DAC 25: The Black Cauldron

The Black Cauldron - 6.7/10

Okay, this one is hard to talk about. Another one I never knew existed until I saw it on one of their re-release trailers, I first saw it about four or five years ago and wasn't very fond of it. Watching it again now, it wasn't nearly as bad as I remember (better than The Aristocats, anyway), but still wasn't all that good.

One thing I will say: they really stepped up the animation in this one. It all looked pretty top-notch for the time (except, weirdly, for close-ups of the villain's face). That's my only real compliment though, and while it's not a film I want to rip to pieces like the above mentioned, there is a lot of "blah" here.

I think the thing that got me the most about this film was the characters. None of them were particularly bad, but none of them were very interesting, either. You've got a peasant boy who wants to be a warrior, which is an archetype done a million times and nothing new is added here. Although again, weirdly, they break the Disney mold a bit in having his resolution be a realization that dreams of grandeur are not as important as being content with who you are. Also in attendance are a a minstrel who adds nothing to the story or the plot, a weird monkey thing with an annoying voice, a villain with no backstory or any kind of explanation whatsoever with a very vague motive, and a female lead who also happens to be a princess for reasons of convention moreso than it actually making any sense. What bugs me most about all of them though is that except for the villain who wants to raise an army of the dead, none of them drive or really affect the plot in any way. It just sort of happens around them. The entire movie could take place without any of the main characters present and it wouldn't change a thing. In fact, the only thing the protagonists actually accomplish in the film is finding the titular object of evil for the villain, saving him the trouble. Well done, guys.

In addition to that, there's a whole bunch of other stuff that wasn't explained and was clearly thrown in just because it was in the source material (which I have never read, so I don't even know how good a job they did with that). There's a magic sword the hero randomly finds that does all his work for him (the princess actually comments on this), a pig who can see the future for some reason, a floating, glowing bauble that...floats and glows, a harp whose strings snap every time its owner lies (then miraculously repairs itself seconds later), and a trio of witches who keep the most evil object in the known world, sought by an evil dictator and everything, just sort of lying around. And then trade it away to the first people who ask for it. No background checks or anything. None of this stuff was explained or even commented on, and we the viewers are pretty much expected to just go with it.


So yeah, not a horrible film or anything, just sort of a confusing mess that didn't ask anything of its characters and didn't really go anywhere.