The Redheaded Step Child of Disney Animation
With the beginning of a new decade, not only was there a change of name, but Walt Disney Pictures changed leadership again. For the first time in ten years, the studio was controlled by someone in the Disney family, with Walt’s son - in - law, Ron Miller, becoming President. He had worked closely with Walt until 1966, and spent the next twenty years producing such films as Freaky Friday, Escape to Witch Mountain, Pete’s Dragon and The Fox and the Hound.
Throughout Miller’s time as president, he pushed innovation by greenlighting groundbreaking films like computer - animated Tron and Tim Burton’s animated shorts, Vincent and Frankenweenie. And Miller also created Touchstone Pictures, through which the studio produced more mature films. And the Disney Channel, which gave the company access to TV like never before. Sadly, as well as all of the disasters from the Disney Channel, Miller is also rembered for one of the biggest of all animated Disney disasters.
The idea to adapt the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander began in 1971, when the studio first made it an option for future use. Immediately after buying the film rights in 1973, pre production began.
Old Men Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston genuinely thought this film was going to be the Snow White of the next generation, and the studio even used the concept artwork of veteran artist Mel Shaw in a recruitment for what was then titled the Black Cauldron to attract new young talent to the studio. Originally set for a 1980 release, the film spent a long time in development to condense the expansive storylines and many characters of the saga. But Shaw’s concept art was a double edged blade, because though it excited everyone in the studio and got animators openly bragging to journalists about the upcoming movie, it made Miller a bit nervous that the project might be beyond the capabilities of some younger animators. So, in late 1978, it’s release was postponed to Christmas ’84 to give them a bit more time on it.
THE STORY
In the fictional land of Prydain, there lives a boy named Taran who assists a farmer named Dallben in looking after his animals, not least of which is a pig named Hen Wen who can create visions. Hen Wen’s power is discovered by the Horned King, a hideous tyrant the likes of which the world has never seen. And he wants Hen Wen to find the Black Cauldron for him, which will give him the power to resurrect an undead army and with it, take over the world.
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With the Black Cauldron’s production in 1980, Miller enlisted Joe Hale, who had been a Disney layout artist for years, to serve as co - producer, since Miller saw his jobs increase exponentially. British screenwriter Rosemary Anne Sisson to work on the screenplay and, with help from co - directors Richard Rich and Ted Berman, Joe Hale began making drastic changes to the movie. Junior animator, young Tim Burton’s designs were abandoned, with Hale saying they were too dark for the desired aesthetic. Apparently, Tim was so dejected that he never worked in traditional animation again, instead embracing stop - motion work.
Hale also clashed with Musker and Clements, who were soon removed from the project and reassigned to the next Disney project in development, the Great Mouse Detective. Trying to recapture the Disney magic, Hale turned to Old Man Milt Kahl to help with the design of the film’s human characters. Working with the story team, Hale greatly revised a majority of the script to focus solely on the first two books in the saga, leading to Rosemary Sisson leaving the project, citing “creative differences”. The greatest change Hale made was in his approach to the Horned King, who was originally designed by storyboard artist Vance Gery as a fat, red - haired Viking. But that concept was abandoned and the Horned King was redesigned as a skeletal creature with green skin, glowing red eyes and two gnarled horns, and was also made the films main antagonist.
Once Ron Miller saw all of this, he became confident enough to believe that this film could be a major event release for the studio. Thus, it was determined that it would also be the first Disney film in twenty seven years to be filmed in 70cm widescreen. The layout department were issued widescreen charts to use, which were, for some reason, designed in the wrong width versus height ratio, and this error wasn’t discovered for weeks, which forced the team to adjust all the work they had completed at enormous cost to the film’s already sizeable budget.
The animation team premiered the use of the animation photo transfer process (ATP) on this film, which replaced the Xerox machine they’d been using since the late 50s. ATP allowed rough animation to be photographed onto high - contrast film and the resulting negative, copied onto plastic cel sheets that transferred the lines and colours of the animation which made hand - inking redundant. This alowed the character designs of the film to feature a mix of thin black outlines and softer coloured lines for the first time in decades. Creator David W. Spencer would get a special technical achievement Oscar in 1986 for it.
The Black Cauldron was also the first animated film to incorporate any CGI. After discovering similar technological experiments with the Great Mouse Detective, Hale insisted HIS team find a way to use it in THEIR film. Luckily in this case, CGI was only used sparingly, for the animation of bubbles and the titular cauldron itself, though personally I’ve never been able to tell. I’ll keep an eye out for the difference next time I watch this film.
MY VERDICT
Visually, this film is unique even now. The animation was ahead of its time. And, as creepy as it may be, the “Cauldron - Born” sequence is one of the most dazzling and unsettling to date. To say nothing of the fate of the Horned KIng himself. Without spoiling anything, let’s just say Don Bluth has less unsettling fates for his 80s villains. On the other hand, every single character in this film, ESPECIALLY the leads, are duller than a live - action Disney remake. Even the Horned King, as brilliant as his design is, does nothing but order his minions around in John Hurt’s creepy, reedy voice, the main character Taran, is petulant and irritating, and the “love interest” Eilonwy, is the only Disney princess who hasn’t been inducted into the curent line up. That really says enough about her. To put it shortly, Miller, and his team had more ambition than skill.
Is the Black Cauldron A Disney Classic? Brash animations and darker tones do not, a Disney Classic, make.
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