1985 - THE BLACK CAULDRON , large scale animated fantasy from Disney

 Looking to hit the animation jackpot, the Disney company purchased the rights to a five book fantasy series called The Chronicles of Prydain.  The Disney animators took the first two books in the series and reworked the story now called The Black Cauldron into an 80 minute film with very mixed results.

By the time the film was completed The Black Cauldron was considered to frightening for younger children so 12 minutes were cut from it after a management change at the studio.

Disney may not have been the best place to make this film.  The story of The Black Cauldron uneasily jumps from good action scenes to some very cloying humor particularly with the creatures Gurgi and Doli.  It's as if the Disney animators didn't have the courage to completely make the film an adventure fantasy without resorting to a bunch of cartoon creature silliness.

 

This was an expensive film for Disney coming in at 44 million dollars back when 44 million dollars meant something in the 1980's. The film made only about half it's cost back when released.

 

Of course considering the present climate when it comes to animated pictures the film plays pretty well.

Written by Ted Berman, Vance Gerry, Joe Hale, David Jonas, Roy Morita, Richard Rich, Art Stevens, Al Wilson and Peter Youn.  Lots of writers, never a good sign for a film.  The Black Cauldron runs 80 minutes.