The Black Cauldron: Live-Action?

[krash9924]

Just wondering what you guys like of a live action remake of The Black Cauldron. I know with the "books make good fantasy adventure movies" era we are in that this could be done really good and disney owns all the rights to the books still. The High King would be a frickin awesome movie. What do you think?

[Aladdin from Agrabah]

If you think That Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Narnia are huge success and directors seem like they found what today's audience wants, yeah, the Black Cauldron is a great oppurtunity for the filmmakers.
I've heard very bad words about Disney's Black Cauldron, but I'haven't seen and probably will never see it, cause in my country it never came, even as a theatrical release. So it would be nice for me to see that story in cinemas, even in life-action.

[Fflewduur]

It is an idea whose time has come! Really, The Prydain Chronicles deserve a more sensitive treatment than The Black Cauldron could give. Disney should go back to the beginning & make The Book of Three, then move on from there.

Of course if anyone at Disney listened to me, they'd make a jazz Fantasia.

[krash9924]

yah the book of three was good but its kinda like the hobbit and the disney release of black cauldron was dark so it didnt do so well with kids and it got a rare pg for the time

[jwa1107]

It is an idea whose time has come! Really, The Prydain Chronicles deserve a more sensitive treatment than The Black Cauldron could give. Disney should go back to the beginning & make The Book of Three, then move on from there.

Of course if anyone at Disney listened to me, they'd make a jazz Fantasia.

right there with you on both counts, Fflam man!

there is no way to undo the mess Disney made of The Black Cauldron, but it could be rectified by live action movies (which might even make a decent sales increase in the animated version too)

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I'm not very concerned about the Chronicles of Prydain. A Jazz Fantasia, on the other hand...

[eric89]

Why did this movie do so bad? It was a great movie! Way better than "Home on the Range" and all the other animated movies of it's time. I thought it was really good! Well, I never read the books so maybe that has something to do with it.

[lord-of-sith]

I thought the animated film was good! I don't understand the negative remarks like:

there is no way to undo the mess Disney made of The Black Cauldron

I thought the darker tone was really good, and I think Disney should do something darker than anything done in the past 10 years. They should team up with Tim Burton and do something. I guess, after Corpse Bride, I'm just dying for more dark animated features.

[eric89]

I liked the story of good vs. evil. Even though the hero was weak and small, and even caused tons of problems (crunchies and munchies! lol) he was still used to defeat the evil. I liked it, and think it should be given a lot more credit, the animation was really good.

[Fflewduur]

I thought the darker tone was really good, and I think Disney should do something darker than anything done in the past 10 years. They should team up with Tim Burton and do something.

Tim Burton was working for Disney at the time & did some conceptual work for The Black Cauldron that was darker & (I think) more compelling than what actually made it into the movie.

This was the first Disney animated film to get a PG rating, I guess. Mostly I wish it had been made when someone were truly minding the store for feature animation & WD Pictures in general--the 80s were dark days.

[goofystitch]

Fflewduur wrote:

"Mostly I wish it had been made when someone were truly minding the store for feature animation & WD Pictures in general--the 80s were dark days."

Maybe Disney animation wasn't at it's peak in the 80's, but how were the 80's dark days? "The Fox and the Hound" is popular enough to have a direct to video sequel. "Oliver and Company" has a decent sized following and was given a "special edition" treatment. I love "The Great Mouse Detective" and "The Little Mermaid" was the dawn of one of Disney's greatest periods. One movie in the 80's was a box office failure and is widely overlooked by the general public. Most decades in Disney history had a failure. "Alice in Wonderland" wasn't a success upon initial release. I don't think you could refer to the 50's as dark days due to one failure. Therefore, I don't see how you can considder the 80's to be dark days. I would say that if any period in Disney animation history can be classified as "dark days," it would be the period we are in now. While I enjoy the current animated features, I don't see them withstanding the test of time. My children will probably not laugh when Chicken Little says "Oh snap!"

[Lars Vermundsberget]

It may be an overgeneralization to say that all of the 80s was bad, since things were getting better and the "renaissance" was getting close towards the end of the decade.

But during the years leading up to the mid-80s the situation for Disney animation was as dark as it ever was.

[Fflewduur]

I was probably speaking of dark days for Disney the corporate structure as much as for feature animation--this is the period when the company was in danger of being dismantled & sold off piecemeal (and as mad as I've been with Eisner for several years I'll still thank him keeping the company together).

And I'll admit it was a bit of a generalization, yes. But direct-to-video sequel notwithstanding (when is that a guarantee of quality anyway?), "The Fox and the Hound" was the first Disney movie I was ever disappointed in--at the age of 12, when i saw it on its first theatrical release. And I wasn't swept away by a Disney film again until "The Little Mermaid."

I don't intend to debate the 80s canon in depth in this thread...but I would agree that I'd be more likely to spend money on "Oliver & Company" than "Home on the Range," "Lilo & Stitch," or (shudder) "The Emperor's New Groove."

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Us Disney animation fans are usually able to see something good in most of the "classics", such as "The Black Cauldron" - but I still wouldn't consider all of them "great".

[jwa1107]

I thought the animated film was good! I don't understand the negative remarks like:

there is no way to undo the mess Disney made of The Black Cauldron

I thought the darker tone was really good, and I think Disney should do something darker than anything done in the past 10 years. They should team up with Tim Burton and do something. I guess, after Corpse Bride, I'm just dying for more dark animated features.

don't get me wrong; I like the end product, BUT I think it could have been so much better. In particular the "mess" IMHO is the mashing of the stories from "The Book Of Three" and "The Black Cauldron" I don't mind that the Horned King replaces Arwan, but I think the story was weaker than it had to be.

I have a personal problem in not being able to get past some mashings like Wonderland and Looking-Glass when I think both could have been excellent on their own. But I still like Alice and I still like Black Cauldron.

[Aladdin from Agrabah]

Of course if anyone at Disney listened to me, they'd make a jazz Fantasia.

The "Rhapsody in Blue" in Fantasia 2000 is totally jazz.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

...and one of the best things to come from Disney during the past few years, IMO.

[Fflewduur]

...and one of the best things to come from Disney during the past few years, IMO.

It should be the segment held over (like "Sorcerer's Apprentice") for the next Fantasia, the jazz Fantasia.

Perhaps this hypothetical film deserves its own thread.

[krash9924]

yah the mixing of the two books made for a weird story

[Fflewduur]

I think another reason the 80s seem so bleak was the production & release schedule--only 2 movies came out in the 8 years following The Rescuers. That's a pretty long wait. Today if you're disappointed in the latest release--well, there's always next year!

Also...I think I'm a member of the last generation whose first exposure to most of the Disney canon was actually at a movie theatre and not in front of a VCR; that probably has something to do with my feelings, too. I don't know what movies were re-released when in the 70s & 80s but I feel safe in assuming they were generally better films thanThe Fox and the Hound or The Black Cauldron--the newer product could only suffer by comparison.

My biggest problem is my own, I guess. I want every Disney animated feature to be a great film, and I suppose it's unrealistic to expect a Pinocchio or a Beauty & the Beast with every debut. But I'd be willing to wait three years between releases if they stood a better chance of knocking one out of the park each time.