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I finally got around to watching the bastard child of disney animation. well, I have mixed feelings. its not good because of plot holes, lack of character development, annoying characters and being choppy. though, i do like it because its so not disney. its very dark, violent and at times beautiful. from what ive read, a lot of scenes were cut because of being too dark and violent. theres a deleted scene on youtube that shows a mans skin being melted off! it seems as though lord of the rings (films) have ripped off this movie,  theres a really annoying character that sounds and speaks just like golem from the lotr! There are many other similarities too. ive never read tolkien or seen the animated LOTR, so maybe some of you Tolkien heads may know better. It seems like it had a lot of potential that just didnt develope. If you like disney animation its worth checking out just because its so different. It would be nice to see this uncut on blu ray, but that will probably never happen.

I saw a test screening, waaaaaaaaaaaaay back when I was little.  Mom covered my eyes when the Cauldron was melting people.  There was also a part where Eilonwy got her dress torn and you could see a lot of her legs.  That didn't make the final release, either.

This, The Great Mouse Detective, and Rescuers Down Under are the only three Disney toons I actually like.

I loved it.  The Horned King was a great villain.  More people should know who this guy is.

I enjoyed the movie when I was a kid, and I still enjoy it today. It has a darker, more serious tone than most Disney films, there's some great animation when the dragons are chasing the pig near the beginning of the movie, and the music's cool.  The story does have some problems tho.

1) Taran isn't the most mature person, yet he's given a monumental task. The fate of the world is in his hands, yet he can't stop playing pretend!  This comes back to bite him, but it's really irritating. Taran does mature by the ned of the film; I liked that.

2) Where is the safe house? From the look of things, Taran had to pass the Horned King's castle on the way to the safe house! Wasn't there another direction he could've gone?

Read the books last year.  They don't make these same mistakes.  Henwen (the pig) bolted, and Taran chased her.  He was then captured and taken to the castle. While I like some of the changes Disney made, this is a better beginning.

As a bonus, here's a poster from the movie's brief re-release under the title Taran and the Magic Cauldron: http://www.fpx.de/fp/Disney/Posters/taran_and_the_magic_cauldron_85.jpg (http://www.fpx.de/fp/Disney/Posters/taran_and_the_magic_cauldron_85.jpg)

Born in turmoil. Reared in conflict. As there was no agreement as to which direction the animation studio should go. The older animators wanted to continue in the same direction, while some of the younger animators wanted to go off in another direction. Thus, it was not a happy production. Still, everyone seems to have finally gotten their s@#* together, culminating in last year's Zootopia, which won the Oscar for Best Animated film.

I think it helped that some of the younger animators walked off the job, and that much of animation now is not hand drawn, but computer generated.

The film is loosely based on one of my favorite fantasy series The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, and is my favorite in that series being the 2nd in the 5 book series. All of which I have bought and read. Though, like most of my books they are boxed up and in storage. One thing I do miss is that one of my favorite characters from that book and series, Ellidyr, is missing from the film.

I meant to add, that you know you are in trouble when it takes as many as 17 different writers to contribute to the screenplay. Though, there are a couple of names associated with the screenplay, that I find interesting. One is British novelist and poet Rosemary Anne Sisson, and the other is Walt's nephew Roy E. Disney.