Disney’s classic The Black Cauldron, the famed studio’s 25th animated feature-length film, returned to DVD on Sept. 14, 2010, in a special 25th birthday disc.
Based on Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain books, The Black Cauldron tells the story of an apprentice pig keeper who goes on a quest to find the magical and powerful Black Cauldron before the tyrant Horned King can use it for his own evil reasons. The PG-rated family movie follows Taran’s journey as he learns the meaning of what it is to be a hero. Along the way, he meets the oracular pig Hen Wen, the willful princess Eilonwy, the droll Gurgi face witches, elves and magic swords.
Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, The Black Cauldron: 25th Anniversary Special Edition DVD is priced at $19.99 and includes a new digital transfer of the family movie as well as two new special features:
- deleted scene “The Fairfolk,” in which the movies’ characters travel into the depths of the Earth to meet the Fairfolk
- and “The Witches’ Challenge Game,” which allows players to defeat the powers of the Horned King by solving the riddles of the Witches of Morva to gain possession of the magical sword.
The disc also contains these previously released special features:
- stills frame gallery of behind-the-scenes artwork and photos
- “Quest for the Black Cauldron” trivia game, in which players compete against the evil Horned King to reach the Black Cauldron first
- and “Trick of Treat” classic Donald Duck cartoon from 1952.
No news of a Blu-ray version of The Black Cauldron, but this release could indicate that Disney is getting the movie ready in the queue. The studio released its animated movie James and the Giant Peach on Blu-ray in August 2010 and issued its classic Beauty and the Beast on the high-definition format on Oct. 5, 2010.
Buy or Rent The Black Cauldron 25th Anniversary
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Awesome 🙂
One of those under-appreciated classics, I saw this for the first time in the theater upon its initial release and after that it seems like the studio tried to bury it as they re-focused on their newer and more musical animated efforts throughout the 1990s. This one was in development for many years in the 1970s and early 1980s by the animators almost as a side-project and completed and released when the studio really had nothing else in the animation pipeline at the time. I can imagine that new animation head John Lasseter was instrumental in getting this released as a 25th Anniversary Edition. Sounds like some of the darker elements of the film will be restored in the new version. It was the first animated feature to get a PG rating… Though a box office “failure” I think THE BLACK CAULDRON will now get the respect it deserves.
Totally agree with you, Tom. And it’s interesting that it’s just a DVD release and not Blu-ray. But at least this release has a new digital transfer.