Touches You

To me, this movie is perfection.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

In the 1970s, the Walt Disney Company was not doing so well. Considering both Walt and his brother Roy had passed on, the crew was left without much direction and were constantly asking themselves "Oh, what would Walt do?" in a desperate plead to let the films prosper. It doesn't help that the 9 old men were either dying or retiring, and a whole new group of animators had to fill in the positions. However, what happened when the new generation took on the task of creating their first feature film on their own? Years of development hell, animators pitching in ideas only to be discarded, and the original 92 min length getting reduced to 80. That film is the 1985 flop called The Black Cauldron, a film so infamous that Disney themselves don't even want to acknowledge it even exists, and good thing too, because this film really left a stain on Disney's legacy.The biggest problem this film suffers from is the story. Now it could be because the writers were trying to condense a couple of books from The Chronicles of Prydain series into one movie, but even as a movie on its own, the story is just disjointed. The goal seems to be to find the black cauldron, and yet the film keeps on switching from the main hero having to rescue his pig that has psychic powers (OK), to him being captured by the villain and having to escape, to then searching for the cauldron and ending up with fairies, and THEN when he and his group finally find the cauldron....the villain takes it, and then the heroes make it out and escape the king's demise....yeah, not a very exciting story if I do say myself. Also, the film constantly shifts in tone from dark menacing action scenes to cutesy fantasy junk with the creature Gurgi and a bunch of fairies....ugh.Also, this is the first animated Disney film with no songs, and while it does help move the story along, it just leaves me bored without much amusement. As for the characters, most of them are either bland, annoying, or both. The main protagonist Taran wants to be a warrior so much that he ends up being the most irritating to witness, and even the situations he ends up in are either accidental or just pure luck that he even got himself saved in the first place. Princess Eilonwy is OK but her backstory is never brought up, Fflweddur Fflam is basically the same, and Gurgi....well despite one heroic act in the end, he offers nothing to the table and is more annoying than charming. It doesn't help that the film barely if at all develops the characters, as there's never a moment where we get to hear them have a meaningful conversation or even monologue about their pasts. The only character worth praising is the villain the Horned King, and that's only because of how menacing he is; though at the same time he barely does anything, and he's easily defeated in the end.....what a chump.To the film's credit, the animation is very well done. It's dark and gritty, the character animation is pretty solid, the effects look superb, and the backgrounds drip with influence from European fantasy books. Not to mention, this was the first Disney film to use computer effects, and the sporadic usage of it really adds in to the occasional intense scene. The only problem with the animation is that while it is well crafted, it looks less like Disney and more like if Hanna Barbara got a big budget (if you know what I mean), and the cute characters of Gurgi and the fairies don't really contrast well with the gritty environments. Also, the music score by Elmer Bernstein is quite solid, as it fits every scene with grace, whether it be the menacing music attributed by the Horned King or the whimsical enchanted melodies attributed by the main characters and the fairies. So is this the worst animated Disney film? No, I'll still take this over Chicken Little any day. But even with its quality animation, brisk music score and menacing at best villain, this is an otherwise forgettable feature that lacks excitement, character development, and even solid storytelling. It's a really good thing the crew at Disney pushed up their game with the likes of The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, and more in the future, because as ambitious as this may have been, it overall left so much to be desired.

This movie is a rather low point in the history of Disney studios. The story revolves around a king (who looks like the Devil) who aspires to be the lord of all things, needing to get a cursed cauldron that has been hidden because of his potential evil power. And the only one who can possibly tell him where the cauldron is hidden is Taran, who has in his guard a sow with divinatory powers. Summarized, thus, its not difficult to understand the illogical confusion of this script, nor the terrible way the characters were conceived. The animations are also not very good, with a heavy, strong trace, low light and dark colors. Disney has always used us to exquisitely crafted, visually elegant and bright films. What happened here? Wasn't the theme of the film dark enough? We also have the problem of music. This film, against the habit of this renowned studio, has virtually no soundtrack. To conclude, I leave here a parental warning: this film, although it was intended for young people, is not suitable for impressionable children. At least that's my opinion. Some scenes are strong, sometimes impressive and scary.

In the land of Prydain, Taran is the young assistant to Dallben. He doesn't understand why the pig Hen Wen is pampered. The evil Horned King is searching for the Black Cauldron which can create an invincible army of undead warriors. Hen Wen turns out to be an oracular pig who can reveal the location of the Black Cauldron. Dallben sends Taran away to hide with Hen Wen but the Horned King captures the pig. Taran is joined by pesky creature Gurgi in his rescue mission. Only he is captured and thrown into the dungeons where he joins Princess Eilonwy. They escape with bumbling bard Fflewddur Fflam.This is an old fashion Disney fantasy adventure with a little bit of CGI. The characters aren't that charismatic. They are out of a standard script with a young man, a feisty princess, a bumbling old fool and an animal sidekick. The pig is the one that keeps me scratching my head. I appreciate something unusual but it strikes me as very wrong. The old bard isn't as funny as he needs to be. I like Gurgi but I don't necessarily love him. This is fine but it is inferior to other Disney animated movies.

The 80s is known for its dark films. And even Disney films of the time are no exception. Their art style is muted, using heavy shadows, stark contrasts and swaying away from the cartoony colours. Their story lines are rather adult and depressing. Well, in comparison at least. And the crowning achievement of this is none other than The Black Cauldron, the most peculiar of the Disney canon films.At the time Disney Animation Studios were not doing so well. In fact the company was seriously considering closing them down and focusing solely on theme parks and merchandise. This movie was originally meant to change that course, but it almost ended up being the sole thing to ruin the whole studio. It wanted to take Disney to a whole different direction, picking as its source material a dark fantasy novel and staying very faithful to its tone, earning the PG rating.And yes, before you ask, the pig is in the book as well. Disney didn't add that to give the movie a mascot. Gurgi is in the book as well. I'm never reading that book, no matter how much you'd pay me.So what went wrong? Well, what didn't. The Black Cauldron is a mess. It was a major flop upon its release, and I can definitely see why. It has since garnered a cult following, but the fact still remains that it simply isn't a Disney film. Families went in expecting a typical Disney experience with fairytale stories, kid friendly messages and all around merriment. Instead they were treated to a medieval fantasy story leaning heavily towards dark and horror.But, that could be forgiven. I actually somewhat like the idea in principle. Great heroics, one scary villain, myths and legends, sword and sorcery, all done by one of the greatest animation studios on Earth. What's not to like? How about the fact that the main character is an unlikable, lazy jerk, the side characters have no, you know, character, the plot wanders around worse than a drunken minstrel, the end twist is unimaginably disappointing, the MacGuffin pig is ludicrous, the villain while certainly scary has no charisma or presence beyond looking like the devil and as a whole I'm simply not feeling the epicness. It's clear Disney had never done anything like this, and had no idea how to adapt to a different kind of storytelling tone. A dark fantasy story differs greatly from fairy tales, though they both certainly utilize the same character tropes and source materials. But whereas fairy tales are about morals and simple lessons about good and evil, dark fantasy is more about the struggle against eternal darkness, the meaning of hope in the midst of despair and about guts and glory. I don't get that from The Black Cauldron.The movie has its upsides, definitely. It looks great, the villain is certainly the scariest Disney has ever done and about one third of the story is actually pretty captivating. But it has flaws, many many flaws. Not my personal favourite, but you should still check it out to see if it speaks to you.