The Black Cauldron was the first movie I can recall looking forward to. I'm not sure how I heard about it, but once I was aware, I begged my parents to let me see it. Once they gave in I looked forward to it all week and invited my best friend along. I remember one of the chief attractions being the skeletal army and being slightly disappointed that there wasn't much undead mayhem, but was otherwise ecstatic. I have never re-watched it. I treasure the memory, but realize that it probably wasn't a great movie and that I'd lose a bit of that pleasant memory by subjecting it to adult scrutiny. I thought reading the book would allow me to enjoy my nostalgia without corrupting the memory.

Wow! The movie was a significant departure from the book.Some of the core characters are there, Taran, Eilonwy, Gurgi, and my favorite oracular pig. The Horned king, the principle villain of the movie, doesn't even make an appearance in the book, though his minions are out and about. The inspiring (but saccharine) self-sacrifice the destroys the cauldron in the movie is in the novel but is grittier and much less Disney.

I did see that the author, Lloyd Alexander, said the movie did not resemble the book.

I liked the book. Some of the characters seem custom made for a Disney movie, but the work well in print too. The sacrifice of a life to destroy the cauldron is a central fixture in both the film and the book, but the two are of very different character. The movie looks at the sacrifice from a Christlike perspective.It is G rated and Disneyfied and the cute and lovable Gurgi even gets a resurrection. The novel does far better with Ellidyr who never fully reforms from being a genuine asshole and whose sacrifice contains as much 'fuck you,' as it does love for the world.