17. The Black Cauldron- 1985
I would rather stare at this picture for 90 minutes than watch Disney’s The Black Cauldron again.
Rating: 🙅🏻♀️ thank u, next
The Horned King has his sights set on the black cauldron in hopes of growing his evil powers, and it is up to a pig keeper, a princess, a bard, and a Gurgi to stop him.
This movie falls under a very distinct category of Disney films that fail to work for me. Movies with no music, medieval storylines, and (mostly) boring male leads. I’m looking at you Sword in the Stone and Robin Hood, although of this trio Robin Hood is by far my favorite. But The Black Cauldron really failed to entertain me. I never really loved our protagonist Taran and didn’t care if he achieved his goal of becoming a warrior because it was clear that he knew nothing of war and had no reason to want to be a warrior other than the fact that he decided that that’s what he wanted to do. Princess Eilonwy was a tragically underdeveloped character. A princess locked away as a prisoner, I did enjoy that she participated in her own liberation but I never found her charming or funny. The best character by far is Gurgi, a cute yet strange creature who is as equally endearing as he is heroic. But as much as I loved him, he couldn’t save me from praying for the snooze fest to be over. Fun fact: At the time it was made, The Black Cauldron was the most expensive animated movie ever made and it only made back about half of that money.
A boring protagonist and an underdeveloped damsel in distress left me wanting a lot more in Disney’s The Black Cauldron.
