The Black Cauldron

Review By Phil Gray

Parental guidance recommended is not a rating that you normally see on a Disney DVD. Then again, this is not your normal Disney sing-along with friends. The Black Cauldron animated film is based upon the ‘The Chronicles of Prydain’ series by Lloyd Alexander. In other words it’s a mismatch of the bits the writer/director thought would make an entertaining film. I’ll let you in on a little secret; I saw this on the cinema when it first came out. I even had the sticker book to go with it. Not that I collected many of the stickers, as The Black Cauldron disappeared without a trace soon after its release. This might give you a hint at how good the film is and why it took a thirteen year holiday before it poked its head out on video.

Taran, the assistant pig keeper, has a bland and almost annoying voice (played by Grant Bardsley). In contrast, the Horned King, the red eyed, evil, soul sucking bad guy - has a fantastic voice (played by John Hurt). Evil drips from every word the Horned King mutters, while Taran sounds like he’s wondering how he got the job with every chirpy sentence. The highlights in the film for me are Gurgi and his never ending search for a good apple, Fflewddur Fflam being changed into a frog and being hit on by one of the witches, and The horned King resurrecting his dead army with the Black Cauldron.

The Black Cauldron book continues on the adventures of Taran, the assistant pig keeper. It follows Taran and his merry band of stragglers on a mighty quest to stop cauldron-born soldiers being hellishly made. The Black Cauldron is in the hands of ‘the evil Lord of Annuvin’, which is kind of ironic as there is more evil lurking in the hearts of those on the quest, than in the sock draw of ‘the evil Lord of Annuvin’. In fact the whole ‘evil Lord of Annuvin’ is a bit of a ruse, he’s probably at home darning his favourite pants with flowers on, while Taran and his gang are busting up the neighbourhood.

The whole story is like this, they get split into teams to go spank ‘the evil Lord of Annuvin’ with his own cauldron. Taran gets put in the reserve team with Adaon, Ellidyr, Doli and Fflewddur. That ‘special’ team gets gate crashed by Eilonwy and Gurgi. Yes, you can thank Lloyd Alexander’s appreciation of the Welsh for all the nice names. They get chased around a bit by hairy men, which will probably remind most ladies of a night out at Sugar Cubes night club. After a night of clubbing they end up in a marsh with three witches, there they find the Black Cauldron. They try to destroy the Black Cauldron; they can’t, and end up with rather nasty hangovers instead. I’ll not spoil what happens near the end, all I’ll say is keep an eye on Ellidyr.

Playing spot the difference between the film and the book is pretty easy. The film chops a load of characters out, trying to gradually introduce the main characters into the story in a quest-like fashion. The noticeably missing characters are Adaon, the dreamer and Ellidyr, the prince who shouldn’t be allowed orange juice. These characters should have been allowed into the film as they would have given it a more rounded perspective. Instead, Taran in the film is a mixture of himself and Ellidyr. This means that Taran comes over as pig headed in the film (well, he is an assistant pig keeper) compared to his balanced attitude in the book. His personal journey is much better defined in the book, showing his flaws and his strengths.

In the book, Taran has to give up a magical broach in exchange for the Black Cauldron. That magical broach was given to him by Adaon on his death bed. In contrast, in the film, Taran thieves a magical sword from a tomb and passes on the hot item to the witches who can pawn it off to the Horned King. The sword means that there’s more action in the film, as Taran swings it round daringly without any idea what he’s doing. The magical broach in the book gives Taran, wisdom and insight into everything around him. Obviously this would have been harder to portray in a film, Taran looking pensive and his companions saying to him ‘I know the beans where a bit on the strong side last night’.