Review: ‘The Black Cauldron’
Fantasy author Lloyd Alexander was beloved for his imaginative series, the [[[Chronicles of Prydain]]] so anyone who read the series, originally released between 1964 and 1968, were no doubt apprehensive to see the entire story collapsed into an 80 minute animated feature from Walt Disney.
The filmmakers decided to focus on the second book, [[[The Black Cauldron]]], and substantially altered characters, settings, and events so when it opened July 24, 1985, fans of the material were not happy. Worse, people unfamiliar with the source material were not particularly entertained leading to a box office collapse. That this film came at the tail end of a period where creativity was clearly lacking meant that it looked and felt like a generic Disney animated film. Jeffrey Katzenberg arrived on staff just prior to the film’s release and he could merely nip and tuck sequences, but recognized their most expensive feature to date, and the first to use computer-generated animation, was not working.
Now released in a standard DVD 25th Anniversary edition, the movie has been cleaned up a bit but still lacks suspense and imagination. Rather than visually embrace the Welsh mythology that Alexander mined for his novels, Disney made everything look fairly bland.
In short, the Horned King (John Hurt) is attempting to find the legendary Black Cauldron which would give him the power to rule the world. According to a trio of witches, no one had been looking for the magical artifact in over 2000 years, but now the time seemed ripe. What the tall, shadowy figure did not count on was the plucky band of adventurers to stand in his way towards global domination. Leading the charge was the teenaged Taran (Grant Bardsley), who we meet as he laments his having just missed out on participating in the last war. Instead, he works as the assistant pig keeper to a wizard, unaware the prize pig, Hen Wen, can conjure up images of the future. When the pig goes missing, Taran goes in search only to encounter a talking creature named Gurgi (John Byner), followed by a dim-witted princess Eilonwy (Susan Sheridan) and Fflewddur Fflam (Nigel Hawthorne), a broken down balladeer.
The movie barely resembles the book with characters altered beyond recognition and the Horned King a possible threat, as opposed to the malevolent force he is in the books. Instead, the standard quest story and coming of age for Taran are inserted much to the disappointment of the readers. Comical elements are there for the children but overall there’s no spark to ignite the imagination.
The new edition comes complete with a deleted scene, “The Fairy Folk”, that would have added to the exposition and you see it in semi-complete and pencil form with the soundtrack. A scene Katzenberg ordered cut, is not here. Also new to this set is “The Witches’ Challenge”, a trivia game for the youngsters. “The Quest for the Black Cauldron” game and art gallery are preserved from the previous release along with the 1952 Donald Duck short “Trick or Treat” included merely because it featured a witch.
Gentle reader, I know it’s been an eon and a half since last I told you to dust off that bookmark button. But to be honest, I’ve been buried in the same set of webcomics for a long time now, with nothing piquing my interest as such… until now. Found literally by happenstance, I bring to you today a webcomic that is not like any other I’ve brought to you thus far. I bring to you… 
George Lucas is a filmmaker who believes that movies are works that can be revisited and altered as the artist’s vision or his tools change. This has been a hallmark of his dating all the way back to his 1967 USC student film, [[[Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB]]]. When Lucas and colleague Francis Ford Coppola made it from film school to Hollywood, they wound up getting the money to make a feature-version of the story as Lucas’ film directing debut. A co-production between Coppola’s American Zoetrope and Warner Bros., [[[THX 1138]]]was shot and released in 1971 to dismal results.
There are some movies that provide us with indelible characters and performances, few giving us more than one. Then there are movies that help reflect a decade of the American experience. But, there are few that do all of the above and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is one of those films.
There are institutions in Chicago that make the city what it is. Deep-dish pizza loaded with premium toppings. A hot dog “dragged through the garden.” The Sears Tower (sorry, it’ll never be “Willis Tower” to anyone in the city). Da Bears. And Oprah. More than the robust food, gigantic buildings, or the amazing football team, Oprah’s seat in pop culture has been cemented in recent years as an unstoppable brand. Thanks to the big O, no less than than four talk shows litter the dial. And soon, an entire cable network will launch, thanks to the big O. In addition to the television shows, Oprah and her fifth-dimensionally named Harpo productions is responsible for magazines, telefilms, a radio station, and, we’re pretty sure, an eventual space station where housewives will be whisked away by private rocket to nibble on Southern comfort food and dish on their louse husbands, in between book-club meetings.
[[[Chuck]]] is the ultimate fanboy dream television show. We all wish we could be accidentally zapped with the Intersect and be a walking computer, filled with espionage details. This way, we too could be protected by the CIA and NSA in the form of the rough Colonel John Casey and the gorgeous Sarah Walker. The show’s producers know this and Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak have carefully built up the television series reeling in the fans and finding new ones along the way with a delightful mix of humor, action and pathos.
Of course you do, it’s new and shiny and out in stores 
