The Black Cauldron (1985)

A young boy and a bunch of misfit friends embark on a quest to find a dark magic item of ultimate power before a diaboical tyrant can. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Richard Rich, Ted Berman
Written By: Lloyd Alexander, David Jonas
Starring: John Hurt, Freddie Jones, Nigel Hawthorne, John Byner, Arthur Malet, Susan Sheridan, Grant Bardsley
Genres: Drama, Family/Kids, Adventure, Animation
Country: USA
Where to Stream
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The Black Cauldron belongs to 21 collections
1. Features under 91 minutes (collaborative: moderated by epiphany - 56 stars)
2. Official Disney Animated Canon (collaborative: moderated by Filligan - 35 stars)
3. Based on a Book (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 21 stars)
4. Sword and Sorcery (collaborative: moderated by jeff_h - 13 stars)
5. Walt Disney Animated Classics (public: epaseila - 9 stars)
6. Disney Feature (collaborative: moderated by Quicky - 8 stars)
7. Based On Novel (collaborative: moderated by tathiel - 7 stars)
8. Animated Disney Movies (collaborative: moderated by horatio5 - 6 stars)
9. Disney+ (collaborative: moderated by saudade - 5 stars)
10. Coheed's Celluloid Pit (public: Coheed - 1 star)
11. Disney Animation (public: LazyNinja - 1 star)
12. Animated Features (public: smuhu - 1 star)
13. Development Hell (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer)
14. Nostalgia Critic - Disneycember (collaborative: moderated by Phantom Nook)
15. Dark Disney (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub)
16. Disney Animation (collaborative: moderated by JJJensen)
17. My DVD Collection (public: balseiros)
18. Animasyon Mucizeleri (public: Ozancan)
19. Friday Night Movie Funtime (public: Ununnilium)
20. Unofficially Beating The World Record For Most Films Watched in a Year (public: EsperHart)
21. Walt Disney Animation Studios (public: kahu)
Browse the full list of collections
Stars | User | Rating | |
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BillyShears | 70 53rd |
It’s probably an f bomb or a disgusting beheading away from being a true classic. The Horned King looks so awesome for Disney and he is shackled by Disney. Hi I’m about to present my thesis on R rated Disney children’s movies:
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KasperL | 70 65th |
You know, for kids! The darkness of this fantasy adventure must have been a difficult sell but this, the most underrated and unfairly overlooked Disney Animated Classic, has a lot going for it: charm, impressive animation (including some nice uses of POV shots) and a good sense of fun. The second half has it's fair share of problems, too... but I'll allow it.
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BeeDub | 75 29th |
Strips the fantastic Chronicles of Prydain books of their charm, pathos, and wit to create a somber, awkward, lifeless, and generally unpleasant fantasy movie. The dialogue is stilted, the pacing uneven, the characters two-dimensional, and the animation average at best. Ambitious, perhaps, but still a misfire.
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Freder | 25 22nd |
This was supposed to be the ruturn of Classic Disney Animation. It wasn't. They settled on this when rights to LORD OF THE RINGS fell through; their loose adaptation of the Alexander's book brings the story closer to Tolkein and shows us how they might have handled RINGS -- lifelessly. Some evokative scenes as the black army marches, but not much more. John Byner (otherwise a danged funny guy) is merely annoying as the witch king's servant.
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3 | xacviant | 63 17th |
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THE BLACK CAULDRON is fascinating in its shortcomings; an expensive and ambitious fantasy that was subjected to studio interference and, one way or another, ended up as something of a mess. The animation--character and background--is superb, Elmer Bernstein's score is strong, and the voice acting is decent. But the story is a disjointed mess, with a promising villain ruined by his irritating and totally unfunny hench-troll; there is, in fact, an excess of comic relief, and not enough wonder.
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SlrSoapbox | 10 1st |
This film is torture. Absolute torture. The protagonists are aggressively unlikable, the plot is astoundingly cliche, the animation is hideous with the constant weird expressions and gestures, and the narrative choices made in the film are confounding. The 10 points are entirely for John Hurt's performance - the Horned King is the only thing worth watching in this film, and I would strongly caution people NOT to watch it. (Also I would gladly kill the Gurgi and not feel any remorse for it.)
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Bagger | 64 34th |
In spite of widescreen and good animation, this movie manages to make what is supposedly a large fantasy universe feel incredibly small. The Horned King is one of the coolest villains in Disney canon, but he is very unceremoniously dispatched. He is balanced by the lead Taran, who acts like the lovechild of Ariel and young King Arthur. Not as annoying as the former, and with hints of an arc, but not quite as endearing as the latter. The movie isn't as bad as it's reputation, but not a must-see.
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JLFM | 70 54th |
There hasn't really been any kind of American hand-drawn animated film quite like it (at least until Don Bluth is able to get Dragon's Lair up and running). An 80s medieval fantasy in Disney dressing, lavishly animated, wonderfully scored (Elmer Bernstein), and full of incredible (and scary!) imagery. Very much of a product of its time in the best possible way. I would love to see Disney take another big swing like this again someday on something truly dark and daring.
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VengefulKBM | 65 42nd |
This movie could have been an all-time great, but it has some MAJOR problems bringing it down. The Horned King is a sinister villain who does absolutely nothing but enter rooms. There's no good music to speak of (the score is annoying at best), which is kind of a prerequisite for Disney. Some charming characters and some nice, dark tone do salvage it somewhat, but it could have been so much better. I would love to see it with all of those infamous "missing" cut scenes.
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Boxcars | 3 5th |
A terribly forgettable entry in the Disney canon, and the face of the studio's "Dark Age" for good reason. Save for a notably dark villain and visuals for the time, there's little else here worth revisiting.
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lrampartl | 77 71st |
Not bad, especially compared to Disney's other run-of-the-mill stuff.
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mucow | 51 18th |
You can't put a magical pig in a movie without some kind of explanation.
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Ytadel | 5 57th |
(2014-15 Disneython #19:) Disney does high fantasy. It's better than Ralph Bakshi's laughable Lord of the Rings, but still not that great. The biggest problem is that defeating the Horned King ultimately looks easy as hell, and unlike other epic fantasy villains (or, hell, even Disney's own Jafar) I'm not remotely convinced that this guy is a threat to the world. The movie has the aesthetics and themes of high fantasy but lacks the scale.
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PeaceAnarchy | 76 47th |
Messy storytelling, but it's good enough to make the story and characters compelling, and that's what I ask for in an adventure film. There are some impressive visual moments and it's all pretty fun.
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weirdyoda | 36 2nd |
Disney fail. Boring and verrrrrry loose adaptation of the beloved source material.
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TangVampire | 88 40th |
A hidden Disney treasure. It's so dark that not as many people know about it as much as other Disney movies. Good stuff.
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WWallce4prez | 45 10th |
The story of Disney shunning The Black Cauldron is far more interesting than the movie itself. Some of the darker imagery ok but most of the brief running time drags. Gurgi has to be one of the more annoying characters to grace Disney screens.
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Must Unsee | 40 16th |
and this was my favorite book series
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krf7 | 60 35th |
The computer game was better than the movie.
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boomdiddly | 14 5th |
Lock this one in the vault forever.
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Average Percentile 40.36% from 718 Ratings | ![]() |