History YMMV / TheBlackCauldron

* QualityByPopularVote: it could be argued that the film has suffered from this. Because it was unpopular in the theaters, it's been severely underrated

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Horned King. Even if the movie failed at the box office and is one of the lesser known Disney feature films, The Horned King is a cult favorite within the Disney fandom and many times is compared with the likes of Maleficent and Chernabog. Probably the only reason why this movie is his only appearance within the Disney universe is because he's NightmareFuel incarnate and so would traumatize younger viewers in further appearances. Fans have even already demanded Disney to let The Horned King to make a main appearance in future ''KingdomHearts'' games. Being played by JohnHurt probably has quite a bit to do with it. He had a cameo in ''HouseOfMouse'', for what that's worth.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Everyone seems to think ''TheLittleMermaid'''s Ariel started the trend of assertive Disney heroines -- see the RebelliousPrincess entry. But it may have started with Eilonwy here. Glen Keane, who later made Ariel, even designed her.

* CounterpartComparison: With Link. Predating ''TheLegendOfZelda'' by a year, Taran wears clothes and carries a sword strikingly similar to those of Link in his very early years. Not to mention looting dungeons, working well with animals, wielding a magic sword, having to stop a very old BigBad from getting an artifact of great power, and breaking lots of pots.

* DarkerAndEdgier: In comparison to other Disney movies before it. This was the first DisneyAnimatedCanon movie to earn a PG rating, and fittingly so, given its high concentration of HighOctaneNightmareFuel.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Horned King. Even if the movie failed at the box office and is one of the lesser known Disney feature films, The Horned King is a cult favorite within the Disney fandom and many times is compared with the likes of Maleficent and Chernabog. Probably the only reason why this movie is his only appearance within the Disney universe is because he's pretty much HighOctaneNightmareFuel incarnate and so would traumatize younger viewers in further appearances. Fans have even already demanded Disney to let The Horned King to make a main appearance in future ''KingdomHearts'' games.
** Being played by JohnHurt probably has quite a bit to do with it.
** He had a cameo in ''HouseOfMouse'', for what that's worth.

* AccidentalAesop: With Taran, who actively wants to be seen as a hero, being [[FailureHero largely]] [[DesignatedHero useless and ineffective]] throughout the whole film, and [[spoiler:Gurgi, who gives up his own life out of concern for Taran saving the day in the end]], one could interpret the film as having the moral that wanting to be a hero is stupid and that real heroes act out of necessity, not a desire for glory.

* AdaptationDecay: Some fans of the original novels have criticized the film for being this, due to the many details that were changed about the various characters.

* [[AlasPoorScrappy Alas, Poor Scrappy!]]: Gurgi sacrifices himself to destroy the Cauldron Born Army, but he is resurrected.

* CounterpartComparison: With Link. Predating ''TheLegendOfZelda'' by a year, Taran wears clothes and carries a sword strikingly similar to those of Link in his very early years. Not to mention looting dungeons, working well with animals, wielding a magic sword, having to stop a very old BigBad from getting an artifact of great power and breaking lots of pots.

* TheWoobie: Gurgi, to some.

* TheWoobie: Gurgi, to some.
* ToyShip: Eilonwy and Taran.

** YourMileageMayVary on this, since some think Eilonwy's character is not developed enough to be impressive.

* CounterpartComparison: With Link. Predating TheLegendOfZelda by a year, Taran wears clothes and carries a sword strikingly similar to those of Link in his very early years. Not to mention looting dungeons, working well with animals, wielding a magic sword, having to stop a very old BigBad from getting an artifact of great power and breaking lots of pots.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Horned King. Even if the movie failed at the box office and is one of the lesser known Disney feature films, The Horned King is a cult favorite within the Disney fandom and many times is compared with the likes of Maleficent and Chernabog. Probably the only reason why this movie is his only appearance within the Disney universe is because he's pretty much HighOctaneNightmareFuel incarnated and so would traumatize younger veiwers in further appearances. Hell, fans have already demanded Disney to let The Horned King to make a main appearence in future ''KingdomHearts'' games.

** He had a cameo in HouseOfMouse, for what that's worth.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Everyone seems to think ''TheLittleMermaid'''s Ariel started the trend of assertive Disney heroines -- see the RebelliousPrincess entry. But it may have started with Eilonway here. Glen Keane, who later made Ariel, even designed her.
** YourMileageMayVary on this, since some think Eilonway's character is not developed enough to be impressive.

* ToyShip: Eilonwy and Taran

* CompleteMonster: The Horned King planes to obtain the powers of the Cauldron so he can destroy thousands of human beings to prove his superiority.

* CounterpartComparison: With Link. Predating TheLegendOfZelda by a year, Taran wears clothes and carries a sword strikingly similar to those of Link in his very early years. Not to mention looting dungeons, working well with animals, wielding a magic sword, having to stop a very old Big Bad from getting an artifact of great power and breaking lots of pots.

* AdaptationDecay: To the point where it can hardly be considered an adaptation of the source material and is more of a [[InNameOnly vaguely similar plot featuring characters who happen to share the same names]].

* AdaptationDecay: Big time. To this Troper, the movie was insufferably cutesy (especially Gurgi), and they eliminated almost all of the great characters. Imagine if the first HarryPotter film was a combination of the first two books, they made Ron insufferably annoying, made Hermione much less talented, they eliminated any references to Dumbledore and Voldemort, and instead Quirrel was the series' BigBad. It's really THAT BAD.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Horned King. Even if the movie failed at the box office and is one of the lesser known Disney feature films, The Horned King is a cult favorite within the Disney fandom and many times is compared with the likes of Maleficent. Probably the only reason why this movie is his only appearance within the Disney universe is because he's pretty much HighOctaneNightmareFuel incarnated and so would traumatize younger veiwers in further appearances. Hell, fans have already demanded Disney to let The Horned King to make a main appearence in future ''KingdomHearts'' games.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Everyone seems to think ''TheLittleMermaid'''s Ariel started the trend of assertive Disney heroines -- see the RebelliousPrincess entry. But Eilonwy beat her to it! The revolution started ''here''!! Glen Keane, who later made Ariel, even designed her!

* NightmareFuel: The Horned King and the Cauldron Born; indeed, ''the entire sequence'' from the latter's creation until their demise. The Horned King is one of the most visually terrifying Disney villains of all time, second only to Chernabog in ''{{Fantasia}}''.
** In the climax of the castle tour attraction at Tokyo Disneyland, you face the Horned King and get to watch him as he raises the skeletons lying on the battlefield in front of you as Cauldron Born. And it takes place inside a dark cavern. With realistic audio-animatronics. It's as terrifying as it sounds.

* TheWoobie: Gurgi, to some.