couple of people and we all agreed that it gets a bad wrap and that of Disney's two "high fantasy" films (the other being Sword and the Stone) this one is much better
Im practicing to be a writer and Im planning on doing a bit of rewriting of this film, leaving the good things about it alone but taking what could use some work and putting my own effort into it. May I seek any advice from you on how I should go about that? Much like you Id love to see this film remade but Disney pretends this movie doesnt exist which saddens me quite alot and thats why I wanna do this in the first place
That’s how I feel too, same thing with Pixar, pretending The Good Dinosaur doesn’t exist all because it flopped and letting Inside Out take all the fame because it was more successful. :(
I was quite young when this film premiered, and to young to have liked it then. I read the books in grades 2 and 3, but didn't see the film until I was in high school and got it on video. This film does not compare to the books, but I would like to see a new series with a film dedicated to each of the five novels.
I used to own this on VHS in the early 90s, then on DVD in the early 2000s. I don't see why the hate, it's on pair with several other Disney classics. The only thing I didn't like is kind of a nitpick: Elonwy's ball of light appears and dissapears from the movie with no rhyme or reason, but not only it's a minimal detail (you could argue it's always there, but out of frame; or transparent due to an animation error) but also you don't notice the problem until your second or third viewing.
I read somewhere that Disney was planning on remaking the black cauldron as a live action movie you should look it up its not confirmed but its something
if the black cauldron becomes disney's game of thrones, that will make the horned king their mix of the night king and daenerys and i'm absolutely here for that. next to him, she's gonna look like little miss sunshine lol
WAIT at 5:36 you say because of LOW BUDGET??? This had the highest budget for an animated movie up until that point, it had 44 million spent on it, LOW BUDGET? It had a massive unheard of budget at the time. The Disney animated film before this had about 1/4 of the budget and the one after about 1/3rd the budget.
The Black Cauldron is my 2nd favorite Disney movie. Obviously it isn't perfect but what I love about it is that it strives to be unique. Compare that to all those films like the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast which kinda run together and feel uninspired (still good, don't hate me), this one feels like it tried something new.
I've seen The Black Cauldron for the first time only few years ago and i really liked! maybe because reminded me of The legend of Zelda, and i like to think that could have inspired the game in some way (the basic of the story and even the characters' look), even if Shigeru Miyamoto (Zelda's creator) will always denied that.
Definitely has Legend of Zelda vibes, which is another interesting thing. Zelda was a hit amongst a niche audience, but those games have grown in popularity over time too as high fantasy has gained a wider audience.
It’s a popular urban legend that Miyamoto took elements from this film, (and other Disney films like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland or The Sleeping Beauty). I also find a lot of things in common between this movie and TLOZ games, like the Undead Warriors, Wiches, Cauldrons, Fairies, Dungeons, a Legendary Sword, etc.
Actually this film was critically panned at the time. In fact, it received a 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, and The Rescuers/The Fox and the Hound were finacial/critical success despite not reaching the levels of the renaissance, Snow White, or the Revival
I see no need to defend this. This female main character was more independent and interesting than many Disney-Princesses. We get a lot of Fake-Feminism from Disney, actually... not a good sign... Sure it was improve-worthy, but Black Cauldron is still rather high quality and better than some of the current Disney-Princesses. And you know what should be the logical conclusion of all this? Improve-worthy and such? REMAKE! Obviously! Remake!
I admit bias, as I grew up on the Prydain Chronicles and they hold a special place in my heart. I just can't enjoy this movie. Not because the lore is wrong, though it is. Not because the characters are wrong, though they are. Not because the plot is wrong, though it is. It's the culmination of all of these things combining to make something wholly unrecognizable. And knowing that this mangled mess is the only thing most people will ever know of something I love so dearly just makes me bitter. I don't know why Disney insisted on combining the first two books into a single film. The whole series is pretty episodic, so mashing the two stories together isn't telling a single story more succinctly, it's telling two different stories so poorly that you can't really even say that you got either one. I *really* hope that Disney's next attempt to adapt Prydain does it justice. It deserves better.
I totally get this and I'm hoping we get some cool mini-series or full on seasonal show on Disney+. I haven't heard any rumblings about it in the past few months, but a pandemic may have halted that. Crossing my fingers
It is definitely it's own thing and something Disney had never done prior and really hasn't tried since. Hunchback of Notre Dame is the closest I can think of to it as far as darkness and maturity, but this movie is just a wonderful gothic high-fantasy story. Wish it got more love.
The Black Cauldron deserves more than what it got funny thing is if it has been made by Don Bluth it probably would've been well received and more liked than it did with Disney Chicken Little saved Disney from losing everything they had Don Bluth is my favorite Movie Director. I can imagine his version of Beauty and The Beast and his versions of my other favorite Disney movies too.
It's pacing is weird and the human characters are plain. That comes from a lack of time and budget as well as trying to figure out how to make multiple books into an hour and a half film.
@@ModernMouse I see no need to defend this. This female main character was more independent and interesting than many Disney-Princesses. We get a lot of Fake-Feminism from Disney, actually... not a good sign... Sure it was improve-worthy, but Black Cauldron is still rather high quality and better than some of the current Disney-Princesses. And you know what should be the logical conclusion of all this? Improve-worthy and such? REMAKE! Obviously! Remake!
@@slevinchannel7589 Yeh like if se totaly did not get strong Disney Princess from Ariel to Moana and even Cinderella has some pretty bigs balls, Snow White too did her part, After some dispair She was proactive to make things go Better, Aurora Is realy the weeker One but She Is not even the protagonist of the film.
It seems logical, but this movie, despite being part of the Disney animated classics, never got a major home media push. They did put it out on home media but the advertising wasn't there for it and most major retailers didn't even carry it.
On looking at the black cauldron I found more and more as a good movie that lacked story. I feel like new management that took over just wanted to rush it out rather than polish it. Its 1 hour 15 minuets is not long enough to story tell. I refuse to call the princess in this story a princess as the horned king at the time where he told the darkest truths of each of the main characters she calls her a scullery maid which makes the most since in this movie translation, and I feel like the writers wanted to expand on this but disney executives didn't like this idea. Where she would have been called out on her lies and exposed for them and cause for a need for a redeeming arch. While making this movie there was a writers strike and it heavily impacted it. If they were to revive this film they would have to go back to the original ideas rather than remaking the original.
My Aunt got me this film on VHS when I was 10 and I loved it as a kid and watched it a lot but as I got older I didn't like it so much and felt like it didn't age very well and the story was very flawed despite great animation I had similar opinions about Sleeping Beauty it was style over true substance
The Black Cauldron was a great Cinema Motion Picture film movie came out the year I was born in 1985 how is about 1 years old when when the movie first came to theaters it was a great motion picture movie great cinematography films. It was a good movie during 1987 that was a Oscar award winning film. The best Walt Disney Pictures movie of the year of 1985 the anniversary 25th
I think it was timing and a lack of marketing from Disney. In no way would this film be as successful as Little Mermaid or Lion King, but I think it could find it's audience if it came out today because high fantasy is something people really like now.
The darker side of Disney is not unknown, there was a lot e.g. in Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, too. - I read the novel to The Black Cauldron and I rather liked it. Who unnerves me in the movie is Gurgi: in the novel he (righly) does not appear and in the movie he both unfitting as a comical sidekick and as a hero or tragic figure. Tran and Eilonwy are so average they're forgettable. The villain is impressive but as you already said, why does he long for ultimate power? His motive is banal and trite. Thank you, but I don't think I will watch this movie again.
Much of that comes from the lack of budget and Disney pushing deadlines on the animation team. Movies during this time really didn't get a chance to succeed unfortunately. Disney was just making movies to keep their animation legacy alive. It's unfortunate. The story is good and I enjoyed it even though it has its problems, but it could definitely be much better!
I enjoy the movie since I was a kid and just watched it. But lets face it, the production was a mess, in short this movie feels incomplete. All because they cut like 12 minutes of the original production.
@@ModernMouse I just hope you dont speak of it in videos again on this channel - that would be good. Or 'at least' not in a video not directly about that franchise. At least let it stay in its own corner. At least that. Odd request, you may call it, but i hope for it still.
!["DiSnEy'S dArKeSt MoViE" [Black Cauldron Review]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/F9Y0M9tetvg/mqdefault.jpg)
!["DiSnEy'S dArKeSt MoViE" [Black Cauldron Review]](/img/tr.png)
What other lesser known Disney movies should people see?
Oliver and Company ... another sidelined movie.
Tron!
I absolutely love the soundtrack for Oliver and Company
Tron will probably get something down the line and I'll talk about the sequel and tv show with it too.
Return To Oz!
Horned King is definitely the scariest villian. My mom loves The Black Cauldron. I don't remember it much, I haven't seen it since I was a kid. I could totally see a 10 episode tv show covering the books.
If you have Disney+, the remastered version is very pretty and its worth an hour and a half just to see it.
@@ModernMouse lol...if I have Disney+. 😊 Definitely will go find it now to make an opinion of my own.
With disney+ not having as many newer shows and they love remakes, why not a chronicles of pyrdain series. Their are 5 books. It could be disneys answer to game of thrones.
It could also last several seasons too so it could give them content for years before needing to find something to replace it.
Horned King was a pretty cool baddie.
He is amazingly cool and so many people don't know about the character!
I see no need to defend this.
This female main character was more independent
and interesting than many Disney-Princesses.
We get a lot of Fake-Feminism from
Disney, actually... not a good sign...
Sure it was improve-worthy, but Black Cauldron is still
rather high quality and better than some of the current
Disney-Princesses.
And you know what should be the logical conclusion of all this?
Improve-worthy and such? REMAKE! Obviously! Remake!
Thank you for showing Black Cauldron some love Josh. It has been a favorite of mine since I was a little kid and saw it in the theaters.
It came out the year I was born so I feel this weird tie to it...but I think its a film that people should see even if it doesn't become their favorite.
I always loved the horned king, a truly powerful and vile, being, complex yet simple to understand. Would love to see a live action take on this secret Disney gem. They could more closely follow the books or even change some key elements, so long as the horned king was adequately adapted.
I know there was talk of it prior to the pandemic. Not sure if that has ceased and been nixed or if it might just be pushed back in the long run. Only rumors right now.
Josh- this is the best- one of my absolute favorites and always wondered why it received such a bad reception! I’ve never been so worried about a little pig in my whole life! - Horned King was an amazing villain...
Thanks for this!
Dude! Thank you for watching.
I know the black cauldron has its problems, but i still love it. It could’ve been so good if so much of it hadn’t been haphazardly cut out, and if the development in general had gone smoother. It deserved so much better tbh.
Disney felt their legacy was animation and that they had to make those films but the suits at Disney never gave animation a real budget and asked them to meet ridiculous deadlines during this period. The film really never got a fair shake.
@@ModernMouse Disney said that the box office failure of this film nearly convinced them to abandon animation entirely. Until the Great Mouse Detective changed their minds.
The Black Cauldron (Live Action)
Tom Holland as Taran
Angourie Rice as Princess Eilowney
Willed Dafoe as The Horned King
Andy Serkis as Gurgi
Frank Walker as Hen Wen
I lowkey think this movie is great for what it wanted to achieve and the ambitions . It could have really changed the animation industry as we know it
I just wish so much of it wasn't cut and it got a PG 13 rating
It would do well with a PG-13 rating on Disney+ as a series IMO.
We have The Black Cauldron on VHS... I do like it but I'm not in love with it... It can work as a T.V. show.
It suffers from its budget for sure, but the restoration that is on Disney+ looks great. I think it would do well if they opted to run it as a series.
I loved this movie. I was 20 in 1985 and in the Navy in San Diego at the time it came out. I saw it several times. It was a refreshing change from the typical Disney sappy musical type fare.
Personally, I think the Horned King should have been in the Kingdom Hearts games.
I think The Black Cauldron would work better as a Live action TV series for Disney Plus seeing as it worked very well for The Mandalorian. It could cover the lore of all the books they would have so much time to tell the story and let the characters grow properly. Not to mention how dark it could be with it being live action, look at Pirates of the Caribbean or Rogue One.
Yeah i like this idea
I hope not. After seeing how Amazon f-ed up the lord of the rings, im sure disney would f this up as well. just leave it be. Read the books.
This is a movie I know a lot about but have somehow never seen. A live-action remake would do well I think. Great vid!
I hadn't seen it until recently and had to rewatch it for this video (2nd ever viewing) because I didn't pay attention the first time I put it on. Worth it though. A good Halloween movie.
My second-grade teacher showed me this film when I was maybe eight. I liked it a lot back then, but it wasn't my favorite Disney film. But I definitely get a craving to watch it every so often.
And BREADSWORD convinced me two years ago that The Black Cauldron is actually a pretty stellar Halloween film. I've been watching it every Halloween since (along Hocus Pocus, Ichabod & Mr. Toad, Nightmare Before Christmas, Mickey's House of Villains, the Halloweentown films, Twitches 1 & 2, and The Haunted Mansion).
I made this video because I feel it fits the Halloween theme. I would agree that it doesn't rank among Disney's best, but it is something different and is something I'll revisit again because I enjoy it.
The Black Cauldron was doomed from the beginning, to be honest, it had too many cooks in the kitchen trying to go in too many directions where you have the old guard vs the young guys and nobody was in really in charge because nobody could stay around long enough to have a stable vision for this movie. And it didn't help matters they were trying to cram 2 books of the Chronicles of Prydain into one movie and in doing so they threw out a ton of material from both books. And then came all the later meddling with Katzenberg.
Basically Disney in the late 70s/early 80s was just not ready to do a dark fantasy movie, heck even in 2022 I doubt Disney has the stomach to do a dark animated movie period anymore.
It's honestly my all time favorite Disney film. I absolutely love the art style, colors and themes. It's also great to see Disney break their own formula.
The black cauldron was without a doubt one of the on told classics!!! It was one of my favourite movies from childhood, especially all the Celtic mythology, I’m from a Celtic minority so it really felt great watching it.
I actually am in the midst of finishing up a video about Wolfwalkers. I'm curious if the films from Cartoon Saloon are more popular outside of the US.
@@ModernMouse A good question I don’t know, I love them personally but I don’t know if they’re all that well known to the general public, at a rough guess if I asked people in the street 8 or 9 out of 10 would have no idea what I’m talking about, it might be more popular in Ireland, Wales and Scotland, I’m Cornish so of course I love all other Celtic films and mythology, but I don’t know what the English think or know about it.
This movie was such a huge part of my childhood. I was born near the end of the 90s so by that time this movie was already sort of a no-no subject for Disney. I was able to buy it ONCE on DVD. They “released it from the Vault” as part of that stint where they were updating all the VHS movies to disc versions. This movie freaked me out yes, but it fascinated me. I loved the creepy undertones and how hard the characters seemed to actually struggle, rather than the ending being handed to them on a golden platter. Many years later I’m an adult who specializes in high fantasy artwork and am in the process of taking this on as my career. And most of this is because of films like Black Cauldron, Last Unicorn, and many 80-90s anime from various countries. I love this movie and that is never going to change
It is actually quite surprising how dark that time period was. Animation was willing to be a bit darker in tone. I wish we would see more stuff like it in this day and age.
@@ModernMouse I couldn’t agree more. Perhaps with a little encouragement from the fan base well eventual be gifted with a new “Dark Disney” film. Surely 2020 inspired some ideas haha
This movie deserves a lot more attention
Hearing "Young" and "Tim Burton" in the same sentence is odd.
Like holy I forgot that guy was probably a kid.
Good points and good push for it! I’ll keep it in mind, especially because I’m reading “The Princess & The Goblin” so they both seem to be in that realm
I'll look this up! I'd love a new book to read!
They’re making a Willow and Percy Jackson series on Disney Plus. I’d love a live action or even animated Black Cauldron series on D+.
I'm actually really excited for the Willow series. Hopefully if things like that do well, they will look at exploring the possibilities of the Black Cauldron again. I know it was in the works a while back.
I unironically love this film so much. Maybe it’s just the nostalgia speaking, but I really do appreciate it for what it is. It could have been so much better though. It’s such a shame it got stuck in development hell; if it hadn’t for that I think it could have been a massive success. Just goes to show how damaging executive interference can be.
It’s very rare for films to shed a light on the more obscure folklore of the British isles though, which is one of the film’s strong points. It has some great worldbuilding and an eerie, otherworldly atmosphere. Unfortunately, it does feel a little like a rough draft in terms of the script. Sure, it gets many fundamental elements of story building right (such as making things hard for the protagonist and forcing them to work hard) but the characters are rather underdeveloped. They do go through arcs, yes, but those arcs aren’t handled very well and feel rushed. In my opinion the dialogue is the film’s biggest flaw. The way the characters speak (with the exception of the Horned King) is rather formulaic and stilted.
But enough of my ranting. The point is; while I think this film could’ve been better and I am aware of its flaws, I do genuinely enjoy it for what it is. Sincerely, a high fantasy, folklore and science fiction fanatic
I appreciate it's history. The fact that it took so long to make it and it became the film where a new generation of animators really took charge....but the story itself is interesting, unique for Disney, and had it come out in a different time period, probably would have done better.
When you see THE OWL HOUSE, AMPHIBIA and CENTAURWORLD especially, its influence has been as great or greater than many more successful Disney animated canon films.
I've been a big fan of The Owl House and Amphibia the last few years. The high fantasy concepts are all there. I haven't checked out CentaurWorld. I know it's on Netflix so maybe I'll give it a go soon.
@@ModernMouse Centaurworld shows the strongest Black Cauldron influence. There is literally a cauldron in the plot used to generate undead armies lol.
After seeing what Amazon is doing to butcher the lord of the rings, I never want to see a remake of this by disney. It would be mangled and destroyed by modern nonsense.
The book series is perfect and I hope disney never tries to destroy it.
I really wish they'd put more effort into making the cast engaging, it was the main turn off for me when I watched it. I totally agree that it would work a lot better as a series, since it could better cover the source material and spend more time making in-depth lead characters.
The human characters are just plain. Everything about the sidekick characters and the Horned King is awesome. It's an uneven movie in that way.
Only bad thing about the Horned King was his anticlimactic demise. Otherwise I agree with you that this needs to be a series as opposed to an hour and a half movie smashing two books together
I feel like many Disney villains have an anticlimactic ending but the Horned King looks so scary, his downfall should have been bigger. I can agree with that!
I just found a preview about a live action remake of the black cauldron, the cast is top notch. I can't wait, I loved the movie.
Wherrreee
Watched it this morning and enjoyed it. Great review!
The way he says Eilonwy makes me believe even he didn't see the movie.
Disney has had some flops over the many years. But that doesn’t mean they’re all bad. In fact I like lots of their financial bombs.
Including The Black Cauldron. Also Treasure Planet, John Carter, Pete’s Dragon, Atlantis, Hocus Pocus. All underrated.
I'll be making a video about John Carter sometime soon :-)
I have the Black Cauldron on DVD, and I think it’s one of the most underrated animated Disney films out there. I’ve actually read the Black Cauldron book and the first book in the Prydain Chronicles, The Book of Three(incidentally, the horned king was the main villain of that book, not the Black Cauldron). The Black Cauldron was not a low budget film, it cost 44 Million dollars to make, and only recouped a mere 21.3, making it a financial disaster. In fact, it was blamed for almost bankrupting Disney. But I agree, it is a film that was ahead of it’s time and deserves a watch.
"If Disney decides to remake The Black Cauldron"
I think you mean "when".
As much as I'd like to say that, their investment in remakes has really been in their most successful films and not in the lesser known animated films, which would make more sense to remake. I'm hoping for it but I'm not 100% on it.
@@ModernMouse i'm not saying they'll do it in the inmediate future, but sooner or later they'll run out of films to remake that Disney won't have more choices than remaking it.
I see no need to defend this.
This female main character was more independent
and interesting than many Disney-Princesses.
We get a lot of Fake-Feminism from
Disney, actually... not a good sign...
Sure it was improve-worthy, but Black Cauldron is still
rather high quality and better than some of the current
Disney-Princesses.
And you know what should be the logical conclusion of all this?
Improve-worthy and such? REMAKE! Obviously! Remake!
We're desperate for welsh recognition
Underrated gem!
Completely agree!
Underrated gem, especially the girl.
She's what current Disney-Princesses are 'SAID' and 'CLAIMED' to be,
but mostly arent.
I loved this movie as a kid, still do.
I had a conversation about this movie last night with a couple of people and we all agreed that it gets a bad wrap and that of Disney's two "high fantasy" films (the other being Sword and the Stone) this one is much better
I saw this in theatres way back in the day. Loved it then and still love it now.
Im practicing to be a writer and Im planning on doing a bit of rewriting of this film, leaving the good things about it alone but taking what could use some work and putting my own effort into it. May I seek any advice from you on how I should go about that? Much like you Id love to see this film remade but Disney pretends this movie doesnt exist which saddens me quite alot and thats why I wanna do this in the first place
That’s how I feel too, same thing with Pixar, pretending The Good Dinosaur doesn’t exist all because it flopped and letting Inside Out take all the fame because it was more successful.
:(
The Black Cauldron also inspired the cbbc fantasy game show Raven, plus I agree with you on the Black Cauldron becoming a live action tv series.
The idea of making it a series is awesome!!!! It's a very good very unique movie.
I think it could work. Since the pandemic I haven't really heard anything about it so I'm crossing my fingers that it still happens.
I was quite young when this film premiered, and to young to have liked it then. I read the books in grades 2 and 3, but didn't see the film until I was in high school and got it on video. This film does not compare to the books, but I would like to see a new series with a film dedicated to each of the five novels.
I used to own this on VHS in the early 90s, then on DVD in the early 2000s. I don't see why the hate, it's on pair with several other Disney classics.
The only thing I didn't like is kind of a nitpick: Elonwy's ball of light appears and dissapears from the movie with no rhyme or reason, but not only it's a minimal detail (you could argue it's always there, but out of frame; or transparent due to an animation error) but also you don't notice the problem until your second or third viewing.
It gets hate because people just have never seen it. It doesn't get a fair shake
@@ModernMouse Indeed.
I love that movie! When I was younger I used to watch it all the time❤
I read somewhere that Disney was planning on remaking the black cauldron as a live action movie you should look it up its not confirmed but its something
I do mention that in the video. I've heard it would be a series meant for Disney+. Nothing has come of those talks for a while though.
Good
I believe The Black Cauldron is the Disney Movie that truly needs a live action remake.
We need this done into a series or at least a trilogy
I would think a series is more likely and I'm still holding out hope!
@@ModernMouse oh me too, my man I love it, and it deserves to be made more then most stuff nowadays,
if the black cauldron becomes disney's game of thrones, that will make the horned king their mix of the night king and daenerys and i'm absolutely here for that. next to him, she's gonna look like little miss sunshine lol
I just watched The Black Cauldron on Disney Plus and I really enjoyed it. Very interesting movie visually.
I'm glad to see so many people are giving it a chance on Disney+. Perfect film for October too!
WAIT at 5:36 you say because of LOW BUDGET??? This had the highest budget for an animated movie up until that point, it had 44 million spent on it, LOW BUDGET? It had a massive unheard of budget at the time. The Disney animated film before this had about 1/4 of the budget and the one after about 1/3rd the budget.
I own the movie on DVD thankfully, was so happy it finally had a DVD release. Its so underrated
The Black Cauldron is my 2nd favorite Disney movie. Obviously it isn't perfect but what I love about it is that it strives to be unique. Compare that to all those films like the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast which kinda run together and feel uninspired (still good, don't hate me), this one feels like it tried something new.
I watched The Black Cauldron as a kid. I remember thinking the little furry sidekick was annoying, but I also remember liking the movie.
Aww....I love Gurgi. He's got Olaf vibes which can get annoying but I think the story doesn't over do it with his character.
I heard that Disney won't make live-action versions of their box office failures or direct to DVD sequels.
The only reason I even knew this movie existed was because it premiered on the Disney Channel years ago.
I wish they'd have the Black Cauldron in the Twisted Tales series. Like what if Taran really sacrificed himself to the stop the Cauldron?
0:05 The movie was praised by critics? Are you sure about that? Where did you get that information from? I thought critics hated the movie.
Why Disney's The Black Cauldron Is The Best Dark Fantasy Film of all time
I think they should make a live action movie from each book in the series. Not all into one.
I've seen The Black Cauldron for the first time only few years ago and i really liked! maybe because reminded me of The legend of Zelda, and i like to think that could have inspired the game in some way (the basic of the story and even the characters' look), even if Shigeru Miyamoto (Zelda's creator) will always denied that.
Definitely has Legend of Zelda vibes, which is another interesting thing. Zelda was a hit amongst a niche audience, but those games have grown in popularity over time too as high fantasy has gained a wider audience.
It’s a popular urban legend that Miyamoto took elements from this film, (and other Disney films like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland or The Sleeping Beauty).
I also find a lot of things in common between this movie and TLOZ games, like the Undead Warriors, Wiches, Cauldrons, Fairies, Dungeons, a Legendary Sword, etc.
Actually this film was critically panned at the time. In fact, it received a 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, and The Rescuers/The Fox and the Hound were finacial/critical success despite not reaching the levels of the renaissance, Snow White, or the Revival
Disney started as the unconventionals. It is nice to see such amazing fantasies coming. THIS FILM IS AMAZING!
I see no need to defend this.
This female main character was more independent
and interesting than many Disney-Princesses.
We get a lot of Fake-Feminism from
Disney, actually... not a good sign...
Sure it was improve-worthy, but Black Cauldron is still
rather high quality and better than some of the current
Disney-Princesses.
And you know what should be the logical conclusion of all this?
Improve-worthy and such? REMAKE! Obviously! Remake!
this was my first disney movie
I admit bias, as I grew up on the Prydain Chronicles and they hold a special place in my heart. I just can't enjoy this movie. Not because the lore is wrong, though it is. Not because the characters are wrong, though they are. Not because the plot is wrong, though it is. It's the culmination of all of these things combining to make something wholly unrecognizable. And knowing that this mangled mess is the only thing most people will ever know of something I love so dearly just makes me bitter.
I don't know why Disney insisted on combining the first two books into a single film. The whole series is pretty episodic, so mashing the two stories together isn't telling a single story more succinctly, it's telling two different stories so poorly that you can't really even say that you got either one. I *really* hope that Disney's next attempt to adapt Prydain does it justice. It deserves better.
I totally get this and I'm hoping we get some cool mini-series or full on seasonal show on Disney+. I haven't heard any rumblings about it in the past few months, but a pandemic may have halted that. Crossing my fingers
Honestly I loved this movie, I wasn't even born yet, but holy shit I loved this movie when I first watched it
It is definitely it's own thing and something Disney had never done prior and really hasn't tried since. Hunchback of Notre Dame is the closest I can think of to it as far as darkness and maturity, but this movie is just a wonderful gothic high-fantasy story. Wish it got more love.
I got such nostalgia for this movie while playing Dark Souls
I can definitely see how that would happen!
yessss finnaly ive waited for somebodyto atually like tbc
I am here for it! I dig this movie and would love Disney or anyone to experiment with darker themes and ideas.
I think this movie is very underrated. I enjoyed it I think it would make a great live action movie.
Lets hope it happens, either as a movie or a tv series!
I still own my original VHS copy of this movie
I think this might be one of only a few I don't have on VHS. Thats a keeper!
this is my favourite disney movie such shame disney never did anything with action figures or another movie or series.
The Black Cauldron deserves more than what it got funny thing is if it has been made by Don Bluth it probably would've been well received and more liked than it did with Disney Chicken Little saved Disney from losing everything they had
Don Bluth is my favorite Movie Director.
I can imagine his version of Beauty and The Beast and his versions of my other favorite Disney movies too.
I read the books because I had heard of the movie without seeing it. Best possible outcome.
I wasn't really convinced that Eilonwy is a princess... I think that is more of a plot hole in the movie.
She definitely doesn't have that "Disney Princess" vibe about her. It's unfortunate
There's a good story in it somewhere, but it doesn't ever gel in my opinion.
It's pacing is weird and the human characters are plain. That comes from a lack of time and budget as well as trying to figure out how to make multiple books into an hour and a half film.
@@ModernMouse I see no need to defend this.
This female main character was more independent
and interesting than many Disney-Princesses.
We get a lot of Fake-Feminism from
Disney, actually... not a good sign...
Sure it was improve-worthy, but Black Cauldron is still
rather high quality and better than some of the current
Disney-Princesses.
And you know what should be the logical conclusion of all this?
Improve-worthy and such? REMAKE! Obviously! Remake!
@@slevinchannel7589 Yeh like if se totaly did not get strong Disney Princess from Ariel to Moana and even Cinderella has some pretty bigs balls, Snow White too did her part, After some dispair She was proactive to make things go Better, Aurora Is realy the weeker One but She Is not even the protagonist of the film.
I watched it and own it on DVD haha it's awesome
I feel like the Black Cauldron DVD is the rarest of home releases. Hold onto that. It could be worth something someday.
I swear We need more Dark Animated Movies!!! In Theaters!! Cause our Society has Become Sensitive and it’s Horrible!!🤬🤬🤬
I like TBC but it's far from my favorite. It is underrated.
Oh it is definitely not my favorite but I think most people don't even give it a first watch. It's at least worth a viewing!
Of course the film's on disney plus, the film is apart of the 50 disney animated films.
It seems logical, but this movie, despite being part of the Disney animated classics, never got a major home media push. They did put it out on home media but the advertising wasn't there for it and most major retailers didn't even carry it.
On looking at the black cauldron I found more and more as a good movie that lacked story. I feel like new management that took over just wanted to rush it out rather than polish it. Its 1 hour 15 minuets is not long enough to story tell. I refuse to call the princess in this story a princess as the horned king at the time where he told the darkest truths of each of the main characters she calls her a scullery maid which makes the most since in this movie translation, and I feel like the writers wanted to expand on this but disney executives didn't like this idea. Where she would have been called out on her lies and exposed for them and cause for a need for a redeeming arch. While making this movie there was a writers strike and it heavily impacted it. If they were to revive this film they would have to go back to the original ideas rather than remaking the original.
dude, i love this movie! i have this cool movie!😊😊😊😊
My Aunt got me this film on VHS when I was 10 and I loved it as a kid and watched it a lot but as I got older I didn't like it so much and felt like it didn't age very well and the story was very flawed despite great animation I had similar opinions about Sleeping Beauty it was style over true substance
8:03 fucking amazing idea
The Black Cauldron is not that bad of a film it might have some criticism and a flop but it was a decent film
It gets a bad wrap when it really shouldn't. People judge it without ever seeing it.
Jokes on you I think this is better then Viana XD
The Black Cauldron was a great Cinema Motion Picture film movie came out the year I was born in 1985 how is about 1 years old when when the movie first came to theaters it was a great motion picture movie great cinematography films. It was a good movie during 1987 that was a Oscar award winning film. The best Walt Disney Pictures movie of the year of 1985 the anniversary 25th
Love it
Thank you so much for watching!
I do remember watching this movie in the theater... I own it on DVD.
It’s a shame it doesn’t get the attention it deserves
I think it was timing and a lack of marketing from Disney. In no way would this film be as successful as Little Mermaid or Lion King, but I think it could find it's audience if it came out today because high fantasy is something people really like now.
i watched this for the first time in 2005. pretty boring but glad i watched it. my absolute least fave disney movie is the wild which few know
The Wild technically isnt Disney. It was made by CORE animation and distributed by Disney. Probably why it doesn't feel like a Disney film.
The darker side of Disney is not unknown, there was a lot e.g. in Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, too. - I read the novel to The Black Cauldron and I rather liked it. Who unnerves me in the movie is Gurgi: in the novel he (righly) does not appear and in the movie he both unfitting as a comical sidekick and as a hero or tragic figure. Tran and Eilonwy are so average they're forgettable. The villain is impressive but as you already said, why does he long for ultimate power? His motive is banal and trite. Thank you, but I don't think I will watch this movie again.
It's very poorly paced, the dialogue is mostly prequel star wars level obvious, and has badly mixed background music. Good ideas, bad execution.
Much of that comes from the lack of budget and Disney pushing deadlines on the animation team. Movies during this time really didn't get a chance to succeed unfortunately. Disney was just making movies to keep their animation legacy alive. It's unfortunate. The story is good and I enjoyed it even though it has its problems, but it could definitely be much better!
I enjoy the movie since I was a kid and just watched it. But lets face it, the production was a mess, in short this movie feels incomplete. All because they cut like 12 minutes of the original production.
Game of Thrones is a Shame.
A shitty, shitty shame.
I have no good words for it.
Let's never speak of it again! Haha
@@ModernMouse I just hope you dont speak of it in videos again on this channel - that would be good.
Or 'at least' not in a video not directly about that franchise.
At least let it stay in its own corner. At least that.
Odd request, you may call it, but i hope for it still.
@@ModernMouse It felt rather displaced in a Black Cauldron Video for sure.
It is soooooo baddd!
Ich I hate the main character
He's alright, but I think the Horned King is a great villain!
L opinion, he was dope
@@bluecosmos1999 L opinion, i think he was stupid