The Black Cauldron

Name: The Black Cauldron
Released: 1985-7-24
Cast: Grant Bardsley, Susan Sheridan, John Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne, John Byner

The Black Cauldron

PG
1h 20m
1985

55%

age 7+

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Fantasy, magic, and fun are all brewed together in Disney's legendary adventure The Black Cauldron. Whoever releases the mysterious Black Cauldron's power will be invincible! The fearsome Horned King will do anything to possess it, but he is challenged by the most unlikely adversary: a young assistant pig keeper named Taran, who dreams of doing heroic deeds. With a motley team of the brave Princess Eilonwy, a minstrel named Fflewddur Fflam and Hen Wen, a remarkable pig who can predict the future, Taran embarks on a quest to stop the Black Cauldron's evil once and for all. Will he have the courage to succeed?

Rotten Tomatoes® Score

TOMATOMETER®

55%

Critics Consensus: Ambitious but flawed, The Black Cauldron is technically brilliant as usual, but lacks the compelling characters of other Disney animated classics.

Reviews

Washington Post

Paul Attanasio

Technically brilliant though short on narrative, "The Black Cauldron" is a painless, old-fashioned...

January 3, 2018

FULL REVIEW

Variety

Variety Staff

The characters, though cute and cuddly and sweet and mean and ugly and simply awful, don't really...

June 21, 2017

Chicago Reader

Dave Kehr

It's quite good, though by the impossible standards the film sets for itself it inevitably falls s...

August 16, 2017

FULL REVIEW

Time Out

As usual it is technically excellent, but the charm, characterisation and sheer good humour that m...

June 21, 2017

New York Times

Walter Goodman

This is the 25th full-length animated feature from Walt Disney studios, and professionally put tog...

June 17, 2017

Common Sense Media

age 7+

Common Sense Says

Book-based fantasy is darker than much Disney fare.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this dark Disney animated feature (based on the Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander) will have much greater appeal for those who enjoy ghost stories and war epics than for fans of musical comedy. There are no songs, and even the comic relief involves violent images. The Horned King twice attempts to murder the hero, skeletons come to life and attack people, and witches use magic to hurl objects. For grade-school kids, the cute sidekicks and rapid pace will be appealing, but the many frightening images could fuel many a nightmare. Older kids and preteens interested in fantasy will enjoy the mystical plot.