I Got "The Black Cauldron" DVD

[purin]

That's interesting. Well, we don't know much of anything about Eilonwy (she's a magical princess) and Fflewdur (he's a minstrel). If the movie was extremely long, then maybe we'd have some more backstory on them. Heck, all we know about Taran is that he's an assistant pig keeper to a psychic pig. So, yeah, I see what you mean in a sense- how did Taran become an assistant pig keeper? (My guess is that it's his apprenticeship, since back in the day, that's what young men did. Be apprentices I mean, not assistant pig keepers.) Why didn't the king and queen send out a rescue party for Eilonwy? (Or did they?) There are a lot of questions that could be answered. But in other movies, there are questions, too. Why does King Triton hate humans so much (the prequel may answer that- see, DTVs aren't horrible!)? Yeah, that's the only question I can think of at the moment, but you know what I mean!

Well, I could tell right off the bat there was something suspicious about her, with the way she was so confident, knowledgeable about her prison, and open about being a princess. It felt like it was supposed to lead up to something. I seem to remember her, in a very tense moment when the cauldron's going nuts and all saying something like "Oh, Taran, I'm just a scullery maid!" If she did, then nothing came of it. I'm not asking for an overused "You LIED to me?" moment that comes up in so many films, but even her just saying she didn't want to be nobody would have helped a lot (hey, that would make her like Taran!).

Gurgi really was just a tag along and kind of a pest. He needed a moment to be really loved or pitied by the audience before his sacrifice. When he was trudging toward the cauldron I wasn't all that attached to him. Okay, bye Gurgi, whatever.

Also, were they sad 'cause they missed Gurgi, or because they felt dirty for being mean to him? It felt more like the former, which I couldn't relate to.

And then, Taran! He's a pig boy who dreams of being great, gets a super cool sword, but then just says "I'm just a pig boy." It sounds more like he's accepting a low self worth rather than realizing that he never really understood what being a hero was or something like that.

(King Triton's anger felt like simple prejudice against people who are different. The fact that humans eat fish helped justify it. I never thought it needed much explanation)

[musicradio77]

For those of you have seen that movie. This film starts with the Walt Disney Pictures logo. I uploaded that one on CLG and it's in widescreen format. This logo does not have a blue castle on it, it does have a powdered white castle used from 1985 until 1989, because the blue castle does not used until 1990. Here is a pic in widescreen.

[SpringHeelJack]

Well, I could tell right off the bat there was something suspicious about her, with the way she was so confident, knowledgeable about her prison, and open about being a princess. It felt like it was supposed to lead up to something. I seem to remember her, in a very tense moment when the cauldron's going nuts and all saying something like "Oh, Taran, I'm just a scullery maid!" If she did, then nothing came of it. I'm not asking for an overused "You LIED to me?" moment that comes up in so many films, but even her just saying she didn't want to be nobody would have helped a lot (hey, that would make her like Taran!).

But, like... Eilonwy IS a princess. There's not any doubt about that. The "scullery maid" thing is a remnant from the book that isn't really explored in the film.

[PeterPanfan]

Could you please change the title from "The Blalck Cauldron" to "The Black Cauldron"?

Thanks!!

[purin]

But, like... Eilonwy IS a princess. There's not any doubt about that. The "scullery maid" thing is a remnant from the book that isn't really explored in the film.

That's odd. I've never read the book. I remember it being yelled out while there's all sorts of commotion going on so that the line is pretty much lost in what's going on and the subject is never brought up again. Either way, I feel her character was done in a way that it should have led to something like that.

(Then again, I have these weird "coulda sworn" experiences. For example, I'm SURE I saw the deleted scene in Pocahontas when I saw it in the theater when it came out.)

Well, don't feel I'm being negative. I often nitpick and read too much into things. I think my inner egomaniac fancies herself a cinematic genius.

[blackcauldron85]

(Then again, I have these weird "coulda sworn" experiences. For example, I'm SURE I saw the deleted scene in Pocahontas when I saw it in the theater when it came out.)

Is it possible that you saw a sneak preview of the movie, like being in a test audience?

In some ways, "The Black Cauldron" is almost begging to have prequels or sequels (due in part to the series of books), especially since we don't necessarily know that much about the characters. But, it's nice to be able to make things up for yourself (or read the series of books). Like, we can just imagine why Eilonwy was taken prisoner of the Horned King...maybe the books tell us why, but, without reading the books, we can just make up stuff in our head. Maybe Eilonwy was in a field picking flowers when the Horned King's people came and took her away (like in "Young Frankenstein", what happened with the little girl...only Eilonwy is alive...). I don't know, I'm just being silly.

[Poody]

Poody, does TBC remind you of SB because they're both widescreen movies, or because of their settings, or why?!?!?

Well, there is that. But, I think it's more that they have "darker" scenes. Maybe it's their accents too... I donno

[purin]

Is it possible that you saw a sneak preview of the movie, like being in a test audience?

I might have. My uncle used to have a friend who'd get him tickets to screenings, so I'm wondering if that was the case, or if New York had a special thing going on in its theaters (I didn't go to the premier in the park). Also, I wasn't that huge a fan of the movie (even now I really only admire it for its music and visuals, but not so much as a movie) and I didn't buy it, and I think I went YEARS without watching it again. The only time I ever heard the name of that song again was in reference to this deleted scene on the DVD. I wish someone could clear this up for me.

Back to the subject, I have friend who goes on a huge ranting tirade about how they screwed up the book series by taking part of one but half of another and just messing the whole story up if I so much as mention The Black Cauldron. However, he ranted more about the Horned King. I don't recall him saying anything about Eilonwy, I've never read the books... I gotta rewatch the movie because I'm sure she said she was a scullery maid somewhere. Either way... she shoulda said it so we paid attention XD. I'm going nuts.

I once borrowed this book by Frank and Ollie on Disney Villains. This book is really interesting because they feel free to criticize the handling of even the best loved villains. Their take on this movie, unlike that of books like those Disney's Art of Animation books (which pretty much said, We tried something different, and boy, did we learn our lesson. We'll never do it again!) was that the overly long and expensive process of making the movie overrode the character development, and so the Horned King was really just some figure, but not a developed villain. The movie could have been great.

I think. I'm kind of hundreds of miles away from that library now, so I can't check. Maybe a library near me has it...

[disneystarsfan]

The French DVD has a remastered anamorphic transfer, and from the screencaps I've seen on the net, it looks gorgeous. I want to get it, but don't know how. Can I order it from the French Amazon.com? I've actually tried, but at a point the site was telling me something during the checkout process, and I couldn't understand it (it was in French). I didn't dare pay in case I was supposed to be reading that the site wouldn't send the DVD to my country or something ...

Harumph.

do you remember where you found the french screencaps from? i'd like to see them.

thanks! those french screencaps look really good.

[Widdi]

I finally managed to track down a copy of TBC on DVD today. I'm uber happy.

[MadHatter]

I'm not a big fan of this movie. I bought it because I had not seen in in ages and I completely forgot about the movie. In re watching it I really didn't find myself being sucked into it like I am with most movies. While it does have a place in my heart as a Disney movie I don't find myself liking it. In my honest opinion it isn't one of Disney's shining moments, but to each his own. I'm quite sure there are plenty of people who feel the same way about my personal favorite, Alice in Wonderland, but that is just how I feel about TBC.