6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.2 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.2 |
Whoever releases the mysterious Black Cauldron's powers 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? Filmed in Technirama.
Starring: Grant Bardsley, Susan Sheridan, Freddie Jones, Nigel Hawthorne, John HurtFamily | 100% |
Animation | 92% |
Fantasy | 40% |
Adventure | 31% |
Supernatural | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.20:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
It would be four years (more or less) after the release of The Black Cauldron that Walt Disney started to experience their "animation renaissance" with the release of The Little Mermaid, but the fact that Disney even made it far enough to experience that renaissance might be something of a minor miracle, considering how expensive and then unappreciated by ticket buying audience members The Black Cauldron turned out to be. There are some interesting supplements on Cinderella 4K that discuss how that 1950 opus "rescued" Disney from years of less than overwhelming profits, but it's arguable at least that in 1950 Disney's actual prospects were brighter, especially given the advent of that newfangled television thing, than they were in 1985, when animation efforts at the studio had cooled considerably, and in an era when nascent startups like The Disney Channel hadn't yet become a media superpower.
The Black Cauldron is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Disney / Buena Vista with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. The film evidently underwent a 4K restoration (kind of ironically for Disney to stream, vis a vis the Disney Channel's march to greatness), and this presentation is often quite ravishing as a result. Interestingly, this was the first Disney opus to utilize at least some passing CGI, but the bulk of the effort has the "old school" hand drawn excellence that has come to characterize the classic era of the studio. The palette is often lusciously suffused, and some of the warmer tones toward the red-purple end of the spectrum are especially vibrant. Line detail is typically sharp. Grain is very tightly resolved throughout.
The Black Cauldron features a nicely expressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, though considering the fantasy and magical sides of things, there really aren't a ton of whizzing sound effects on display. Instead, immersion is generated a lot of the time courtesy of a really towering score by Elmer Bernstein, as well as occasional ambient environmental sounds. Dialogue (and introductory narration by John Huston) is presented cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.
You can sense Disney attempting to reach beyond its standard fare with this film, and if the result is a little bumpy, it's also often visually ravishing and the score by Elmer Bernstein is another major plus. Technical merits are solid, and with a few passing caveats, The Black Cauldron comes Recommended.
Mystery in the Mist Edition
1986
2014
1948
1990
1977
2008
Anniversary Edition | The Signature Collection
1953
1982
2003
Ultimate Collector's Edition
2019
Collector's Edition
2012
1947
2012
1946
2009
2014
2015
Special Edition
1996
1981
2012