MovieChat Forums > The Black Cauldron (1985) Discussion > "The Black Cauldron" movie remake idea.

"The Black Cauldron" movie remake idea.

posted 9 years ago by crosswalkx
4 replies | jump to latest

To all you Lloyd Alexander fans out there.

As you know there were a lot of Prydain fans that were upset with the changes the Disney company made with "The Black Cauldron" movie. Some changes made in the movie are.

Characters that are not in the Black Cauldron movie

Coll, Prince Gwydion, Gwystyl, Adaon, Kaw the crow, Medwyn, King Smoit, horses, Queen Achren, Lord Awarn, King Morgant are absent in the movie.
Seriously how do you exclude important characters from the movie?
Also why is "The Creeper" sidekick servant in the movie?

Changes made in "The Black Cauldron" cartoon movie.

1. Taran doesn't make a crummy sword, he just plays with Hen Wen the pig.
Also Hen Wen doesn't just run away from home, Taran takes it for a walk.
2. Taran and Gwydion don't get captured by the Undead Cauldron Born and taken to Achrens castle and get tortured and abused. Taran just chases after the Dragons who took his pig, sneaks into the Horned Kings castle and helps Hen Wen escape before the guards capture him.
3. Also why is Fflewddur Flam an old man inside of a blonde spiked hair man. And why is Princess Elionwys hair blonde instead of yellow?
4. Why is Taran, Elionwy, Fflewddur running out of the castle with the Dyrnwyn sword instead of sneaking out with the Dyrnwyn sword causing the castle to collapse?
5. Why is Doli and King Eiddileg small fairies instead of dwarfs? And why can Doli be invisible anytime he wants, instead of waiting to be granted the power of invisibility?
6. Why is Taran trading the Dyrnwyn sword for the Black Cauldron instead of trading Adaons Brooch?
7. How come the undead army isn't roaming in the forest. Why are they just coming out of the Black Cauldron. Also why are the Huntsman hanging out in the castle instead of hunting in the woods for Taran. Also where's the Morgant army.
8. Why is the Horned King sitting on his throne instead of chasing after Taran on horseback.
9. Why is Taran and his friends tied up at the Horned Kings castle instead of tied up by Morgants soldiers at camp?
10. Also why isn't the Undead army trying to invade Caer Dathyl.
11. The Horned King doesn't burn up in agony. He gets sucked into the black cauldron.
12. Also how can the movie have Gurgi jump in the Black Cauldron while it remains undamaged and how can Taran give up the magic sword for Gurgi. while in the book Prince Ellidyr jumps in the Black Cauldron and the Cauldron crumples. Also they excluded Ellidyrs horse jumping off the cliff and kills itself.
13. The Disney cartoon movie crammed 2 books "The Book of Three" and "The Black Cauldron" into one rushed cartoon movie that didn't have anything to do with the books that Lloyd Alexander tried to create.

My Idea for a "Prydain" movie remake

With all these changes made in the cartoon movie. I propose a movie remake. I prefer a cartoon remake where they don't exclude important characters, they follow the story more accurately. Don't have the movie people just make up their own story. Also don't rush the movie that you leave so much stuff out. Also I wouldn't want a live action remake because it's too limiting to make it accurate as possible unless it can be pulled off right. Also if this Prydain movie remake was made it would probably be rated PG-13 for blood, violence, scary images, battle scenes, peril.

Anyways feel free to leave your comments on this movie remake matter. Remember to keep your comments to at least a PG level. From CrosswalkX a big Prydain book fan.

[–] Purple_Cloud_9 9 years ago

Aren't blonde and yellow hair the same thing?

Anyway, you have some interesting points.

[–] prydain17 9 years ago

I want a remake as well. But... Not a cartoon.

With the success of high fantasy of late (Hobbit, GoT, and MTV's Shanarra seems like it could be a pretty big hit) I'd love to see all five books adapted and turned into live-action films, PG-13 films like Pirates and Prince of Persia. If they're successful, an animated supplement film for "The Foundling", perhaps? With the right cast such a movie could be a big hit, and there is more of a market for such a thing today IMO.

_________

"No! He is imprinted on you like a gay duckling. If you don't wean him off you slowly, he'll die."

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Agashi 8 years ago

I disagree. Especially since hand-drawn animation is a dying art and I don't think anyone really wants a 3d animated Prydain Chronicles movie (could be wrong on that, I suppose). Live-action is the best way to adapt this with today's technology and I definitely don't feel like it would have to be PG-13.

There doesn't have to be blood and excessive violence, as these aren't even in the books all that much. Any battle scenes (and I use the term "battle" loosely) could be filmed in a way similar to Chronicles of Narnia: heavy on fantasy and special effects, but pretty bloodless. It would be easy since the Cauldron-born are the main adversaries and they don't have to bleed. The Huntsmen of Annuvin would have to be taken out or re-imagined, but that's no huge loss as they serve the same function as the Cauldron-born, which brings me to my next point:

THINGS HAVE TO BE CHANGED/REMOVED/COMBINED IN ANY ADAPTATION. It's part of the process. Stories flow differently on paper than they do on screen, because screen is a visual medium. Not to mention the fact that if you tried to adapt every bit of material into a film, you'd end up with a 4 hour+ running time.

And please don't mention trying to adapt only half a book at a time... I think Breaking Dawn, Deathly Hallows, and Mockingjay have all proved that doesn't work very well and for a debut film in a franchise to try it would kill the whole thing before its even out of the gate.

Now, I think you're right in saying that it was a mistake for Disney to try cramming two books into one film... but I understand why they thought they had to. The Black Cauldron is just a more exciting book to adapt from - to most people - and they had to make it entertaining for kids. Would kids enjoy watching a film where the protagonist basically spends the whole story helping someone ELSE (i.e. Lord Gwydion) be the REAL hero? Maybe, but I could see why they'd think not.

If you want to complain about Disney's adaptation, complain about how badly they messed up the characters! Making Fflewddur an old man was dumb and pointless, Gurgi had a huge, irritating downgrade, and poor poor Eilonwy turned into the blandest, most vapid bimbo Disney has ever conceived... (If you disagree with me on that last point and you haven't read the books, I implore you to do so. They did her character SO dirty.)

TL: DR - I'm not sure you understand film structures and how good adaptations work, but I'll agree that Disney's "The Black Cauldron" was not a good one, by any means.

Theatricality and deception are powerful agents against the uninitiated.