a5c7b9f00b A young boy and a bunch of misfit friends embark on a quest to find a dark magic item of ultimate power before a diabolical tyrant can. This is the story of a young man named Taran, who is an assistant pig keeper with boyish dreams of becoming a great warrior. Hen Wen, a magical oracular pig, is kidnapped by an evil lord known as the Horned King. The villain hopes Hen will show him the way to The Black Cauldron, which has the power to create a giant army of unstoppable soldiers. With the aid of a stubborn princess, named Princess Eilonwy an exaggerating bard, and a pestering creature called Gurgi, Taran will try to save the world of Prydain from the Horned King. Taran and his new friends embarks on a quest to find the dark magic Black Cauldron the item of ultimate power before a diabolical tyrant The Horned King can. I must say that i am not a fan of disney movies. They seem so cookie cutter-Fairy tale, good over evil, six r seven horrible songs from over paid composers, and wrap it up in less than nintey minutes. This was their exception, a trying of new things, like walt set out to do in the first place. The story is wonderful, the animation is out of this world, and the comic relief commits suicide in the end!!!! that's the best part!!! The cuts fuzzy cuddly Gurgi Comits suicide to save his friends!!!! It's great!!! I must admit the hero at times reminded me of Davy jones from the Monkees but that's alright. I'm a fan of Head also I heard of this movie for a while and read great reviews. I recently purchased this film to add to my collection and as I watched it I was amazed!!!!!! This was a Disney Movie????!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! This is totally not their style and it is sad how they never use this any more. I do realise, however, that this movie was made during the "Dark Period" where movies (especially animations) were based a lot on fantasy, serious, and were rather dark. Such movies can include The Last Unicorn, The Lord of the Rings ('78 version), Watership Down, and many others. These movies weren't your typical children's "happy tales"; they had no horrible unfunny singing (the only singing they had was good!), no stupid side-kicks, no "love of first sight and getting happily married at the end", and no wimpy-pointless plots. These films were made with bitter-sweet endings that were made to help us learn more and recognise more things in life, they had powerful messages some of them. The Black Cauldron has no singing. This movie is quite evil at parts and has dark scenes. The characters are rather serious and the story progresses well. To-day this animation would be considered "old animation" but I like this style better! Too many things have been computerised these days. The old style which was very detailed with many shades was my favourite. The colours seem to come out better and add more affect this way. Overall I give this movie a 9.5/10. I just wish Disney could make movies like this again. But I still have my hopes and await the day when this type of genre returns. "The Lord of the Rings" (2001) is a start. Despite its drawbacks as entertainment, it remains one of the best technical cartoon features ever produced by Disney. Many of the changes have been made in the movie including merging 2 books, "The book of Three", "The Black Cauldron" into a rushed movie.<br/><br/>1. Many of the characters has been left out of the movie. Important characters including Coll, Prince Ellidyr, Prince Gwydion, Gwystyl, Adaon, Kaw the crow, Medwyn, King Smoit, horses has been left out.<br/><br/>2. Taran tries to forge a sword but fails while Coll gets mad at him, he also tries to touch the book but gets hurt doing so. The movie has Taran playing with his pig Hen Wen and also has her show the prophecy to Taran.<br/><br/>3. Taran in the book runs after Hen Wen and meets Gwydion while in the movie he walks with Hen Wen but loses her in the forest, he then chases after Hen Wen who's taken to the castle and Gwydion is absent.<br/><br/>4. Taran and Gwydion get captured by the Undead Cauldron Born and taken to Achrens castle where they are tortured and Achren the witch breaks Gwydions sword. The movie has Taran sneaking into the Castle of the Horned king.<br/><br/>5. Taran finds a magic sword Dyrnwyn and he escapes with Princess Elionwy and Fflewddur Flam and the castle crumples to the ground. The movie has them escaping with the guards chasing after them but the castle still stands.<br/><br/>6. Doli and King Eiddileg are Dwarves and Doli doesn't get to be invisible until the second book. The movie depicts them as Fairy Folk and Doli can be invisible anytime he wants.<br/><br/>7. In the Marshes of Morva, Taran trades with the 3 witches for by giving Adaons Brooch for the Black Cauldron. The movie has Taran trading his Drnwyn sword instead.<br/><br/>8. Taran and his friends meet with the Morgant army and get captured by them. Prince Ellidyr sacrifices himself by jumping in the Black Cauldron and destroying it, and his horse jumps off the cliff and dies. The movie has Gurgi jumping in the Black Cauldron and destroying the undead army but the Black Cauldron remains undamaged.<br/><br/>9. The Horned King chases after Taran and his friends on horseback in battle and fights Taran who tries to use the sword Drnwyn but a word is said and the Horned King burns up and dies. The movie has Taran shoving the Horned King into the Black Cauldron and the castle crumbles to the ground.<br/><br/>10. Taran, Gwydion and his friends honors Ellidyr who died to destroy the Black Cauldron. The movie has Taran demanding the 3 witches to bring Gurgi back to life by trading the Drnwyn sword.