The film is the story of Taran (an assistant pig keeper) and his eventual quest against the Horned King who plans to use the magical black cauldron to create an evil (dead) army to take over/mostly destroy the world. What would a quest be without a few (interesting) friends? Taran is joined on his journey by Hen, the clairvoyant pig (That's not a typo. Clairvoyant. Pig. True story.); Princess Eilonwy (I still have no idea how to pronounce her name); Fflewddur Fflam (Good luck spelling that without Wikipedia), an eccentric minstrel; and Gurgi, a furry creature with a poor grasp of grammatical English. The film has affiliations with Welsh mythology, and was loosely based on two books from The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander.
This is the first Disney animated feature film to receive a PG (Parental Guidance suggested) rating and I heartily agree. The violence, dark villain, skeletal imagery, and a bit of inappropriate humor are all red flags warning parents to proceed with caution. (I must also confess that this is the first movie to make me jump in fright... I don't do well when evil things pop-up suddenly on-screen...) I would definitely not recommend this film for young children. Though I'm not really sure I would recommend it to anyone at all...
It seems there is a reason that I've never seen The Black Cauldron before- it's not a Disney masterpiece. I actually borrowed this movie from the library a few years ago but didn't make it past the first 15 minutes because I got bored... I made it through the whole film this time, but I must confess that I would still describe the overall trajectory of the film as boring. It's missing the Disney magic- the spark of humor, the dash of romance (they tried to put that in, but it just didn't work...), the unforgettable characters. This film just did not deliver on all that one normally expects from the House of Mouse.
Perhaps the most glaring missing piece of a Disney masterpiece in this film for me would be the music. There are no musical numbers! (This is probably another reason why the film dragged...) Disney music makes up a significant part of the soundtrack of my life. Listen to my iPod on shuffle and there would be no doubting my love of Disney music, and this film had none!
Interestingly enough, the final released version of the film had been ultimately severely edited by the producer of the film. The producer tried to make the film more family-friendly, however his efforts were unsuccessful and The Black Cauldron was ultimately a box office flop. One of the best things about Disney though is that failures don't stop them. They keep pressing forward. And in just a few short years we will have arrived at the "Disney Renaissance"- a decade of award-winning, beloved Disney masterpieces.
This week I'll leave you with a quote from the Walt man himself:
Money doesn't excite me- my ideas excite me!
Coming Up Next Week: The Great Mouse Detective
No comments:
Post a Comment