The Black Cauldron: Difference between revisions

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Meet [[Disney|Disney's]] [[Redheaded Stepchild]] and the 25th entry in the [[Disney Animated Canon]], 1985's ''The Black Cauldron''. It is the story of Taran, a young Assistant Pig Keeper who desperately wants to be a great warrior. He is charged with hiding Hen Wen, an innocent-looking pig -who is actually an oracle. The [[Big Bad]], the Horned King, wants the pig because she can uncover the location of the Black Cauldron, with which he will bring to life an army of invincible, undead warriors to conquer the world.

As the unbeatable Cauldron Born set out to destroy all life and take over the planet, there is only one way to stop them. Someone must jump into the cauldron, at the cost of their life...

 

 

* It is the first Disney animated feature to be rated PG in the USA... and the reasons why are evident.

* [[Bad Boss]]: The Horned King's first response to ''any'' setback whatsoever is to strangle Creeper, whether it's his fault or not.

* [[Berserk Button]]: Eilonwy. Don't ever be sexist (Taran) in her presence. Nor take the side of said sexist (Fflam).

* [[Big Eater]]: Gurgi is always on the lookout for "munchings and crunchings".

* [[Brick Joke]]: Hen Wen is left under the guard of the [[Fair Folk]] when the heroes go after the Cauldron; she doesn't turn up again until the very end of the film, where she's shown back at Dalben's house, revealing to [[The Obi-Wan]] what happened to his student. Doli's there, too, indicating that, unsurprisingly, he got stuck with the job of [[Incredibly Lame Pun|going wee wee wee all the way home]]...

* [[Evil Minions]]: The henchmen and the Cauldron Born

* [[Executive Meddling]]: The film was originally intended to be the beginning of a [[Darker and Edgier]] Disney, aimed more at teens and young adults. It was originally much more graphic and violent. However, at the last minute, the Disney execs changed their minds and cut several completed scenes.

* [[Family-Unfriendly Death]]: The Horned King. And ''[[Body Horror|how]]''!

* [[Failure Hero]]: Taran so wants to be a [[Knight in Shining Armour]], but at almost no point in the film does he successfully do anything useful with his own skills: He loses Hen Wen almost immediately after being entrusted with her; when held captive by the Horned King he only escapes with the help of Eilonwy and the magic sword; and he unwittingly brings the Black Cauldron into the Horned King's hands by getting it from the witches with whom it probably would've been completely secure. At the end of the film, Taran actually acknowledges that he's a failure as a warrior and forfeits his chance to become one in order to {{spoiler|resurrect Gurgi.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fantasy Animated Films]]

[[Category:Films of the 1980s]]

[[Category:Horror Western Animation]]

[[Category:Disney]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Cauldron, The}}