Underplayed Gems

The Black Cauldron (1985)

The Black Cauldron poster
Directed by
Ted Berman, Richard Rich
Genre
fantasy film, adventure film, dark fantasy, coming-of-age film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 17m
Rated
PG
Rating
6.4 of 10 from 1,450 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A young pig keeper must stop a horned king from using a magic cauldron to raise an army of the dead. He is helped by a warrior princess and a strange little creature.

darkadventurousmoodyfantasticalcreepytenseepicominous

What happens

The Black Cauldron is a 1985 American animated dark fantasy adventure film loosely based on the first two books in The Chronicles of Prydain series of novels, and directed by Ted Berman and Richard Rich. Produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, it stars Grant Bardsley, Susan Sheridan, Freddie Jones, Nigel Hawthorne, Arthur Malet, John Byner, Phil Fondacaro, and John Hurt, with John Huston serving as the narrator for the prologue. Disney acquired the film rights to the books in 1973, with production beginning in 1980. It was originally scheduled to be released at Christmas 1984, but several scenes, particularly in the film's climax, were found to be disturbing to children during a test screening. The newly appointed Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg ordered the scenes to be cut, which caused its release to be delayed to 1985. It was the first Disney animated film to receive a PG rating, as well as the first Disney animated film to feature computer-generated imagery. The Black Cauldron was released by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution on July 24, 1985. The film received mixed reviews from critics. Being the most expensive animated film ever made at the time, it was a box-office bomb, grossing just $21 million against a budget of $44 million and putting the future of Disney's animation department in jeopardy. Because of its commercial failure, Disney did not release the film on home media until 1998. It has since gained a cult following. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.