My theory as to why the water harmed the Horned King: water usually symbolizes purity, and many cultures believe that it has the power to drive out evil spirits and remove corruption. The Horned King, as an undead, evil sorcerer, is an unnatural, "unclean" entity, hence water harms him.
The Horned King is definitely an interesting if wasted villain. I have been meaning to read the novels to get more involved. Meanwhile we are using the Horned King in our Disney DND game as a major villain.
The Horned King of the movie is a amalgamation of the Horned King of the book and the books' true big bad Arawn, and the dynamic is similar to Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, in that the Horned King acts as Arawn's right hand sword and brutish war general. The reason they combined the two characters was for simplicity's sake (and the title is much more fearsome).
I would love to see more of these, And I hope you go back and review the previous Disney movies like this. I wouldn't call this one of Disney's best, but it is pretty underrated.
@@pennysanchez7656 Yes, exactly! It's just ridiculous that Disney would still rather acknowledge THOSE stinkers more than THIS underrated gem! ('Black Cauldron') XD
@@BuckarooBanzai84 I'd say it's quite the opposite nowadays. The Black Cauldron is getting referenced more and more in Disney media while Home on the Range and Chicken Little are getting buried.
@@XenothranHero That would be nice, but where? How? I haven't seen any references or allusions to to that movie outside of fan-posts. Nothing official. If they really knew what they were doing, Disney would be trying to make a new live-action trilogy out of the series. (or more, if they were ambitious) And at the very least, we would get a new 'KH' level out of it. =\ =)
You do a fantastic Gurgi imitation! Also my personal theory on why the witches reacted the way they did when requested to bring Gurgi back "It's not possible" is not necessarily that they really couldn't or weren't supposed to, but more that they were so taken aback by Taran choosing Gurgi over the sword. Remember how when Orddu saw the sword show off its power, she says "I must have that sword!" So my thinking is that when Taran was given the chance to get it back but then didn't was a shock to her.
I used to watch this on VHS every time I had to stay home sick as a kid. I have a very specific memory of crying because I couldn't figure out if the name was "Googie" or "Cookie". Turns out they were both wrong. My apologies to Gurgi.
I really love the Black cauldron movie, though part of me wishes we could see an extended cut of the movie with all those lost scenes inserted back in.
More like Lloyd Alexander's take on Gollum, as back then, Gurgi and Gollum had different voices, going by Rankin/Bass' adaptation of the LotR series; and that's before Peter Jackson's adaptation, so, in a way, Peter Jackson made his Gollum voice not as unique as it seems. I think the voice Gurgi has compliments his beastly features, where as Gollum works best with his Rankin/Bass voice, because he's meant to be half frog, especially when his "Gollum, Gollum" speak was meant to echo a frog's ribbit.
I am a huge fan of the original book series by Lloyd Alexander and the disney movie the Black Cauldron. I think you have to see them as two completely different entities with different merits to enjoy them both. Even Lloyd Alexander said that there is barely any relation between the movie and his original books, but he could still appreciate the movie on its own. It might sound pessimistic but I don't think there will be a movie adaptation or adaptation as a series that can recapture the books old fashionend charm and mysticism accurately, especially when you look at the current state of Disneys creative output. While the original movie might have failed as an adaptation it still can be enjoyed as a cult classic.
I'm lucky to have watched the movie before I read the books so that I can appreciate them both on their own merits. I certainly liked the books much better than the movie when all was said and done (the movie was fun but the books were fantastic), but I think if I had seen them the other way around, I would've hated the movie for being such a bad adaptation of a really good book. That does give me an awful lot of respect for Lloyd Alexander. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have someone make a movie of your book, make it so different, and yet still be able to appreciate the movie for what it is.
This was a great idea Colin. I loved hearing your thoughts and views on “The Black Cauldron” as a whole, while still keeping the Villains Retrospective for the villains. You give such a wonderful insight into the film’s production and deleted scenes that I would love to hear more from either previous films or especially the films coming up from the Disney Renaissance. On a side note, I thought I was the only one to read “The Disney Odyssey” blog. 😆
Oh hell yeah! This is gonna be fascinating if you continue (please do), and it’s gonna be awesome having this to accompany our own Disney marathon. MAN I can’t wait for the Renaissance movies
I haven't seen the new Ariel. But Ariel was relatable as a kid cause she wanted to explore, but was sheltered her whole life. She didn't really understand what 'living on the surface' really was. Like kids wanting to be veterinarians until they realize that you need to put animals down, in some cases. She wasn't dumb or helpless. She was trusting, adaptive and a great friend.
I don't remember the character of Ariel being a good friend. (Maybe you're thinking more of the spinoff series than the 1989 movie.) I wouldn't describe her as a bad friend either, mind you. I'd just say the story was about her friends helping her, not her helping them.
I would be lying if I didn't partake in some bad-faith criticisms for calling some Disney princesses as inferior or bad role models simply for not being Strong Female Character™. I'm now appreciating the pushback those criticisms are getting as essentially victim-blaming, especially for cases like Snow White and Cinderella, and reconstructing the quiet strength those characters displayed. For Ariel, the most common being "she gave up her voice and abandoned her family for a man she just met" is criticized as incredibly myopic as Ariel's story resonates with multitudes of people. First there's the interpretation that the Little Mermaid is a queer story in that Ariel is in love/attracted to a person that is outside the conventions of her culture and risking her life and safety to obtain that love (in addition to the numerous interpretations of a trans allegory). In addition, the author of the Little Mermaid, Han Christian Andersen, is posthumously labeled bisexual with the story an allegory for his love to a man he couldn't tell and wouldn't reciprocate (like he had no voice); and the song writer to Disney's version being openly gay and AIDS victim, Howard Ashman, who was heavily involved in developing the film's story and characters. Ariel's story resonates with children and adults who grew up in a repressed/abusive/bigoted home environment and finding happiness getting away from it and/or happy in an interracial relationship. There's also a growing interpretationg that Ariel is neurodivergent as she has more friends in animals than people, devotes herself in special interests and hobbies no one understands; and when on land, embarasses herself a couple times by doing the wrong social cue. Jodi Benson, Ariel's voice actress, has stated she meets and gets fanmail from autistic children telling her they relate to Ariel's frustration on being unable to communicate their true feelings, like their own voices have been taken.
This is a great kind of video! I'd love to hear you talk about other Disney movies at length like this. If you did it for the Great Mouse Detective, which I assume would be the villain retrospective after the Black Cauldron, I would be so incredibly happy; hardly anyone talks about the Great Mouse Detective, and it's my favorite Disney movie. It was my introduction to the concept of Sherlock Holmes, and Basil of Baker Street is an important character to me.
Great commentary. Would definitely love to see more videos like this, perhaps for older Disney's you've already covered in the villain retrospective. also The Gurgi voice is fantastic! Here's my nomination for Colin to take over the roll of Golum! BTw, anyone ever noticed how similar Andy Serkis' golum voice is to Gurgi?
As a kid, I found Gurgi's antics funny, especially when he first meets Taran. He was also technically the hero of the story rescuing the others and sacrificing himself. The comedy that he brought also balanced the much darker aspects of the movie. I can understand why people might find his voice annoying and the need to put cute characters in the film, but I don't mind him
It’s honestly very interesting to hear all your extra thoughts on the movie as a whole and all these additional, non-villain related trivia notes and the like. I think it would be a genuinely good idea to do these sorts of commentary videos for between full villain retrospective videos, since there are pretty long wait times between them (which I understand why they are taking so long, no shade thrown there) and these would be good to keep us occupied till then.
Thoughts on the Black Cauldron: Even though its the lowest point in Disney history, it is one of my guilty pleasures. I grew up with a Scottish fantasy game show called Raven and it was damn good. When I first saw the Black Cauldron as a kid on Disney Cinemagic it reminded so much of BBC's Raven even though it was made 17 years before Raven got made. I actually like Taran and Eilonwy as they are very underrated characters from the Disney dark age (along with Tod, Copper and poor Vixey who I find to be sadly to be overhated) and I can tolerate poor Gurgi too.
I would love to see more of this! These are the kind of videos i play at work since they're low on visuals and almost just audio and i can listen to them with headphones.
39:41 Just wait until you get to Mulan. There’s a part of “Reflections” that sounds similar to John Williams’s “How Can I Remember?” from the film Sabrina (1995).
Thank you for putting into words my feelings on overly done meta jokes! I feel so put off from scenes/movies that heavily rely on them. I loved this video, your other works and am excited to watch more.
The witches in this movie kinda remind me of the Fates in Hercules. Their amoral nature, their silliness...they even have a similar bit of "We can't do that!"..."Oh okay fine we'll do it". Maybe Musker and Clements took some inspiration? Or maybe they're just cut from the same generic Witchy Trio template, idk.
@robbiewalker2831 Idk exactly. I think it's hard to say because we don't get enough of an idea of what the witches want to do with the cauldron, whether they're simply meant to protect it or if they have their own nefarious purpose for it. But you know, I do wonder whether or not Colin will include the Fates when he does Hercules, because an argument could be made either way for them too. But that's at least a dozen videos away, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.
This movie is a guilty pleasure of mine. I understand it has faults but I can't help but enjoy myself when i watch it. Glad to see this video and hear your thoughts. Hope you make more of these in the future
And as a Nintendo fan, I can see where people draw parallels to the Zelda series. It also helps that Nintendo scrapped the futuristic concepts for Zelda (at least at the time) when making the first Zelda game. Fantasy realms are easier to make in 8-bit. It’s possible that someone at Nintendo has a copy of the first two books, as they were released in Japan in 1972, meaning they might have enough time to gloss over those books to get the general idea. Also, Zelda 2 Link does have a sort of resemblance to Taran, and it’s more apparent when Classic Link is playable in Hyrule Warriors.
I always thought the witches couldn't bring someone back from the death but they also didn't quite understand the rules of Gurgi's heroic sacrifice (after all, nobody had ever sacrificed themselves to stop the cauldron's power). So, maybe Gurgi wasn't dead to begin with. The witches brought his body back, not knowing it still had life.
I’ve only been recently watching your stuff, ironically with your Ichabod and Mr Toad video since I’m just anxious for Halloween. I do feel like you went over both shorts and even their original stories pretty well. But this video I actually did like because I feel you do understand a lot of complaints people have with movies. Especially the “movie is smarter then the audience” where it has to take that moment where s movie has moved you away. That’s important because when you have a film that someone poured their heart into they want to know someone else felt the same as the author of the piece. It’s why I consider Fantasia possibly the most important film ever made. This goes into what I was going to say about this vid. I do love the days of older RUclips where nothing was scripted and no one was trying to sell you advertisement. It’s just speaking off the cuff about why a movie was good. And you end up finding out that when you take away all the editing, not everyone can speak purely from memory. So I would love to see this same kind of format for one of Walt’s films or even one of the Disney cult films like Tron, watcher or Something Wicked. I feel like it will inspire another watch from me. Hell I didn’t really think much of Black Cauldron until this vid. So I hope you are having a good day and even more so hope you have more to offer.
Definitely do more of these. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on the other movies, not just the villains although your series on them is great and was what brought me to your channel. Also, Gurgi is an underrated character.
Wow! You should certainly do more videos like this! Very well done! I love The Black Cauldron too. I first saw this movie when it came out on video in 1995. I rented it many times over the years and then eventually I got my own copy on DVD, a few years ago. It is such a unique Disney movie! Truly fantastic! I like a lot of the scary parts too! It was also very nice to hear you say a lot of good things about Gurgi, he is certainly an underrated character. Wow! I could go on and on about how good this video was! Definitely you should do more of them! I think you should certainly do one for Great Mouse detective! You also should do a video like this for Roger Rabbit! I feel like covering that would be a very fun challenge for you! Thank you again so much for this video! I will also certainly look into reading the original books, they sound great!
Oh man, I'm going to have to revisit The Black Cauldron now sooner than I realized. I only ever saw it once, by chance in passing, though my mom says we have a tape of that movie in the basement (we have a TON of Disney VHS tapes). I remember the beginning with the pig, the heroes meeting Gurgi, the three witches, and the climax where Gurgi sacrifices himself, but otherwise most of the movie is a blank to me. The Horned King definitely left an impression on me, though, but let's save him for the actual Disney Villains Retrospective video. It's funny, when I first saw it I didn't even realize it was a Disney movie, it felt so different from what I've come to expect from Disney at that point, I was still a little kid or at least a teenager at the time. I'm definitely eager to revisit it and judge it from a more mature lens. Incidentally, I recently learned there was a Black Cauldron game made by Sierra back in the day. From what I hear, it's basically King's Quest but it tells the story of The Black Cauldron instead. Game Grumps played it recently if you're willing to look into it.
I haven't read the books. Heck, I haven't even watched the movie. But I think it kinda works as a Disney adaptation, at least in terms of the concept. Here are my thoughts on these characters: Taran: He's the basic "whiny kid turned hero"- cliche. A bit like Luke Skywalker. Based on your description from the books, he'll become more noble AND badass as the story progresses, which kinda makes me want to read the books. Eilonwy: She's supposed to be smarter, funnier, and more badass in the books. I've seen some of the original concept art of her online, in which she's closer to her book counterpart. Most notably, she's barefoot in both the books and the concept art, but the final movie gave her shoes. A small detail, but one that a female foot lover like myself can't ignore. Gurgi: He's not too annoying in my opinion. He's basically a furry creature with the voice of Gollum, except much nicer. Since he's much taller in the books, he's basically like Chewbacca. The Horned King: He's basically a Lich (The Lich from Adventure Time even shares his design), an undead wizard with the ability to raise armies of undead to do his bidding. This would explain his reaction to the water, which was clearly holy water, the bane of the undead. However, he needs the Black Cauldron to actually gain the power to raise the dead. He relies on a horde of barbarians for now. Even they are fodder for the Black Cauldron, to create the ultimate undead army. Heck, the original concept art even shows people being turned into the undead by the mist created by the Black Cauldron. That must have been the inspiration for the Plague of Undeath in Warcraft. The Three Witches. They seem to have been inspired by the three witches from Macbeth, with some elements of the Gray Sisters and the Fates from Greek mythology mixed in. Since this was such a big but mostly unknown book series, I think maybe Disney wasn't the right company to adapt the Chronicles of Prydain. I admire the effort, but I think this kind of story would require a TV series to work. Someone should pitch this idea to Netflix and see if they could make it work.
For what it's worth: I enjoyed the video and fully approve of you taking breaks from your regular content to recharge your batteries. It's just a bonus that you still make a video instead of just taking a flat out break.
I really appreciate you making this video. I have the complete book series but haven't read them yet. This makes me really want to. Thank you for your work in all your videos. They are amazing and so comforting.
When I was a kid I couldn't connect the written with the movie, because I had no idea it was based off books. I just saw a spooky story, with a fantastically evil villain. As a kid (and still today) , I would fuse stories together. Almost like a theory, but with more story. For this, I combined Sleeping Beauty with the Black Cauldron . In my imagination, Maleficent is killed by the sword of truth (overly powerful sword hidden later by fairies found by Taran) with Maleficent's castle abandoned, the Horned King moves in. Much later Princess Aurora has a child and names her Eilonwy. The 3 good fairies are her nannies, she picks up alot of their mannerisms. One reason she's determined to save herself. This was just my kid brain blending movies, I know this isn't how it is. The more I watched thing back to back, the less I could separate 😅
There is something interesting at the ending about Doli, Dalbeen and Hen-Wen scene while the main characters are seen returning back home at the bottom of the water basin were the pig sets their visions. This that actually Dalbeen is being able to praise without any hesitation about Doli's deeds on both bringing back Hen-Wen and helping Taran's group a while for finding a way to make The Black Cauldron useless for the main villain eventually. This actually leads to Doli being OK with himself and not having to overemphasize that all was PERFECT because it happens that just after he says that all goes awry just after he has stated that phrase!!! King Eidelwig was always kinda hessitant on Doli's work but it seems all happens after he using the word "perfect" but then being less of it, but as Dalbeen just praises him straightfoward without any hessitation, Doli doesn't says more about "perfect" and just agrees both pleased with the praising and also kinda astonished himself of being ever praised clearly about it. So then all closes on good and happy ending because, Doli didn't need to emphasize furtherly on what's good at the end.
I completely agree with you about Disney Plus adding in more of the “DVD extra” type features. Having purchased a number of the DVDs back in the “vault” days, I recall eagerly delving into the commentaries, documentaries, and other special features. There are a few movies with these features, but you almost have to know they’re there to find them. Bringing these features in, and clearly labeling them, could bring in (or keep) many viewers. Here’s hoping! 😊
Some of the scary scenes about the magical stuff when the Horned King sets his spell for his undead army from the Black Cauldron are the same matchable disturbing dark stuff on both Night on the Bald Mountain segment from Fantasia yet on a simplier scale, and both either way are more noticeable than the also eerie disturbing figures in smoke when the Firebird awakens at the Firebird segment of Fantasia 2000.
The Witches of Morva are both an hommage to the classical Three Wierd Sisters of Fate from Shakespeare's Macbeth, as well forerunners of the Sanderson Sisters of Hocus Pocus, but that's mostly linked to the issue of a basic coven of witches needing at least THREE of them, as the 3 is a very important magical number and it's linked with the three phases of Time (Past, Present and Future) and Fate and a very ancient Triple Goddess linked with Moon and their phases as three diferent aged women: a younger one, a middle-age one (oftenly in full motherhood power-command figure) and an old crone one too, which are pretty much the sisters represented here.
This is a movie worthy of a sequel or a remake. There's huge potential and ideas for this setting: - Continue the narrative of the books. (Or diverge it like other ideas below) - Go all out on the dark narrative, show us the destruction and violence with how cruel the horned king and his followers are (like in the deleted opening) - Make the horned king more of a true threat by giving him a phylactery showing true immortality, so rather than him dying by proxy due to the cualdron, Terran has to defeat him next time by skill of a blade, when he returns, instead of using wits. - Show off Eilonwy's Kingdom, the politics of the world. Show her father is having difficulty fighting off enemy forces and effects on the kingdom. - Show of Fflewddur Flum's backstory as a Bard more. Maybe he was forced to lie in the past, but his Harp revealed his true nature on something, thus him having to fix it.
Or how about introducing another villain, who is a more major threat in the book. Have it revealed that the Horned King is more of a champion of the real villain. Oh yeah, and have the Witches give Taran his sword back, because the Sword can only accept those with pure hearts.
I'd say the main issue with Taran in the movie is a misunderstanding of the theme in the first book. The difference being: Disney: "A real hero has no need of a sword." Vs Book: "A hero is not *made* by a sword."
I remember getting this movie on VHS as a kid many moons ago. I watched it once and didn't really think too much about it then, but I would eventually come back to it years later in college and enjoyed it for what it was. Coincidentally, several years later, Breadsword had his own video on the film and I enjoyed watching that as well. Years after that, I ended up buying "The Chronicles of Prydain" sometime during Covid. I would have got it earlier, but 2019 was spent almost exclusively on the entire "History of Middle Earth" bookwise; *THAT* particular endeavor lasted the better part of nine months! Reading "HOME" gave me a significantly bigger appreciation of the works and myths and legends that essentially influenced Tolkien and his writing. Reading "The Chronicles of Prydain" did something similar and made me appreciate the Welsh side of Celtic myth more than I had previously, something that would also be bolstered by, funnily enough, Xenoblade Chronicles 2. More to the point, it made me reflect a bit on what Lloyd Alexander himself said about the film. He made it clear he wasn't pleased with how it was handled, but he was aware that it would at least lead *SOME* people to read the original books. Even if there are adaptations people don't like, the originals are still out there to be enjoyed, and those that *DO* enjoy those adaptations can see a different petspective presented with said originals. I fall into the latter myself. The film is...not perfect, by any means (I'm typing this segment while at the part of the video talking about the forced dialogue during the "fight" between Taran and Eilonwy, and yes, I 100% agree that it's bad), but the film itself is decent enough for a watch. It did eventually lead me to the original book series, and while I much prefer those, I do find the movie to be an interesting adaptation worthy to be discussed. And now for my headcanon fanfiction! Ever since reading the books, I've been having a really weird idea of combining elements of the books and movie into an odd sort of scenario involving some of the characters from Kingdom Hearts. Riku and Yozora are with Taran and Dallban when Hen Wen is having her fit. They run into Gurgi and later Lord Gwydion and help Taran retrieve Hen Wen once she's captured. However, like in the first book, they are separated with Riku and Taran getting help from Eilonwy, Ffleuder and, a little later, Sora and Strelitzia (the latter not factoring into this fanfic until after the reveal that she's in Quadratum in the trailer for Kingdom Hearts IV). While all of them follow the movie plot with some clashes with the Foretellers for good measure, Yozora rescues Gwydion from Achren and mostly helps the latter with his plot while also fighting some enemies from Quadratum (we don't know anywhere enough about Yozora and his world, so we can only speculate). Eventually, they all fall into the same whirlpool and deal with... ...OK. This is absolutely 100% out there, but just imagine that right before reaching the surface, they're ambushed by Two and Cent from Drakengard 3! It'd touch upon the idea of the "World Order" established waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy back in Kingdom Hearts I and referenced again in Toy Box in Kingdom Hearts III. It would also be a nice touch if the theme that plays during her fight in Drakengard 3 is lifted straight from there and transplanted here, electric guitars and all, especially if the music up to that point was played mostly with medieval Celtic instruments. Afterwards, the heroes eventually fight The Horned King alongside whatever enemy from Quadratum that had a personal bone to pick with Yozora. Gurgi still has his sacrifice and resurrection, but I would like to see Taran, Eilonwy, Ffleuder and Gurgi leave as improved versions of themselves, Gwydion and Riku being the cool Big Brother Mentors to everyone and for the final battle against the Quadratum guy shaking Yozora to the core. I know how odd this all sounds, but I just thought it'd be cool. Anyways, thanks for the awesome video, Colin! It's always nice to hear your thoughts on these films and I will happily watch more videos like this! Keep on rocking! I'm eagerly waiting for your next video on The Horned King!
34:05 I actually looked it up because I thought it was all the same person, but Sultan and Crysta's Father were both Douglas Seale, whereas the Fairy King was Arthur Malet who was also Mr. Ages in Secret of NIMH, Dawes Jr in Mary Poppins, and Toodles in Hook amongst others.
Hey, commenting on this video again to let you know that there's a mini-event coming for the Disney Magic Kingdoms mobile game that involves The Black Cauldron! The Horned King even seems to be involved, if their post on Instagram is anything to go by! Rather surprising to see, if I'm being honest!
I actually think the introductory scene for the Horned King in the final movie works great but I can understand this video's point that the first good look Taran gets of him would be more impactful if it was also the viewers' first good look.
Truly an underrated classic. I had the movie on tape and it really became one of my favorites. I always thought Taran was a cool character; he’s one of those characters that wants to go out and do great things, and is suddenly thrusted into an adventure.
The Morva Witches stating "it's not possible" to revive Gurgi and only doing it when Fleudur goaded them, and the theory that there is a higher power that doesn't let them. It reminded me of Disney's Hercules where the Fates were unable to reveal the Future to Hades, "oh no! We're not supposed to reveal the future", and only doing so after Hades flirted with one of them; only for them to be absorbed by the magic eye.
I get the hate/disappointment of The Black Cauldron's story and plot, but I don't get the Gurgi hate. The voice isn't that far off from other Disney characters that have existed in the past.
Already posted this on a community page but gonna repeat when I finally read the books. I could see why 1970s Disney would choose it to help revamp themselves after the post Jungle Book doldrums. But this was a movie that was destroyed by a death from a thousand cuts, too many cooks in the kitchen, old guard vs new guard, and I think, and this is a problem that still plagues Disney to this day, fear of "damaging the brand" but getting too outside the comfort zone of "family entertainment"
Always loved Gurgi and so did my family and friends who saw it. It bummed me out to discover online years later that he was a hated element of the film.
Yeah the final scene with the Witches bringing back Gurgi evethough they weren't supposed to deal with that was pretty much all because Flwedden finally being usefull to make a trick and a challenge to them that weren't able to reject either way too!
Wow, it's so weird you would say that, because I'm working on a 'Kingdom Hearts' -fanfic where the Sandersons disguise themselves AS the witches of Morva! =D
They could make Gurgi more interesting, like having a dark sad Backstory that the Horned king could killed his kind or Family, that would explained why he's all alone and scared about the Horned king. That would have his sacrifice much more sadder.
Pretty interesting video, I really wanted to love The Black Cauldron as I have watched the movie twice. Well I did love the art style and the animations as it kinda reminds me of Don Bluth style at times (especially with character designs and the wart details on the Gwythaints that reminds me of the dinosaurs from The Land Before Time). If I had to rank Disney movies just based on the animation alone and nothing else, The Black Cauldron would probably be on my top 5. But sadly the four main characters we follow is probably my biggest gripe with the movie, as I find them either annoying or just kinda there. I will give the books a chance at some point just based on a few descriptions from your video. Can’t wait for the villain retrospective on this movie, I still have a huge love for alot of the classic Disney villains and it has been pretty interesting to see behind the scenes stuff and learn more about them. I did also like The Horned King, and it’s sad that he isn’t as represented or remembered as much as other Disney villains.
Whenever I remember the cut animation and the editing choices, I have to mourn what the movie could have been without studio interference. But the movie we got is still a fun time
It's interesting to learn that the cauldron being destroyed by the self-sacrifice of a trouble making ally made the journey from the story of Branwen to the book The Black Cauldron to the Disney Movie. Though Gurgi is a far cry from Efnisien.
13:54 Something I didn't realize until years later was that there's a brief splash of blood in Aladdin (1992). In the final battle, Jafar turns into that massive cobra. Aladdin stabs him with a sword, but the camera quickly cuts away to Jafar's pained reaction. For a split-second (I mean literally a couple frames) you can see a big spray of blood coming from the stab wound. It's hard to make out due to the red filter atmosphere during the battle, but it's definitely there. 17:24 Considering that a "gypsy"/Romani woman is dancing to the music, I'm gonna describe it as "gypsy"/Romani music. 43:26 Question: is the Black Cauldron alive and evil itself? I never read Prydain so maybe it's explained there, but between the evil tyrant being fed to the Cauldron in the movie's backstory and the Horned King saying that the Cauldron is "hungry", is it alive and conscious and malicious? Is it possessed by the spirit of that ancient evil king? Does it require sacrifice because it's an evil enchanted object? Is the gruesome and painful nature by which its victims are consumed (the melting man, Gurgi exploding, the Horned King getting slurped) and the Cauldron Born being undead violent savages indicative of the Cauldron having a monstrous and sadistic mind?
In the book, i think the Cauldron is just a MacGuffin, and that this movie gave it some One Ring-esque quasi-sentience to increase its threat level and relevance.
This movie seem to have been a big inspiration on the Zelda game Ocarina of time. From the design of the sword, the shadows and clouds around the dark castle to the design of the witches. Not to mention that big action scene near the end when they are escaping from the castle as it is crumbling down.
i really loved this & would love to see more like it for other disney/animated films. (like those credits/creeper and the horned king's minions getting a good end enjoying themselves with that dancer alongside the characters being compared.:3) while one of the weaker disney movies with how it mishandles the characters like taran and even as a kid thought the world could've been explored more(like seeing the townspeople/douli just leaving near the end instead of trying to help a bit more.)don't find it the worst disney movie past or present(definitely would watch it over the care bears movie)as i really liked parts of it like the cauldron itself(it being a king that was so evil even the gods feared him and sealed him showing it's sentience on it's "face" ),gurgi(outside his greedy moments never really found him annoying compared to other sidekicks and liked his development more than taran especially his sacrifice /also get "alvin and the chipmunks medievel ancestor" from him.),the witches & definitely the horned king.
35:14 I'm also curious about that symbol. Looks almost like an upside-down symbol of chaos god Nurgle from Warhammer. Perhaps fitting, considering Nurgle is the god of disease and decay, and the three witches live in a swamp edit: grammar
I don't know if this is helpful, but the gypsy dance music is that typical Hollywood Middle Eastern sound. It's not a specific genre, but Middle Eastern scales are used, though I'm no music expert. I'd call it Arabian Funk. ;) If you like this check out Elmer Bernstein's score for "Wild Wild West". On the soundtrack album release (Varese Sarabande) it's track 8 "Loveless plan" around 2:24. And maybe you might enjoy, these tracks as well. :) "Club Sahara" from "The Thief & Cobbler" Soundtrack by Robert Folk "The Circus Tent" from the "Street Fighter" Soundtrack by Graeme Revell. "The Pod Dance" from "The Dark Crystal" Soundtrack by Trevor Jones. The Tavern" from the "Conan the Barbarian" Soundtrack by Basil Poledouris "Harem" from the "Efteling, Fata Morgana" Soundtrack by Ruud Bos.
Yeah, this movie has a lot of potential, but it was sadly screwed because of Katzenberg. I honestly don't hate Taran or Gurgi like everyone else. Taran is like a prototype version of Ash Ketchum from Pokemon. As for Gurgi, I've seen worse Disney comical characters than him. In fact, that title belongs to Sisu from Raya and the Last Dragon, or Buck from Home on the Range. Also, since Princess Eilonwy is my favorite character in this movie, did you know that she was supposed to go barefoot like in the books ? Hell, there are sketches and character sheets that depict that way. But for unknown reasons, they decided to give her slippers !
I didn’t grow up with this movie but I’d heard of it for a long time and I finally watched it for the first time in late June. I like darker stuff and I’ve always liked medieval fantasy/sword and sorcery movies, and the lost media aspect for the deleted and cut scenes is really fascinating (and an uncut version is actually confirmed to still exist), but as for my experience with watching the movie itself, I just thought it was okay but that it had the potential to be greater than it ended up being, especially since a lot of scenes and the context and continuity they would have given are widely known to be missing. I’ve never read any of the “Chronicles of Prydain” books so I can’t really compare, plus IMO they seem kinda obscure compared to other medieval fantasy books like for example “The Lord of the Rings” and “A Song of Ice and Fire”, at least in my experience. The only characters I really cared for were Eilonwy and Gurgi too, plus the Horned King was a really amazing villain. The most I thought about Taran is that he kinda looks like Hiccup in the first “How To Train Your Dragon” movie and other than that I didn’t really care about him after the first two viewings, but thankfully he does get better later. I really hope we get a remake or further adaptations of “The Black Cauldron” and/or the other “Prydain” stories sometime in the future, but I don’t know how or when that would happen since the remake currently seems to be stuck in development hell since it was first “announced” in 2016. In the meantime I’m curious about the ancient Welsh myths that inspired the whole thing, most of the character names and place names are sourced from stories in the Mabinogion and the Welsh Triads and TBH I think it’s a pretty neglected area of the ancient/medieval European mythologies compared to the Greek, Roman and Norse mythologies.
I don't know if you knew this, but Did you know that the sounds of the dragons are the vocals of the sharptooth from the land before time and the great animal from the swan princess.
Question: Does Princess Calla from Gummi Bears count as a Disney Princess? Cause both were released at the same time. Ive always wondered about that for years.
My theory as to why the water harmed the Horned King: water usually symbolizes purity, and many cultures believe that it has the power to drive out evil spirits and remove corruption. The Horned King, as an undead, evil sorcerer, is an unnatural, "unclean" entity, hence water harms him.
Exactly! He’s a evil parody of life, so water is like acid to him. Same thing can be applied to vampires in some variations.
The Horned King is definitely an interesting if wasted villain.
I have been meaning to read the novels to get more involved.
Meanwhile we are using the Horned King in our Disney DND game as a major villain.
Yeah this movie deserves a remake
GREAT IDEA!! And glad to hear from another gamer! =D
The Horned King of the movie is a amalgamation of the Horned King of the book and the books' true big bad Arawn, and the dynamic is similar to Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, in that the Horned King acts as Arawn's right hand sword and brutish war general. The reason they combined the two characters was for simplicity's sake (and the title is much more fearsome).
@@NobodyC13 Starbird3939 is still right though; BIG wasted opportunity. =)
The Horned King was an awesome villain and John Hurt really sold it. I agree that they wasted him.
I would love to see more of these, And I hope you go back and review the previous Disney movies like this. I wouldn't call this one of Disney's best, but it is pretty underrated.
I can't believe they're still embarrassed by this, yet are ok owning up to the 'Home on the Range' and 'Chicken Little' disasters! XD
@@BuckarooBanzai84 I thought Home on the Range was overall mediocre, but Chicken Little is truly bad imo
@@pennysanchez7656 Yes, exactly! It's just ridiculous that Disney would still rather acknowledge THOSE stinkers more than THIS underrated gem! ('Black Cauldron') XD
@@BuckarooBanzai84 I'd say it's quite the opposite nowadays. The Black Cauldron is getting referenced more and more in Disney media while Home on the Range and Chicken Little are getting buried.
@@XenothranHero That would be nice, but where? How? I haven't seen any references or allusions to to that movie outside of fan-posts. Nothing official. If they really knew what they were doing, Disney would be trying to make a new live-action trilogy out of the series. (or more, if they were ambitious) And at the very least, we would get a new 'KH' level out of it. =\ =)
You do a fantastic Gurgi imitation!
Also my personal theory on why the witches reacted the way they did when requested to bring Gurgi back "It's not possible" is not necessarily that they really couldn't or weren't supposed to, but more that they were so taken aback by Taran choosing Gurgi over the sword. Remember how when Orddu saw the sword show off its power, she says "I must have that sword!" So my thinking is that when Taran was given the chance to get it back but then didn't was a shock to her.
Gurgi is absolutely carried by how cute his voice, mannerisms, and design is. He does act bratty but I can’t bring myself to hate him either
me either.
Me neither
I hate him
I used to watch this on VHS every time I had to stay home sick as a kid. I have a very specific memory of crying because I couldn't figure out if the name was "Googie" or "Cookie". Turns out they were both wrong. My apologies to Gurgi.
I really love the Black cauldron movie, though part of me wishes we could see an extended cut of the movie with all those lost scenes inserted back in.
Brilliant idea, perhaps release these if you need down time for the villain series. Gurgi comes off as Disney’s take on Gollum
Yes that’s what I was thinking of because there is some Lord of the Rings vibe
If they ever do a live action take on the Black Cauldron, they should have Andy Serkis play Gurdi.
The voice of animated Gandalf even does the prologue!
More like Lloyd Alexander's take on Gollum, as back then, Gurgi and Gollum had different voices, going by Rankin/Bass' adaptation of the LotR series; and that's before Peter Jackson's adaptation, so, in a way, Peter Jackson made his Gollum voice not as unique as it seems. I think the voice Gurgi has compliments his beastly features, where as Gollum works best with his Rankin/Bass voice, because he's meant to be half frog, especially when his "Gollum, Gollum" speak was meant to echo a frog's ribbit.
I was just going to comment that he seems to sound a good bit like Gollum. Not to hate on Gurgi though.
I am a huge fan of the original book series by Lloyd Alexander and the disney movie the Black Cauldron. I think you have to see them as two completely different entities with different merits to enjoy them both. Even Lloyd Alexander said that there is barely any relation between the movie and his original books, but he could still appreciate the movie on its own. It might sound pessimistic but I don't think there will be a movie adaptation or adaptation as a series that can recapture the books old fashionend charm and mysticism accurately, especially when you look at the current state of Disneys creative output. While the original movie might have failed as an adaptation it still can be enjoyed as a cult classic.
Precisely! You hit the nail right on the head! =)
I'm lucky to have watched the movie before I read the books so that I can appreciate them both on their own merits. I certainly liked the books much better than the movie when all was said and done (the movie was fun but the books were fantastic), but I think if I had seen them the other way around, I would've hated the movie for being such a bad adaptation of a really good book.
That does give me an awful lot of respect for Lloyd Alexander. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have someone make a movie of your book, make it so different, and yet still be able to appreciate the movie for what it is.
@@WordSarien Here-here! =)
This was a great idea Colin. I loved hearing your thoughts and views on “The Black Cauldron” as a whole, while still keeping the Villains Retrospective for the villains. You give such a wonderful insight into the film’s production and deleted scenes that I would love to hear more from either previous films or especially the films coming up from the Disney Renaissance. On a side note, I thought I was the only one to read “The Disney Odyssey” blog. 😆
Yes, do more of these! I think it would be a good change of pace!
Colin, that’s one impressive Gurgi voice!
Great video idea, please continue with more of these 🙏
Oh hell yeah! This is gonna be fascinating if you continue (please do), and it’s gonna be awesome having this to accompany our own Disney marathon. MAN I can’t wait for the Renaissance movies
Does the Ducktales movie count?
@@srstriker6420 As part of our marathon? Yes, we watched that last week. (It was like a 4/10 for me unfortunately)
I haven't seen the new Ariel. But Ariel was relatable as a kid cause she wanted to explore, but was sheltered her whole life. She didn't really understand what 'living on the surface' really was. Like kids wanting to be veterinarians until they realize that you need to put animals down, in some cases. She wasn't dumb or helpless. She was trusting, adaptive and a great friend.
I don't remember the character of Ariel being a good friend. (Maybe you're thinking more of the spinoff series than the 1989 movie.) I wouldn't describe her as a bad friend either, mind you. I'd just say the story was about her friends helping her, not her helping them.
I would be lying if I didn't partake in some bad-faith criticisms for calling some Disney princesses as inferior or bad role models simply for not being Strong Female Character™. I'm now appreciating the pushback those criticisms are getting as essentially victim-blaming, especially for cases like Snow White and Cinderella, and reconstructing the quiet strength those characters displayed.
For Ariel, the most common being "she gave up her voice and abandoned her family for a man she just met" is criticized as incredibly myopic as Ariel's story resonates with multitudes of people. First there's the interpretation that the Little Mermaid is a queer story in that Ariel is in love/attracted to a person that is outside the conventions of her culture and risking her life and safety to obtain that love (in addition to the numerous interpretations of a trans allegory). In addition, the author of the Little Mermaid, Han Christian Andersen, is posthumously labeled bisexual with the story an allegory for his love to a man he couldn't tell and wouldn't reciprocate (like he had no voice); and the song writer to Disney's version being openly gay and AIDS victim, Howard Ashman, who was heavily involved in developing the film's story and characters.
Ariel's story resonates with children and adults who grew up in a repressed/abusive/bigoted home environment and finding happiness getting away from it and/or happy in an interracial relationship.
There's also a growing interpretationg that Ariel is neurodivergent as she has more friends in animals than people, devotes herself in special interests and hobbies no one understands; and when on land, embarasses herself a couple times by doing the wrong social cue. Jodi Benson, Ariel's voice actress, has stated she meets and gets fanmail from autistic children telling her they relate to Ariel's frustration on being unable to communicate their true feelings, like their own voices have been taken.
This is a great kind of video! I'd love to hear you talk about other Disney movies at length like this. If you did it for the Great Mouse Detective, which I assume would be the villain retrospective after the Black Cauldron, I would be so incredibly happy; hardly anyone talks about the Great Mouse Detective, and it's my favorite Disney movie. It was my introduction to the concept of Sherlock Holmes, and Basil of Baker Street is an important character to me.
And also Sykes and his dogs from Oliver and Company
Ratigan is my favorite Disney villain
I always loved this movie growing up. I’ve always thought Gurgi looked like Jeff Foxworthy. Also your Gurgi impression was adorable 😊
This was such a pleasant surprise and I am here for it!!!!!
I like this. It's nice to see you talk more about the quality of these movies that's more than just the villains. I'd like to see you do both.
Great commentary.
Would definitely love to see more videos like this, perhaps for older Disney's you've already covered in the villain retrospective.
also The Gurgi voice is fantastic!
Here's my nomination for Colin to take over the roll of Golum!
BTw, anyone ever noticed how similar Andy Serkis' golum voice is to Gurgi?
As a kid, I found Gurgi's antics funny, especially when he first meets Taran. He was also technically the hero of the story rescuing the others and sacrificing himself. The comedy that he brought also balanced the much darker aspects of the movie. I can understand why people might find his voice annoying and the need to put cute characters in the film, but I don't mind him
I loved this movie as a kid. Honestly up there as possibly my favourite animated film. I also read the books first time as an adult and loved them
It’s honestly very interesting to hear all your extra thoughts on the movie as a whole and all these additional, non-villain related trivia notes and the like. I think it would be a genuinely good idea to do these sorts of commentary videos for between full villain retrospective videos, since there are pretty long wait times between them (which I understand why they are taking so long, no shade thrown there) and these would be good to keep us occupied till then.
Thoughts on the Black Cauldron: Even though its the lowest point in Disney history, it is one of my guilty pleasures. I grew up with a Scottish fantasy game show called Raven and it was damn good. When I first saw the Black Cauldron as a kid on Disney Cinemagic it reminded so much of BBC's Raven even though it was made 17 years before Raven got made. I actually like Taran and Eilonwy as they are very underrated characters from the Disney dark age (along with Tod, Copper and poor Vixey who I find to be sadly to be overhated) and I can tolerate poor Gurgi too.
Fun fact - One of the witches, Orgoch, is voiced by Billie Hayes, who played Witchiepoo on H.R. Pufnstuff.
I would love to see more of this! These are the kind of videos i play at work since they're low on visuals and almost just audio and i can listen to them with headphones.
39:41 Just wait until you get to Mulan. There’s a part of “Reflections” that sounds similar to John Williams’s “How Can I Remember?” from the film Sabrina (1995).
Thank you for putting into words my feelings on overly done meta jokes! I feel so put off from scenes/movies that heavily rely on them. I loved this video, your other works and am excited to watch more.
I sincerely hope you do more videos like this for some of the movies going forward.
This is a great video! And I would love to see a video like this for The Great Mouse Detective. :D
The witches in this movie kinda remind me of the Fates in Hercules. Their amoral nature, their silliness...they even have a similar bit of "We can't do that!"..."Oh okay fine we'll do it". Maybe Musker and Clements took some inspiration? Or maybe they're just cut from the same generic Witchy Trio template, idk.
So you’re saying, that like the fates, the witches are technically not evil, because it’s part of their nature.
@robbiewalker2831 Idk exactly. I think it's hard to say because we don't get enough of an idea of what the witches want to do with the cauldron, whether they're simply meant to protect it or if they have their own nefarious purpose for it.
But you know, I do wonder whether or not Colin will include the Fates when he does Hercules, because an argument could be made either way for them too. But that's at least a dozen videos away, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.
This movie is a guilty pleasure of mine. I understand it has faults but I can't help but enjoy myself when i watch it. Glad to see this video and hear your thoughts. Hope you make more of these in the future
And as a Nintendo fan, I can see where people draw parallels to the Zelda series. It also helps that Nintendo scrapped the futuristic concepts for Zelda (at least at the time) when making the first Zelda game. Fantasy realms are easier to make in 8-bit. It’s possible that someone at Nintendo has a copy of the first two books, as they were released in Japan in 1972, meaning they might have enough time to gloss over those books to get the general idea. Also, Zelda 2 Link does have a sort of resemblance to Taran, and it’s more apparent when Classic Link is playable in Hyrule Warriors.
This was an interesting deep dive Id love to see more of these for other movies too
I always thought the witches couldn't bring someone back from the death but they also didn't quite understand the rules of Gurgi's heroic sacrifice (after all, nobody had ever sacrificed themselves to stop the cauldron's power). So, maybe Gurgi wasn't dead to begin with. The witches brought his body back, not knowing it still had life.
Flewdyr shows his bardic charisma in the end, rolling a Nat20 on the cauldron trade for Gurgi.
I’ve only been recently watching your stuff, ironically with your Ichabod and Mr Toad video since I’m just anxious for Halloween. I do feel like you went over both shorts and even their original stories pretty well. But this video I actually did like because I feel you do understand a lot of complaints people have with movies. Especially the “movie is smarter then the audience” where it has to take that moment where s movie has moved you away. That’s important because when you have a film that someone poured their heart into they want to know someone else felt the same as the author of the piece. It’s why I consider Fantasia possibly the most important film ever made.
This goes into what I was going to say about this vid. I do love the days of older RUclips where nothing was scripted and no one was trying to sell you advertisement. It’s just speaking off the cuff about why a movie was good. And you end up finding out that when you take away all the editing, not everyone can speak purely from memory. So I would love to see this same kind of format for one of Walt’s films or even one of the Disney cult films like Tron, watcher or Something Wicked. I feel like it will inspire another watch from me. Hell I didn’t really think much of Black Cauldron until this vid.
So I hope you are having a good day and even more so hope you have more to offer.
Definitely do more of these. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on the other movies, not just the villains although your series on them is great and was what brought me to your channel. Also, Gurgi is an underrated character.
Wow! You should certainly do more videos like this! Very well done! I love The Black Cauldron too. I first saw this movie when it came out on video in 1995. I rented it many times over the years and then eventually I got my own copy on DVD, a few years ago. It is such a unique Disney movie! Truly fantastic! I like a lot of the scary parts too! It was also very nice to hear you say a lot of good things about Gurgi, he is certainly an underrated character. Wow! I could go on and on about how good this video was! Definitely you should do more of them! I think you should certainly do one for Great Mouse detective! You also should do a video like this for Roger Rabbit! I feel like covering that would be a very fun challenge for you! Thank you again so much for this video! I will also certainly look into reading the original books, they sound great!
Oh man, I'm going to have to revisit The Black Cauldron now sooner than I realized. I only ever saw it once, by chance in passing, though my mom says we have a tape of that movie in the basement (we have a TON of Disney VHS tapes). I remember the beginning with the pig, the heroes meeting Gurgi, the three witches, and the climax where Gurgi sacrifices himself, but otherwise most of the movie is a blank to me. The Horned King definitely left an impression on me, though, but let's save him for the actual Disney Villains Retrospective video. It's funny, when I first saw it I didn't even realize it was a Disney movie, it felt so different from what I've come to expect from Disney at that point, I was still a little kid or at least a teenager at the time. I'm definitely eager to revisit it and judge it from a more mature lens.
Incidentally, I recently learned there was a Black Cauldron game made by Sierra back in the day. From what I hear, it's basically King's Quest but it tells the story of The Black Cauldron instead. Game Grumps played it recently if you're willing to look into it.
I haven't read the books. Heck, I haven't even watched the movie. But I think it kinda works as a Disney adaptation, at least in terms of the concept. Here are my thoughts on these characters:
Taran: He's the basic "whiny kid turned hero"- cliche. A bit like Luke Skywalker. Based on your description from the books, he'll become more noble AND badass as the story progresses, which kinda makes me want to read the books.
Eilonwy: She's supposed to be smarter, funnier, and more badass in the books. I've seen some of the original concept art of her online, in which she's closer to her book counterpart. Most notably, she's barefoot in both the books and the concept art, but the final movie gave her shoes. A small detail, but one that a female foot lover like myself can't ignore.
Gurgi: He's not too annoying in my opinion. He's basically a furry creature with the voice of Gollum, except much nicer. Since he's much taller in the books, he's basically like Chewbacca.
The Horned King: He's basically a Lich (The Lich from Adventure Time even shares his design), an undead wizard with the ability to raise armies of undead to do his bidding. This would explain his reaction to the water, which was clearly holy water, the bane of the undead. However, he needs the Black Cauldron to actually gain the power to raise the dead. He relies on a horde of barbarians for now. Even they are fodder for the Black Cauldron, to create the ultimate undead army. Heck, the original concept art even shows people being turned into the undead by the mist created by the Black Cauldron. That must have been the inspiration for the Plague of Undeath in Warcraft.
The Three Witches. They seem to have been inspired by the three witches from Macbeth, with some elements of the Gray Sisters and the Fates from Greek mythology mixed in.
Since this was such a big but mostly unknown book series, I think maybe Disney wasn't the right company to adapt the Chronicles of Prydain. I admire the effort, but I think this kind of story would require a TV series to work. Someone should pitch this idea to Netflix and see if they could make it work.
For what it's worth: I enjoyed the video and fully approve of you taking breaks from your regular content to recharge your batteries. It's just a bonus that you still make a video instead of just taking a flat out break.
I really appreciate you making this video. I have the complete book series but haven't read them yet. This makes me really want to. Thank you for your work in all your videos. They are amazing and so comforting.
I love this movie ❤I see it once a year.
Great insight! The Black Cauldron is so underrated and Gurgi is overhated. We need to organise a Black Cauldron renaissance.
When I was a kid I couldn't connect the written with the movie, because I had no idea it was based off books. I just saw a spooky story, with a fantastically evil villain.
As a kid (and still today) , I would fuse stories together. Almost like a theory, but with more story.
For this, I combined Sleeping Beauty with the Black Cauldron . In my imagination, Maleficent is killed by the sword of truth (overly powerful sword hidden later by fairies found by Taran) with Maleficent's castle abandoned, the Horned King moves in. Much later Princess Aurora has a child and names her Eilonwy. The 3 good fairies are her nannies, she picks up alot of their mannerisms. One reason she's determined to save herself.
This was just my kid brain blending movies, I know this isn't how it is. The more I watched thing back to back, the less I could separate 😅
There is something interesting at the ending about Doli, Dalbeen and Hen-Wen scene while the main characters are seen returning back home at the bottom of the water basin were the pig sets their visions. This that actually Dalbeen is being able to praise without any hesitation about Doli's deeds on both bringing back Hen-Wen and helping Taran's group a while for finding a way to make The Black Cauldron useless for the main villain eventually. This actually leads to Doli being OK with himself and not having to overemphasize that all was PERFECT because it happens that just after he says that all goes awry just after he has stated that phrase!!!
King Eidelwig was always kinda hessitant on Doli's work but it seems all happens after he using the word "perfect" but then being less of it, but as Dalbeen just praises him straightfoward without any hessitation, Doli doesn't says more about "perfect" and just agrees both pleased with the praising and also kinda astonished himself of being ever praised clearly about it. So then all closes on good and happy ending because, Doli didn't need to emphasize furtherly on what's good at the end.
I completely agree with you about Disney Plus adding in more of the “DVD extra” type features. Having purchased a number of the DVDs back in the “vault” days, I recall eagerly delving into the commentaries, documentaries, and other special features. There are a few movies with these features, but you almost have to know they’re there to find them. Bringing these features in, and clearly labeling them, could bring in (or keep) many viewers. Here’s hoping! 😊
I’d love to see more of these
These type of videos have my hard support to continue
Some of the scary scenes about the magical stuff when the Horned King sets his spell for his undead army from the Black Cauldron are the same matchable disturbing dark stuff on both Night on the Bald Mountain segment from Fantasia yet on a simplier scale, and both either way are more noticeable than the also eerie disturbing figures in smoke when the Firebird awakens at the Firebird segment of Fantasia 2000.
Please do more videos like this.
The Witches of Morva are both an hommage to the classical Three Wierd Sisters of Fate from Shakespeare's Macbeth, as well forerunners of the Sanderson Sisters of Hocus Pocus, but that's mostly linked to the issue of a basic coven of witches needing at least THREE of them, as the 3 is a very important magical number and it's linked with the three phases of Time (Past, Present and Future) and Fate and a very ancient Triple Goddess linked with Moon and their phases as three diferent aged women: a younger one, a middle-age one (oftenly in full motherhood power-command figure) and an old crone one too, which are pretty much the sisters represented here.
Always glad to hear from another Gurgi supporter. He gets my vote for most overhated character
This is a movie worthy of a sequel or a remake. There's huge potential and ideas for this setting:
- Continue the narrative of the books. (Or diverge it like other ideas below)
- Go all out on the dark narrative, show us the destruction and violence with how cruel the horned king and his followers are (like in the deleted opening)
- Make the horned king more of a true threat by giving him a phylactery showing true immortality, so rather than him dying by proxy due to the cualdron, Terran has to defeat him next time by skill of a blade, when he returns, instead of using wits.
- Show off Eilonwy's Kingdom, the politics of the world. Show her father is having difficulty fighting off enemy forces and effects on the kingdom.
- Show of Fflewddur Flum's backstory as a Bard more. Maybe he was forced to lie in the past, but his Harp revealed his true nature on something, thus him having to fix it.
Or how about introducing another villain, who is a more major threat in the book. Have it revealed that the Horned King is more of a champion of the real villain. Oh yeah, and have the Witches give Taran his sword back, because the Sword can only accept those with pure hearts.
I'd say the main issue with Taran in the movie is a misunderstanding of the theme in the first book. The difference being:
Disney: "A real hero has no need of a sword."
Vs
Book: "A hero is not *made* by a sword."
I remember getting this movie on VHS as a kid many moons ago. I watched it once and didn't really think too much about it then, but I would eventually come back to it years later in college and enjoyed it for what it was. Coincidentally, several years later, Breadsword had his own video on the film and I enjoyed watching that as well.
Years after that, I ended up buying "The Chronicles of Prydain" sometime during Covid. I would have got it earlier, but 2019 was spent almost exclusively on the entire "History of Middle Earth" bookwise; *THAT* particular endeavor lasted the better part of nine months! Reading "HOME" gave me a significantly bigger appreciation of the works and myths and legends that essentially influenced Tolkien and his writing. Reading "The Chronicles of Prydain" did something similar and made me appreciate the Welsh side of Celtic myth more than I had previously, something that would also be bolstered by, funnily enough, Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
More to the point, it made me reflect a bit on what Lloyd Alexander himself said about the film. He made it clear he wasn't pleased with how it was handled, but he was aware that it would at least lead *SOME* people to read the original books. Even if there are adaptations people don't like, the originals are still out there to be enjoyed, and those that *DO* enjoy those adaptations can see a different petspective presented with said originals. I fall into the latter myself. The film is...not perfect, by any means (I'm typing this segment while at the part of the video talking about the forced dialogue during the "fight" between Taran and Eilonwy, and yes, I 100% agree that it's bad), but the film itself is decent enough for a watch. It did eventually lead me to the original book series, and while I much prefer those, I do find the movie to be an interesting adaptation worthy to be discussed.
And now for my headcanon fanfiction! Ever since reading the books, I've been having a really weird idea of combining elements of the books and movie into an odd sort of scenario involving some of the characters from Kingdom Hearts. Riku and Yozora are with Taran and Dallban when Hen Wen is having her fit. They run into Gurgi and later Lord Gwydion and help Taran retrieve Hen Wen once she's captured. However, like in the first book, they are separated with Riku and Taran getting help from Eilonwy, Ffleuder and, a little later, Sora and Strelitzia (the latter not factoring into this fanfic until after the reveal that she's in Quadratum in the trailer for Kingdom Hearts IV). While all of them follow the movie plot with some clashes with the Foretellers for good measure, Yozora rescues Gwydion from Achren and mostly helps the latter with his plot while also fighting some enemies from Quadratum (we don't know anywhere enough about Yozora and his world, so we can only speculate). Eventually, they all fall into the same whirlpool and deal with...
...OK. This is absolutely 100% out there, but just imagine that right before reaching the surface, they're ambushed by Two and Cent from Drakengard 3! It'd touch upon the idea of the "World Order" established waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy back in Kingdom Hearts I and referenced again in Toy Box in Kingdom Hearts III. It would also be a nice touch if the theme that plays during her fight in Drakengard 3 is lifted straight from there and transplanted here, electric guitars and all, especially if the music up to that point was played mostly with medieval Celtic instruments.
Afterwards, the heroes eventually fight The Horned King alongside whatever enemy from Quadratum that had a personal bone to pick with Yozora. Gurgi still has his sacrifice and resurrection, but I would like to see Taran, Eilonwy, Ffleuder and Gurgi leave as improved versions of themselves, Gwydion and Riku being the cool Big Brother Mentors to everyone and for the final battle against the Quadratum guy shaking Yozora to the core. I know how odd this all sounds, but I just thought it'd be cool.
Anyways, thanks for the awesome video, Colin! It's always nice to hear your thoughts on these films and I will happily watch more videos like this! Keep on rocking! I'm eagerly waiting for your next video on The Horned King!
I've always had a high-fantasy soft spot for this film despite it's flaws.
34:05 I actually looked it up because I thought it was all the same person, but Sultan and Crysta's Father were both Douglas Seale, whereas the Fairy King was Arthur Malet who was also Mr. Ages in Secret of NIMH, Dawes Jr in Mary Poppins, and Toodles in Hook amongst others.
Hey, commenting on this video again to let you know that there's a mini-event coming for the Disney Magic Kingdoms mobile game that involves The Black Cauldron! The Horned King even seems to be involved, if their post on Instagram is anything to go by! Rather surprising to see, if I'm being honest!
I actually think the introductory scene for the Horned King in the final movie works great but I can understand this video's point that the first good look Taran gets of him would be more impactful if it was also the viewers' first good look.
That cut scream from Taran at 18:58 made me laugh my ass off for five whole minutes
Truly an underrated classic. I had the movie on tape and it really became one of my favorites. I always thought Taran was a cool character; he’s one of those characters that wants to go out and do great things, and is suddenly thrusted into an adventure.
The Morva Witches stating "it's not possible" to revive Gurgi and only doing it when Fleudur goaded them, and the theory that there is a higher power that doesn't let them. It reminded me of Disney's Hercules where the Fates were unable to reveal the Future to Hades, "oh no! We're not supposed to reveal the future", and only doing so after Hades flirted with one of them; only for them to be absorbed by the magic eye.
The only thing I like about Gurgi is that I can do a perfect imitation of his voice, which is not the greatest skill to have xD
One of Disney's greatest films that is criminaly underrated.
CLB just been sitting on that Gurgi impression this entire time and we never knew. What else is he not telling us?!?
I get the hate/disappointment of The Black Cauldron's story and plot, but I don't get the Gurgi hate. The voice isn't that far off from other Disney characters that have existed in the past.
Already posted this on a community page but gonna repeat
when I finally read the books. I could see why 1970s Disney would choose it to help revamp themselves after the post Jungle Book doldrums.
But this was a movie that was destroyed by a death from a thousand cuts, too many cooks in the kitchen, old guard vs new guard, and I think, and this is a problem that still plagues Disney to this day, fear of "damaging the brand" but getting too outside the comfort zone of "family entertainment"
Always loved Gurgi and so did my family and friends who saw it. It bummed me out to discover online years later that he was a hated element of the film.
I'm excited for your video
Yeah the final scene with the Witches bringing back Gurgi evethough they weren't supposed to deal with that was pretty much all because Flwedden finally being usefull to make a trick and a challenge to them that weren't able to reject either way too!
Hey that's a really good Gurgi impression!
Didn’t notice it until now but i think the narrator at the beginning of the movie is the same guy that voices Gandolf in the animated hobbit movie
Wow, it's so weird you would say that, because I'm working on a 'Kingdom Hearts' -fanfic where the Sandersons disguise themselves AS the witches of Morva! =D
They could make Gurgi more interesting, like having a dark sad Backstory that the Horned king could killed his kind or Family, that would explained why he's all alone and scared about the Horned king. That would have his sacrifice much more sadder.
In the books, Gurgi was more of a wild man, like a man-sized sasquatch or something of that nature. I don't think he had any backstory, he just is.
Pretty interesting video, I really wanted to love The Black Cauldron as I have watched the movie twice. Well I did love the art style and the animations as it kinda reminds me of Don Bluth style at times (especially with character designs and the wart details on the Gwythaints that reminds me of the dinosaurs from The Land Before Time). If I had to rank Disney movies just based on the animation alone and nothing else, The Black Cauldron would probably be on my top 5. But sadly the four main characters we follow is probably my biggest gripe with the movie, as I find them either annoying or just kinda there. I will give the books a chance at some point just based on a few descriptions from your video. Can’t wait for the villain retrospective on this movie, I still have a huge love for alot of the classic Disney villains and it has been pretty interesting to see behind the scenes stuff and learn more about them. I did also like The Horned King, and it’s sad that he isn’t as represented or remembered as much as other Disney villains.
Great insight into the movie and characters
Whenever I remember the cut animation and the editing choices, I have to mourn what the movie could have been without studio interference. But the movie we got is still a fun time
It's interesting to learn that the cauldron being destroyed by the self-sacrifice of a trouble making ally made the journey from the story of Branwen to the book The Black Cauldron to the Disney Movie. Though Gurgi is a far cry from Efnisien.
13:54 Something I didn't realize until years later was that there's a brief splash of blood in Aladdin (1992).
In the final battle, Jafar turns into that massive cobra. Aladdin stabs him with a sword, but the camera quickly cuts away to Jafar's pained reaction. For a split-second (I mean literally a couple frames) you can see a big spray of blood coming from the stab wound. It's hard to make out due to the red filter atmosphere during the battle, but it's definitely there.
17:24 Considering that a "gypsy"/Romani woman is dancing to the music, I'm gonna describe it as "gypsy"/Romani music.
43:26 Question: is the Black Cauldron alive and evil itself? I never read Prydain so maybe it's explained there, but between the evil tyrant being fed to the Cauldron in the movie's backstory and the Horned King saying that the Cauldron is "hungry", is it alive and conscious and malicious? Is it possessed by the spirit of that ancient evil king? Does it require sacrifice because it's an evil enchanted object? Is the gruesome and painful nature by which its victims are consumed (the melting man, Gurgi exploding, the Horned King getting slurped) and the Cauldron Born being undead violent savages indicative of the Cauldron having a monstrous and sadistic mind?
In the book, i think the Cauldron is just a MacGuffin, and that this movie gave it some One Ring-esque quasi-sentience to increase its threat level and relevance.
This movie deserves a remake
This movie seem to have been a big inspiration on the Zelda game Ocarina of time. From the design of the sword, the shadows and clouds around the dark castle to the design of the witches. Not to mention that big action scene near the end when they are escaping from the castle as it is crumbling down.
i really loved this & would love to see more like it for other disney/animated films. (like those credits/creeper and the horned king's minions getting a good end enjoying themselves with that dancer alongside the characters being compared.:3)
while one of the weaker disney movies with how it mishandles the characters like taran and even as a kid thought the world could've been explored more(like seeing the townspeople/douli just leaving near the end instead of trying to help a bit more.)don't find it the worst disney movie past or present(definitely would watch it over the care bears movie)as i really liked parts of it like the cauldron itself(it being a king that was so evil even the gods feared him and sealed him showing it's sentience on it's "face" ),gurgi(outside his greedy moments never really found him annoying compared to other sidekicks and liked his development more than taran especially his sacrifice /also get "alvin and the chipmunks medievel ancestor" from him.),the witches & definitely the horned king.
Loved this. Thank you
I have read them all last year.
"I'M A WARRIOR!" Rawest line in the history of cinema.
You could read the phone book and I’d still find what you’re talking about as interesting. Keep on making what you want
35:14 I'm also curious about that symbol. Looks almost like an upside-down symbol of chaos god Nurgle from Warhammer. Perhaps fitting, considering Nurgle is the god of disease and decay, and the three witches live in a swamp
edit: grammar
I don't know if this is helpful, but the gypsy dance music is that typical Hollywood Middle Eastern sound. It's not a specific genre, but Middle Eastern scales are used, though I'm no music expert. I'd call it Arabian Funk. ;)
If you like this check out Elmer Bernstein's score for "Wild Wild West". On the soundtrack album release (Varese Sarabande) it's track 8 "Loveless plan" around 2:24.
And maybe you might enjoy, these tracks as well. :)
"Club Sahara" from "The Thief & Cobbler" Soundtrack by Robert Folk
"The Circus Tent" from the "Street Fighter" Soundtrack by Graeme Revell.
"The Pod Dance" from "The Dark Crystal" Soundtrack by Trevor Jones.
The Tavern" from the "Conan the Barbarian" Soundtrack by Basil Poledouris
"Harem" from the "Efteling, Fata Morgana" Soundtrack by Ruud Bos.
Yeah, this movie has a lot of potential, but it was sadly screwed because of Katzenberg. I honestly don't hate Taran or Gurgi like everyone else. Taran is like a prototype version of Ash Ketchum from Pokemon. As for Gurgi, I've seen worse Disney comical characters than him. In fact, that title belongs to Sisu from Raya and the Last Dragon, or Buck from Home on the Range. Also, since Princess Eilonwy is my favorite character in this movie, did you know that she was supposed to go barefoot like in the books ? Hell, there are sketches and character sheets that depict that way. But for unknown reasons, they decided to give her slippers !
I didn’t grow up with this movie but I’d heard of it for a long time and I finally watched it for the first time in late June. I like darker stuff and I’ve always liked medieval fantasy/sword and sorcery movies, and the lost media aspect for the deleted and cut scenes is really fascinating (and an uncut version is actually confirmed to still exist), but as for my experience with watching the movie itself, I just thought it was okay but that it had the potential to be greater than it ended up being, especially since a lot of scenes and the context and continuity they would have given are widely known to be missing. I’ve never read any of the “Chronicles of Prydain” books so I can’t really compare, plus IMO they seem kinda obscure compared to other medieval fantasy books like for example “The Lord of the Rings” and “A Song of Ice and Fire”, at least in my experience. The only characters I really cared for were Eilonwy and Gurgi too, plus the Horned King was a really amazing villain. The most I thought about Taran is that he kinda looks like Hiccup in the first “How To Train Your Dragon” movie and other than that I didn’t really care about him after the first two viewings, but thankfully he does get better later. I really hope we get a remake or further adaptations of “The Black Cauldron” and/or the other “Prydain” stories sometime in the future, but I don’t know how or when that would happen since the remake currently seems to be stuck in development hell since it was first “announced” in 2016. In the meantime I’m curious about the ancient Welsh myths that inspired the whole thing, most of the character names and place names are sourced from stories in the Mabinogion and the Welsh Triads and TBH I think it’s a pretty neglected area of the ancient/medieval European mythologies compared to the Greek, Roman and Norse mythologies.
We are close to the big one of Villain Retrospectives.
I don't know if you knew this, but Did you know that the sounds of the dragons are the vocals of the sharptooth from the land before time and the great animal from the swan princess.
Well I know the Bear from the Fox and the Hound was the inspiration for the Sharptooth
@@srstriker6420that's cool. Where did you read that information from? I wanna find the article.
@@zaidnail3544 I don’t remember
Princess Eilonwy is my favorite of all the Disney princesses!
I think hearing what you have to say about these films is nice for a change
This is the first movie I remember watching in a theater. I was really little.
I normally hate comic relief characters with funny voices, but I love Gurgi, too.
I love this idea! I could make a 5+ hour video just on random thoughts and feelings about 101 Dalmatians lol
41:48 - I'm not sure CGI was yet capable of simulating mist/smoke like that... it's more likely superimposed live action footage.
47:20 - Yeah, all too often comedy ends up just... cynical. Something's that pretty much tearing MCU apart for example.
I’ve always said Gurgi looks like Geppetto reincarnated.
I’m reminded of Pain and Panic’s relief at Hades’ defeat when Creeper enjoys The Horned King’s defeat.
"Hes not going to be happy when he gets out of there."
"You mean if he gets out of there "
" if if is good '
Question: Does Princess Calla from Gummi Bears count as a Disney Princess? Cause both were released at the same time. Ive always wondered about that for years.
I dont think tv shows count