For the first time I am reviewing a bad adaptation and one that is not adapted from a comic book. It is not helped that it adapts the first two books in the series mostly the second one. The two books have very different moods. It should be noted that producer, Jeffrey Katzenberg feuded with the creators. He wanted a much lighter tone (more similar to the later Disney Renaissance) than the dark tone of the second book. With two different visions I am not surprised that watching it feels nothing like reading the book.
One of the major changes is trying to get the cauldron by bargaining. In the film Taran offers his magic sword finally learning that there are better things in life than fighting. In the books Taran realized this when Adaon died. He offers his nice sword there very quickly. What the witches accept is Adaon’s broach that he passed on to Taran, which is for a different lesson. Besides being a keepsake of his deceased friend the broach makes the wearer wiser and offers the gift of making the wearer far more alert. It helped Taran be a better friend, and leader. This completely changes the mood from bittersweet to just bitter setting up some very dark chapters (that the movie removed entirely). The witches come off very differently. In the film they act like sex crazed women. In the movies they are act like doting but foolish mothers.
The sword is very different. In the film it is a super weapon, but in the book it only works for the worthy. Taran cannot use it until book 5. In the books Eilonwy is the one who keeps it and carries with her everywhere knowing it should have use in the future, and Gwidion is the one who uses it to defeat the Horned King. In the film it is a deus ex machina keeping with the light hearted first book. For these scenes in the second book the heroes are instead meeting defeat after defeat.
The Horned King is completely different. Film Horned King is the villains’ leader similar to book Arwan. In the books he dies in the first one and is more like their toughest foot soldier. He never talks, and the readers are basically given nothing to figure out his motivations or personality. Still a better adaptation of than the minions. In the film they are bumbling clumsy, and unthreatening. In the books these are probably the best evil minions I ever read about. This means the main villain (Arwan) still has them available for the next three books. The Cauldron born are unkillable and fight as well as they did while alive, but they cannot go more than fifty miles from the Cauldron. While spirits from the dead they remember nothing of their time amongst the living, and are deprived of their souls. They are just empty shells of warriors stuck in an unending Hell. A small group will almost always give the heroes casualties, they have been stripped of all humanity, are unkillable or incredibly skilled soldiers, and are very scary. Sure the Cauldron Born in the film are like this, but they are barely in it. In the books the villains begin with The Black Cauldron and Cauldron Born soldiers. Even when it is destroyed at the end of book 2 that just means they cannot make new ones. They still have the existing ones for the last 3 books.
The biggest change is the part about sacrificing somebody to destroy the Cauldron. In both versions someone must sacrifice himself by going into the Cauldron. When I watched the film all I could think is put some manure in their, and a fly will come in and problem solved. The book fixed this by adding that the sacrifice must know exactly what they are doing and do it by their own free will This was announced when Gurgi was inside it trying to destroy it from within. He immediately jumped out, so this did not destroy it. It was not destroyed by Gurgi in the book but by Elidyr. Elidyr is selfish, cruel, arrogant, rude, and violent. This unlikable guy jumps in to destroy the Cauldron, and I have not cried that much from a book since Watership Down. It is a great case of even the worst of humanity being good and selfless. In the book and not the movie there was a body.
This is the part where the movie completely misses the entire part of the book. Elidyr never comes back to life. The side characters drop like flies, and none of them ever come back. The biggest moral of the series is that War brings death, farming brings life. The movie completely changes this by bringing Gurgi back from the dead.
The film is based off two books. It honestly takes more from The Book of Three than The Black Cauldron. Many scenes like Taran escaping the castle, hunting for HenWen, The Horned King rescuing Fleuwder, and finding the fair folk are from the first book.
Most of the characters are simplified versions of their book counterparts, which is understandable. Eilonwy is very toned down but he same character. The changes is her film counterpart is way too clean and well dressed, and she would never introduce herself as “princess.” In the books Dallbern had to tell Taran about that. On paper Taran is perfectly adapted, except the film misses his internal discussions. He is arrogant out loud, but in his head he is humble and scared. Missing this really hurt the character. Still I always read the books in his film voice and picture him. Fleuwder is missing his backstory of being a runaway king and a great fighter, but honestly they adapted his personality pretty well. Gurgi is missing his helpful moments and his great friendship with Taran. Gurgi in the books is the most popular character. Despite his stupidity he has survival instincts and is very sacrificial.
Here is one change that did not bother me until I read the book. In the first book HenWen ran away from Caer Dallbern (she is not important in the actual Black Cauldron book). In the film Dallbern sends her away declaring Caer Dallbern to not be safe. After reading the book all I could think was-
Caer Dallbern is the good guy’s greatest stronghold, and where they keep everything they do not want Arwan to get. Sending her away is the dumbest idea possible.
Here is the big credit to Disney. They got the pronunciations right. They are notoriously bad at this, so I am very surprised.
The author, Lloyd Alexander, was much more positive than I would have been. He said the movie has no resemblance to his book, but he praised it as a movie. He said if looked as its own story it was good, but inferior to the book. I have to praise him for showing no anger.
This adaptation get plenty of the small things right, and I can tell they at least read the first two books. They got the names right (not an easy task), the looks for everyone but Eilonwy, the villains act similar to their book counterparts, and the heroes act similarly. Unfortunately they fail at at the big pictures. By removing crucial backstory elements, slow development, and internal monologues (granted these all work better on written mediums), the heroes lose their essence. In addition they completely spit in the moral (or Jeffrey Katzenberg forced them to). The entire point is to tell the audience that people die and death is permanent. It is really not a good idea to use a huge budget movie to tell that (it was the most expensive animated film ever until… I think The Lion King.) The higher a budget the more the executives force changes. This adaptation needed one main guiding voice. It adapts a story with a clear message into a story with no message.
Next time on Tuesday October 20th. Obscure Animation is back with a film I am surprised is not incredibly beloved by the animation community
Curious George is next.
The Animation Historian 