The Black Cauldron (1985)

Stars	User	Rating
7	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:
4	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.
4	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.
3	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.
3	xacviant	63 _17th
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.
2	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.)
2	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.
2	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.
2	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.
2	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.
1	lrampartl	77 _71st
Not bad, especially compared to Disney's other run-of-the-mill stuff.
1	mucow	51 _18th
You can't put a magical pig in a movie without some kind of explanation.
1	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.
1	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.
1	weirdyoda	36 _2nd
Disney fail. Boring and verrrrrry loose adaptation of the beloved source material.
1	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.
1	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.
1	Must Unsee	40 _16th
and this was my favorite book series
1	krf7	60 _35th
The computer game was better than the movie.
1	boomdiddly	14 _5th
Lock this one in the vault forever.

Average Percentile 40.36% from 718 Ratings