Let's Watch This: "The Black Cauldron" (1985)

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

You've probably heard of The Black Cauldron even if you haven't seen it. It's generally regarded as the black sheep of the Disney Animated Canon - even moreso than something like Dinosaur. It was a notorious box office bomb. How big of a bomb? It was released around the same time as The Care Bears Movie, and THAT made more money than it. That's gotta be pretty humiliating.

What a troubled production the film had - Yesterworld Entertainment already did a video detailing the film's history. But if you don't want to watch that, here's the abridged version of what the video says: in the early 1970s, Disney acquired the rights to Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain. I have not read any of those books, but I do know that The Black Cauldron is actually the SECOND book of the five. Why did they choose to adapt the second film first? I dunno.

Ollie Johnston said in a 1996 interview that he and Frank Thomas convinced the studio to do an adaptation of the books, believing that if done properly it could be as good as Snow White. Then-president of Disney Ron Miller loved the idea, and veteran artist Mel Shawn was asked to do condense all five books into one story that would make a good movie. The result was nearly two hundred and fifty pieces of concept art. According to TV Tropes, the animators originally wanted to do a movie based on Mary Stewart's The Little Broomstick, but the higher-ups wanted a more ambitious project.

Concept art for The Little Broomstick.

From there, tension began to rise among the animators (this was around the time that Don Bluth left Disney to start his own animation studio) and the film was delayed again and again before work finally began in 1980. John Musker was chosen to direct the film. The character designers, among them a young Tim Burton, were encouraged to think "outside the box". Things quickly went south - Ted Berman and Richard Rich were brought in as co-directors, leading to friction regarding the story direction and character designs. Eventually Ron Miller decided that too many people were involved and that Art Stevens, the film's producer, was not appropriate to supervise the project for some reason, so he replaced him with layout artist Joe Hale. The younger artists at Disney were slowly pushed away from the film's creative decisions - for example, Tim Burton was taken off the project because they didn't like his concept art. John Musker eventually bailed on the project to go work on The Great Mouse Detective. The Disney veterans reached out to Milt Kahl to redesign the film's characters, but they didn't give him any of the film's concept art... the problem with this is that his area of expertise was refining character designs, not creating them from scratch. Scenes were thrown out, restaged, and reanimated.

When Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg joined Disney, things got even more chaotic. After a test screening had parents and their children fleeing from the theater in horror - not because the film was awful, but because it was too scary - Jeffrey Katzenberg decided that some scenes were way too dark for Disney and ordered ten minutes of the film to be completely removed. Producer Joe Hale thought this was a ridiculous demand, so what did Jeffrey do? He started physically editing the scenes himself. Horrified, Joe Hale went to Michael Eisner, who convinced Katzenberg to stop. The film was delayed again, more cuts were made, Hayley Mills was replaced by Susan Sheridan as the voice of Princess Eilwony, and the film, now the first PG-rated animated film released by Disney and the most expensive animated film ever made (at least at the time), was shipped off to theaters on July 24th, 1986. Reviews were mixed. Lloyd Alexander said, "First, I have to say, there is no resemblance between the movie and the book. Having said that, the movie in itself, purely as a movie, I found to be very enjoyable. I had fun watching it."

In 1990, Disney decided to give the film another chance. They renamed the movie Taran and the Magic Cauldron and pumped out some new merchandise to go along with it. This was a total bust too. It wasn't until 1998 that the film was released on home video. Since then it's become a bit of a cult classic, enough of one for the characters to make cameos in House of Mouse and Once Upon a Studio.

I guess they thought giving it a more whimsical-sounding name
like "Taran and the Magic Cauldron" would draw more people in
than "The Black Cauldron".

Did The Black Cauldron have any presence in the Disney theme parks? Believe it or not, yes. A few weeks before the film was released, an attraction called the Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour opened in Tokyo Disneyland, and the Horned King was featured in it. It has since closed. There were also costumed characters, and Gurgi even got his own eatery at Walt Disney World - in the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland. It was called Gurgi's Munchies and Crunchies. In 1993, it was remodeled and turned into a Beauty and the Beast-themed eatery called Lumiere's Kitchen, which in turn was later turned into a place selling McDonald's French Fries. It is currently a Robin Hood-themed establishment called The Friar's Nook.

And by "Robin Hood-themed", I mean there's an image of Friar Tuck on the sign
and that's about it.

So, what do I think of The Black Cauldron? To be honest, I've never seen it. My introduction to it was through its inclusion in a "Disney Storybook Collection" I got at Disney World in the 2000s. But what luck, it's on Disney Plus, so I can finally give the film a watch. Will I like it? Will I agree with the detractors? Let's find out, shall we?

The film starts off with a narrator (John Huston) talking about a king who lived in the mystical land of Prydain. He was so evil that even the gods feared him, and no prison could hold him, so eventually some folks decided to throw him alive into a crucible of molting iron. All's well that ends well, right? Wrong - the king's demonic spirit was captured in the form of a great black cauldron. For centuries, evil men (just evil men, apparently - there aren't any evil women in Prydain?) searched for this cauldron because whoever possessed it would gain the power to resurrect an army of skeletal warriors, which they could then use to take over the world. Or you could use them to re-enact "The Skeleton Dance", but I guess skeletal warriors aren't great at learning choreography.

We then see the charming abode of an old guy named Dalben, who's inside yammering about how he's got this feeling inside his bones. It goes electric-wavy when he turns it on... sorry, couldn't help myself. Something's wrong. "The Horned King... that black-hearted devil..." he says. "What's he waiting for?"

It might seem at first glance that Dalben (voiced by Freddie Jones) is senile, but he actually knows what he's talking about - TV Tropes describes him as "the greatest wizard in Prydain". If he's a wizard, where's his long beard and pointy hat? You've gotta dress for the part, Dalben.

He has a pet cat, too, presumably because the animators thought giving him an owl
would make him look like a Merlin knockoff.

Our main character, Taran (Grant Bardsley), is Dalben's assistant and... adopted son, it would seem. He spews out some exposition about how there's a big war going on and how he wants to fight in it. Prydain is at war? We never get any more information about that. Who are they fighting, the Hobbits or something?

"Don't forget to eat your oatmeal before you go out on your big adventure. It's very
high in fiber."

As he goes outside to feed Dalben's pet pig, Hen Wen, Taran complains about how much his life stinks. Like most animated movie protagonists, he wants more than this provincial life. He wants to be a warrior and do brave, heroic stuff.

"BACK! Back, you stupid geese! You were always my least favorite part of
The AristoCats!"

Taran spends the next few minutes tormenting farm animals. He waves the stick he's pretending is a sword at Hen Wen, a bunch of geese, and a goat who he pretends is the Horned King (presumably because the goat has horns). The goat, of course, is having none of Taran's crap and sends him flying into the mud. The geese find this hilarious, and when waterfowl are laughing at you, methinks you need to rethink your life choices.

In Prydain, your goat gets YOU.

"Dalben, won't I ever be anything but an assistant pig-keeper?" Taran asks. Dalben tells him that Hen Wen is no ordinary pig, but is needlessly vague as to what makes her so out of the ordinary. Here's a question - if Dalben is a wizard, why doesn't he teach Taran some magic spells? Actually, maybe he's wise not to do that. Taran appears to be the kind of kid who'd make a mess of things if he knew magic. Dalben doesn't need to find a bunch of broomsticks filling his house with water.

While Taran is giving her a bath, Hen Wen starts freaking out. Dalben tells him to bring her inside, where he reveals that Hen Wen is a MAGIC pig. When she takes a drink from a special... pot, I think full of water, strange images appear in it.

"Double, double, toil and trouble..."

Among those strange images is a figure that resembles the Horned King. "He's searching..." Dalben whispers - for the Black Cauldron. If the Horned King finds it and unleash its power, Prydain is in big, big, big, big, big trouble. And if he finds Hen Wen, he'll most certainly find the Black Cauldron.

Dalben tells Taran to take Hen Wen to the hidden cottage at the edge of the Forbidden Forest... y'know, just like the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter. Funny, since I've been resisting the urge to make a Hogwarts joke involving Dalben for a while now. "Only I knew the secret behind Hen Wen's power," Dalben says, "But now the Horned King has discovered it. We must make sure he never uses it to find the Black Cauldron." Another question - if Dalben is a wizard, why doesn't he try to stop the Horned King with magic? What exactly are his powers? Can he shoot lightning bolts from his fingers? Can he turn into a dragon and breathe fire? If he's "the greatest wizard in all of Prydain", surely HE can defeat the Horned King.

Maybe he's not a wizard at all. Maybe TV Tropes just assumed he was because he has a magic pig.

"I'd go out and defeat the Horned King with my magic powers, but I, uh, need to
go to a Magic Users' Convention in Diagon Alley. You know how it is..."

After Taran leaves with Hen Wen, we cut to this charming abode. You ever notice that villains' domains are always really run-down and crumbling? I guess evil people are just too lazy to refurbish their homes. There should be a show on HGTV where villains have their homes spruced up.

Could even Chip and Joanna Gaines fix up this Fixer-Upper?

It's here that the Horned King lives, and... yeah, he's definitely one of the most terrifying Disney villains. I mean, just look at the guy. He's a skeleton with horns in a cloak. Who desperately needs a manicure. And John Hurt gives a really creepy performance. I guess you could say that this guy is BONE-CHILLING. Get it? BONE-CHILLING? 'Cause he's a skeleton? Ahhh, wocka wocka!

"Hello, children. I'll be seeing you all in your nightmares."

Then we cut back to Taran and Hen Wen, on their way to the cottage. Apparently, Taran has never heard of the phrase "Time is of the essence", because he stops to stare at the lake and imagine himself a great warrior. When he's done, Hen Wen has run off. Taran kind of sucks at pig-keeping.

He searches for the pig in the spooky forest of trees with ghost-like faces, eventually running into the most divisive character of the movie. Say hello to Gurgi (John Byner), perhaps best described as Gollum in an Ewok costume. According to TV Tropes, Michael Eisner loved the character, but most of the folks online seem to disagree. Honestly, as far as comic relief characters in animated movies go, no matter how I feel about him I doubt he'll be as obnoxious as, say, the goat from Ferdinand. My tolerance towards comic relief characters is pretty high as a whole (I'm one of the few people who actually likes Mater from Cars), so who knows how I'll feel about Gurgi?

"My precious..."

We spend a few minutes on Taran and Gurgi fighting over an apple, then Taran hears Hen Wen squealing like... well, a pig. This is because she's being chased around by 1980s Childrens' Nightmare Fuel #2:

There are two of these things flying around making dinosaur noises. They're called Gwythaints, and it looks like they're hungry for a pork dinner. Despite Taran's "best efforts", one of them manages to grab Hen Wen in its talons and carry her off. Gee, Taran, maybe if you hadn't stopped to fantasize about being a great warrior, this would not have happened. I've said it before, but Taran sucks as a pig-keeper.

And where are the Gwythaints taking Hen Wen? I'll give you three guesses. HINT: it's where the bad guy lives.

Taran, you had ONE JOB!

"I must get her out of there," Taran says as he's clumsily pasted onto what looks like footage of actual smoke (PINK smoke at that). Gurgi shows up again and advises Taran not to go into the castle, but Taran acts like a jerk to him and heads off to save his pig.

Once he finds his way inside the castle, Taran is nearly mauled by a ferocious guard dog and then finds himself looking down upon a collection of thugs, brutes, and drunkards. There even appears to be a few Vikings, which makes me wonder where exactly Prydain is located. Norway? Scotland? It's clearly SOMEWHERE in the United Kingdom since Taran and the Horned King have British accents, but WHERE?

Is this what Oktoberfest is like?

The festivities are interrupted by the Horned King appearing in a display of laser lights and dramatic music. Do you think he does this every time he enters a room? You'd think his minions would be used to it by now.

Speaking of his minions, the Horned King's right-hand goon is a little goblin/troll/freak of nature named Creeper (Phil Fondacaro). Think of him as the Lefou to the Horned King's Gaston. His purpose is to keep the kids from getting too freaked out when the Horned King is onscreen.

Repulsive little fellow, isn't he?

One of the thugs brings in Hen Wen, and Creeper demands that the pig show the Horned King where the Black Cauldron can be found. Amusingly, Hen Wen refuses. For an animal that is considered edible, she's got some serious guts. Just as Creeper is threatening her, Taran winds up falling in and revealing himself to the thugs. Fortunately, he is armed with... a broom.

"I'm gonna clean up your act, bub!"

"Dude, do you really think you look threatening? I've seen pixies who were
more menacing than that."

"I presume, my boy..." the Horned King says, "That you are the keeper of this oracular pig... then instruct her to show me... the whereabouts... of the Black Cauldron..." Taran initially doesn't want to, but when the thugs threaten to chop Hen Wen's head off, he admits defeat. Hen Wen does her thing, and an image of the Black Cauldron appears in the water. The Horned King is very pleased by this, and we are treated to the revelation that he does, in fact, have eyes. Terrifying glowing red eyes.

For dry red eyes, Clear Eyes is AWESOME.

Before the water can fill the Horned King in as to where the Black Cauldron actually IS, Taran and Hen Wen make a run for it. The thugs and Gwythaints take off in hot pursuit. Long story short, the pig gets away, but the boy is captured. The Horned King demands that they throw Taran in the dungeon.

Inside the dungeon, Taran mopes about what a massive loser he is, as well he should seeing as this whole mess could've been avoided if he hadn't stopped to stare at his reflection in the lake. But what's this? Taran isn't alone. Who emerges from the floor but the film's female lead.

Look at Taran's dopey expression. It's just begging to be made into a meme.

This is Princess Eilwony (Susan Sheridan, as previously mentioned), and she's being held prisoner too. If this film had been more successful, she would've been included in the Disney Princess lineup. Instead, Mulan is included in the lineup even though she isn't a princess at all. Initially this doesn't seem fair, but it's because of Eilwony's being excluded from the lineup that she was spared from appearing in Wreck-It Ralph 2, so it kind of averages out.

Eilwony asks Taran if he's a lord or a warrior. He says neither. "Oh, what a pity. I was so hoping for someone who could help me escape," she laments. Heh, did she just give him an epic burn? I think I'm going to like Eilwony. Oh, and in case you're wondering what that glowing orb is, it's called a "bauble" and the Horned King kidnapped Eilwony because he thought the bauble could tell him where the Black Cauldron was. Whether or not it actually has that power, I don't know, but it's great for scaring away rats.

Hey, if Eilwony is a princess, why haven't the King and Queen of Prydain or whatever kingdom it is that Eilwony is the princess of done anything about their daughter being kidnapped? Did the Horned King turn them into chipmunks or something?

"You must be a very mighty warrior to have such an incredible sword."

"Nah, I just got it at a medieval times restaurant..."

While they're trying to find a way out, Taran and Eilwony stumble upon the tomb of the evil king mentioned at the beginning of the movie. Taran finds a sword in there that he decides to steal. Hooray for grave-robbing.

Then they find another chamber where the Horned King's latest prisoner is being held. This is our fourth main character (fifth if you count the pig), Fflewddur Fflam (Nigel Hawthorne), a minstrel with a magic harp that acts as a lie detector. I imagine he was probably the least-merchandised of the characters in the movie... the boys would buy Taran dolls, the girls would buy Eilwony dolls, and kids of both genders would buy Gurgi dolls because he's a cute furry creature. Who the heck would buy an old man doll?

He also had a good chunk of his dialogue cut from the movie. Make of that what
you will.

Before they can free Fflewddur Fflam (what kind of a name is that?), they hear guards approaching, causing Taran and Eilwony to scatter. Then they wind up getting separated, Taran is subjected to a jump scare, and then it's revealed that his sword is magic. That should come in handy.

"Wow! My sword glows in the dark!"

Eilwony catches up to him as he's swinging his sword around and laughing like an idiot, they evade some more guards, and then Fflewddur Fflam (couldn't you have just called him Bernard or something?) shows up, being chased by a dog. I wonder if any of those dogs are ever tempted to chow down on the Horned King. Y'know, since he's made out of bones. Taran then uses the sword to put holes in barrels full of fruit punch, which some of the guards slip in. I notice that the Horned King seems to have quite a large army already, so really, what does he need the Black Cauldron for?

"Boy, this was a lot funnier when it happened to Roger Rabbit..."

With the sword, Taran opens up the drawbridge of the castle, allowing him, Eilwony, and Fflewddur to escape. Creeper is tasked with telling the Horned King that his prisoners have vamoosed. When the Horned King finds out, he tells Creeper to send out the Gwythaints.

Once they're safe, Taran and Eilwony get into an argument over whether or not it was Taran who saved them or the sword. "What does a girl know about swords anyway?!" Taran asks, revealing himself to be a massive misogynistic. Fortunately, Eilwony is having none of his crap, pointing out that if it wasn't for her, Taran would still be stuck in the dungeon. I'm starting to think Eilwony would be a much better protagonist than Taran.

Taran storms off in one direction, and Eilwony storms off in the other. Then they make amends about five seconds later, rendering the entire scene of them arguing pointless. And then guess who shows up again?

"Meega nala kweesta! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Taran and Fflewddur (isn't that the sound a duck makes when it sneezes?) tell Gurgi to scram, but then Gurgi remembers that he saw the pig's tracks. "You'd better be telling the truth!" Taran tells him. He is - but the tracks lead them right to a whirlpool.

'Round and 'round and 'round they go. Where they stop, nobody knows.

The whirlpool spits them out into what appears to be FernGully. Here lives a clan of tiny fairies, the Fair Folk, led by the Sultan of Agrabah... I mean, King Eidilleg (Arthur Malet) and his sidekick, Grumpy... I mean, Doli (also John Byner). They mention that Hen Wen is with them as all the other rejected Rice Krispies mascots emerge to greet them. Fun fact - if you look closely during this scene, you can see Tinker Bell among the fairies.

"Dang it, Doli, haven't you fixed the security system yet?! If Gargamel gets in here,
it'll be your fault!"

King Eidilleg says that the Horned King will never find the Black Cauldron - it's safely hidden in a place called Morva. This gives Taran an idea - if they can get to the cauldron first and destroy it, the Horned King can't use it. And Doli can show them the way, even though he really doesn't want to. Nor do I want Doli to join their team, I find him obnoxious. They were clearly going for an "endearingly grouchy" character here (like with, again, Grumpy), but I just want to take a flyswatter to the little pest.

"We can fly!"

"You can fly!"

"We can fly!"

Morva turns out to be a massive dump - think Dagobah, except everything is the color of urine. They find a run-down looking house and go inside to see who's home. Nobody seems to be, except for a trunk full of Kermit's relatives.

"Come on, fellas, back to Amphibia!"

Doli says that the frogs were once people. Oh, great, if somebody's turning folks into amphibians, does that mean Dr. Facilier is around? Then they find a whole room full of cauldrons, just before the owners of the house show up: Orwen (Adele Malis Morey), Orddu (Eda Reiss Merin), and Orgoch (Billie Hayes), the three nutty green-skinned Witches of Morva. Orwen falls in love with Fflewddur, because I guess witches have a thing for old guys.

Is the indication supposed to be that he's not attracted to her because she's overweight?
Way to be shallow, Fflewddur...

Orgoch turns Fflewddur into a frog. Congratulations, Fflewddur, now you can be the mascot of The WB. After Orgoch and Orddu repeatedly turn him back to normal and then into a frog again and then back to normal again (presumably, Fflewddur's being the most useless of the main characters makes him the one most subject to WACKY SHENANIGANS), Taran decides to actually do something after he, Eilwony and Gurgi just stood around watching the witches ham it up and says they want the Black Cauldron. "Why, nobody's asked for the Black Cauldron in over two thousand years," Orddu claims. The witches initially don't want to give it to them, then Orwen sees Taran's magic sword and decides she wants it. So she offers them a trade - they give the witches the sword, and the witches give them the Black Cauldron.

"I'll get you, my pretty. And your little... what is that furry thing supposed to be? Some
kind of otter?"

Taran reluctantly hands over the sword, and after the house re-enacts the "Higitus Figitus" sequence from The Sword in the Stone and uproots itself, out of the ground emerges the Black Cauldron. Then the witches decide to do this:

There's an awful lot of magenta in this movie, isn't there?"

Orwen tells them that the Black Cauldron is indestructible and mocks them for not knowing that before... which doesn't make much sense seeing as they didn't even try to destroy it yet. There was actually going to be a scene here where they tried to destroy the cauldron but discovered that they couldn't, but it was cut for some reason. I guess the sequence of Fflewddur being turned into a frog multiple times was more important to keep in.

According to Orwen, the only way to stop the Black Cauldron's evil powers is for a living being to climb into it of their own free will. But they won't climb out alive. In that case, why don't they toss Doli in? He's even more useless than Fflewddur.

"Where did you young whippersnappers hide my dentures?!"

After Doli leaves, Taran laments that he's a loser, but then Eilwony says that she believes in him. This is the "ooooooooh, they're in love" moment of the movie... which is promptly interrupted by the arrival of the Horned King's goons. Taran, Eilwony, and Fflewddur are dragged back to the dungeon, and now the Horned King has the Black Cauldron, so that can't be good...

I bet this scene was used in all the trailers.

Green smoke - I believe the ghosts of those slimed at Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards - leaks out of the cauldron and over to the various skeletons scattered around the dungeon. I initially thought the indication was that the smoke brings them to life, but I guess not, because all new skeletons clad in armor just... pop out of the smoke/slime/water on the floor like zombies in a Michael Jackson music video.

"Eugh! Your breath smells awful!"

"What do you expect? We haven't brushed our teeth in a thousand years."

The Horned King's goons run off in fear, except for a couple unlucky ones who get mauled by the skeletons. Looks like nothing's gonna stop the Horned King from taking over the world.

Well, unless they run into a giant. Giants are known to grind up bones to make bread. If one encountered those skeletons, they could make enough bread to feed all of Prydain.

"Y'know, sire, this movie's not half-bad."

"Nope. It's ALL bad!"

"D'OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO!"

Fortunately, the Horned King didn't count on Gurgi sneaking into the dungeon and untying the others. Taran decides that he must jump into the Black Cauldron - it's the only way to stop the Horned King's army. "No! Gurgi not let his friend die!" Gurgi protests. "Taran has many friends... Gurgi has NO friends..." You can see where this is going, right?

"Gurgi never should have let Taran talk him into the high dive..."

Gurgi jumps into the cauldron, and as soon as he does, the skeleton army starts collapsing. The Horned King enters the room and, upon seeing Taran, regains his glowing red eyes (which actually makes him even creepier) and declares that he shall kill the pig-keeper... only to get sucked into the Black Cauldron. Creeper is oddly happy about this.

"Now I can go pick on Spider-Man!"

Now the good guys just have to get out of the crumbling castle with their lives. Which they do, thanks to a convenient boat.

Soon to be a ride at Disneyland... or at least it would if the film hadn't underperformed.

Creeper makes it out, too, on the back of a Gwythaint, just in case you were wondering if he's okay. They even still have the cauldron! All's well that ends well... except for poor Gurgi. The witches try to take the cauldron back, but Fflewddur says that they're not just gonna hand it over - they want to BARGAIN for it. So the witches offer Taran his sword back, but he says he has no use for the sword since he's not a warrior, just a pig-keeper. But he WOULD trade the cauldron for Gurgi.

So the witches take the cauldron, and Gurgi is brought back. Sorry, Gurgi haters. Your hatred is no match for the power of friendship.

"Gurgi has great news! Our film was a box office bomb!"

"How is that great news?"

"It means they'll never make a lousy direct-to-video sequel!"

"HUZZAH!"

The four friends head home, unaware that Dalben, Hen Wen, and Doli (ugh) are watching them. "You did well, my boy..." Dalben says. And that's about it.

What's the Verdict?

So, that was The Black Cauldron. One of the most love it or hate it films in the Disney Animated Canon. Do I love it, or do I hate it?

Honestly, I thought it was just okay. Maybe it's not as good as it could've been, but I didn't think there was anything straight-up bad about it. The animation is fine, on par with the other Disney animated films of the 1980s. The characters are hit or miss. I liked Eilwony, the Horned King is a cool villain (who doesn't get nearly enough screen time), Gurgi and Fflewddur are okay... Taran can get kind of annoying, and I really didn't care for Doli. Why does everyone hate on Gurgi when Doli is much, much worse? As a whole, I think the movie needed more time in development to really smooth it out. Katzenberg's meddling didn't do it any favors either. It could've been better but it's not as bad as most people makes it out to be.

Why didn't the film do better at the box office? TV Tropes blames the film's darker tone and lack of really light-hearted moments. The high budget probably didn't do much to help it make a profit either. Honestly, though, when you look at the other Disney box office bombs of the 1980s - The Watcher in the Woods and Return to Oz - and some of the other fantasy films made during that time which flopped at the box office - Little Nemo, Legend, Labyrinth, Dragonslayer, Ladyhawke... maybe audiences just weren't into dark fantasy movies at the time. I don't know, I was born after the 1980s so I have no idea what movie-goers were into back then.

And I gotta ask... how was this film's flopping enough to nearly destroy the idea of Disney making animated movies as a whole? The one released before this, The Fox and the Hound, did well at the box office. Was The Care Bears Movie making more money than it really THAT humiliating?