The Disney contribution to the sword-and-sorcery cycle turns out to be an artful combination of Disney and Tolkien, but with no truly memorable characters to turn it into an animation classic. Some of the peripheral characters, indeed, like the cat at the beginning, recoiling in horror from the proffered slops, and the dogs and dragons whose prey forever eludes their slavering jaws by a width of cloth, could do with expansion into major characters in the plot. Based (very freely) on a series of books by Lloyd Alexander, the plot tells of an oracular pig (a rather wet character) whose vision is required by the evil Horned King to find the location of the Black Cauldron. But the teenage pig-keeper, Taran, is determined that no such thing will happen. Packed with plot, the film, although a bit too spooky in parts for little ones, will delight six to 12-year-olds appreciative of a bit more bite.

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