The Black Cauldron

Post by **Neal** » February 1st, 2009, 9:51 am

Yeah, perhaps it can pick up some new fans in this fantasy-crazed time. I mean Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter - people are so into fantasy right now, one coming with the Disney name may pick up some new fans.

Post by **Ben** » February 1st, 2009, 5:39 pm

While it is dated and has a lot wrong (trying to be "Disney" while trying to be new and daring means it treads a line as opposed to being truly groundbreaking) with it, there are also some wonderfully epic touches in The Black Cauldron. I think I posted my link to the original review, but this does say a lot:

http://animated-views.com/2002/the-blac ... ollection/

It is well worth seeing and owning, and no-doubt my revised review will suggest adding this new edition to collections, especially in the new HD-mastered print transfer that I saw last year. Hopefully there will be some new extras too: though I wouldn't ever expect to see the Cauldron Born sequences re-inserted, we do know there was a lot of excised footage that would make for at least 15-20 minutes worth of "deleted scenes".

Post by **EricJ** » February 1st, 2009, 8:50 pm

Ben wrote:While it is dated and has a lot wrong (trying to be "Disney" while trying to be new and daring means it treads a line as opposed to being truly groundbreaking) with it, there are also some wonderfully epic touches in The Black Cauldron. I think I posted my link to the original review, but this does say a lot:

The Great Mouse Detective, one year later, showed good directors trying to take standard Ron Miller-style Disney-story fodder, and turning a good "new-Disney" exciting movie out of it.
(Even if it was rooted in the old-generation cute-critters and arbitrary-songs.)

Cauldron, however, had a bad director (we had yet to learn what to associate with the name of Richard Rich) taking exciting new-style/no-songs-necessary story fodder, and making a plodding, dated, Ron Miller movie out of it.
...One movie started the Future ahead of time, the other died with the past.

(Which is one reason I'd hoped they'd have been able to squeeze a bottom-of-the-catalogue "Black Cauldron II: Taran's New Quest" marketing-rescue vidquel out of it before the end, since I'd have liked to have seen what a real modern-day director could have done with Lloyd Alexander Babies by modern-day standards...
And actually, that "Aristocats 2: the Cruise-Line Caper" vidquel didn't sound too bad either)

Post by **Once Upon A Dream** » February 2nd, 2009, 4:08 am

Here's the trailer.

What a weird logo but I like it

.
And the website doesn't work,not yet at least.
When it will be released?.

Post by **Bill1978** » February 2nd, 2009, 5:54 am

Oh if only those deleted scenes that were mentioned in that promo were the deleted scenes I want to see.

Since The Black Cauldron is seeing the light of day, I'd thought I'd share with you good people a little fan vid that I made . Hope it's ok to post it, if not mods feel free to remove it. Enjoy.

Black Cauldron Vid

Post by **Daniel** » February 2nd, 2009, 12:38 pm

Nice trailer there, Once. Although that is one ugly logo. Too much space.

Post by **eddievalient** » February 2nd, 2009, 4:40 pm

Once Upon A Dream wrote:Here's the trailer.

"Disney's classic adventure", huh? It seems they've had second thoughts after previously wanting to disown the film entirely. Good!

Post by **Ben** » February 2nd, 2009, 5:50 pm

Well, the Lord Of The Rings was pretty big, y'know...

Post by **Once Upon A Dream** » February 3rd, 2009, 1:21 pm

Thanks Daniel

,there is too much space on the logo.
eddievalient-Yeah,I never thought that this movie will get re-released someday and they call it a classic

.

Post by **Ben** » February 3rd, 2009, 6:01 pm

Yep, awful logo, but - yay! - we get another new game! I can't wait.

Oh...wait. I can.

Intrigued by the "deleted scenes" though...

Post by **Bill1978** » February 4th, 2009, 2:29 am

I concur Ben, if they are decent scenes I may just fork out many for this edition when it gets released in Australia. Hopefully it's not something stupid like all the different styles for the opening logo

Post by **Ben** » February 4th, 2009, 4:57 pm

Haha...yeah.

There's a good 10-20 minutes worth of material in various shapes and forms, but a good portion of it finished and cleaned up animation.

They have this stuff and I can't see, apart from a later Blu issue, whenever else they could use it, so hopefully someone will have okayed much of it for the rest of us to see.

Such a shame that Disney don't actually take their films seriously. The Platinums could be exceptionally outstanding editions of some amazingly important animated films if they really wanted to get away from the fluff and how great everything was, and go for the really interesting and pertinent material in the vaults, and then presented it well and in context. Then even the single discs or lesser features would get better treatment too.

Man, how much I would love to be the head of the video vault division and put together some mean collectors packages which would, in all events, probably sell as well as the family friendly fluff.

Post by **Neal** » February 4th, 2009, 6:22 pm

I'd like to see some of the rarer/unreleased detailed Disney animation documentaries released on future special/platinum/anniversary/(insert edition name here) titles.

Like, The Sweatbox would be wonderful on a Blu-ray of The Emperor's New Groove.

And Dream On, Silly Dreamer would make a lot of sense on either a re-release of Home on the Range - the "last" traditionally animated feature or The Princess and the Frog - the "return" to traditional animation.

That's just stupid wishful thinking, though.

Post by **Ben** » February 5th, 2009, 10:23 am

Wouldn't we all! And you're only speaking about the publicized recent stuff. While even I would say Dream On Silly Dreamer would be too flammable to officially include in a Disney DVD package, The Sweatbox would be fantastic in an Emperor's New Groove edition...though until certain people leave the company or are indeed passed away, it's unlikely we'll ever see it.

Then there were a great many detailed programs made in the 1970s about Disney Animation that I would get out there as real supplements on my wish-list collectors editions of the Disney films. As I was saying, even the lesser known films have a wealth of material that's not being used, and likely won't be in future either.

The Fox And The Hound's release was marked by a 90 minute documentary on Disney Animation: The Illusion Of Life, hosted by Hayley Mills and basically focusing on two films: Pinocchio and Fox And The Hound. Frank and Ollie speak about their work on Pinocchio, while Glen Keane reveals early footage of the bear fight in Fox/Hound and we see Pearl Bailey in the studio recording her songs...not a jot of that appeared on the DVD and while the upcoming Pinocchio might also be a neat home for it, it won't show up there either.

The Disney Family Album programs would make exceptional additions to various classics. This show focused on the career of a Disney artist, including the Nine Old Men, and played like personal profiles. The show on Ken Anderson would have been perfect for The AristoCats release (he instigated that film) but it was a no show. Other programs would make great pairings with other films where a certain name was instrumental in the film's evolution.

There are more episodes of Walt's own TV shows that we haven't seen on discs that would make for good companions: too many to list here, but even as "token" supplements on the lesser features an extra Disneyland show with a similar theme or content would be a major plus. Operation Undersea on the 20,000 Leagues DVD? The Walt Disney Christmas Show on Peter Pan? Nope. We don't get them or any of the other shows with direct ties like these.

I was disappointed with the package put together for Sleeping Beauty and am already disappointed that Pinocchio will not include several obvious extras: the short-lived Jiminy Cricket education series of I'm No Fool shorts for a start.

Just what are Disney thinking? They're surely not trying to provide all-in, definitive collectors editions, that's a given, and even this year's Treasures were sorely lacking, what with mistakes in the Dr Syn documentaries and a lack of a theatrical trailer, and the awful idea of inserting modern MouseWorks cartoons into the Donald set instead of the Dick Van Dyke hosted 1984 50th Birthday special, which was the last vocal by Clarence "Ducky" Nash.

There's much more than a "new game!" that would get me excited about re-buying Disney animation DVDs...and for many other people too, I would wager.

Post by **Neal** » February 5th, 2009, 2:55 pm

With 50 gigabyte Blu-ray discs being able to hold all of that and more, it really makes me wonder 'what are they waiting for?!'