With a cauldron around, of course there are witches about as well, in this case, the wacky Witches of Morva. A sassy coven of sister sorceresses, the thieving threesome trick Taran out of his magical sword in exchange for the black cauldron. But once in possession of it, the heroes are quickly captured again by the Horned King. There only chance of stopping him and saving all of Prydain is for one of them to make the ultimate sacrifice by throwing themselves into the cauldron, never to return.

The Black Cauldron is the kind of fantasy that doesn�t care if it makes up its own rules as it goes along. It also has a sluggish pace that only makes the story thinner and its plot holes more glaring. Aside from a few stock comic relief characters (such as the Horned King�s toady Creeper, voiced by Phil Fondacaro), none of the characters truly come to life or are the least bit memorable.

Sadly, the worst of all is the animation, an unsuccessful hybrid of the Disney house style and Ralph Bakshi (Wizards, the animated Lord of the Rings), of all people. The end result is a muddy, murky mess, with wildly inconsistent character animation ranging from uninspired to darn right sloppy. The film�s use of computer-generated imagery, another first for Disney, isn�t particularly notable.

Although The Black Cauldron does have a sort of �cult following� among some Disney enthusiasts, the majority will find it a flawed curiosity at best.

Bonus features on the 25^th Anniversary DVD are mostly carry-overs from previous editions, including a Still Frame Gallery, �The Quest for the Black Cauldron� game and the Halloween-themed Donald Duck short Trick or Treat. The two new bonuses are one Deleted Scene (an alternate version of the Fair Folk sequence sans the cutesy kiddie fairies) and a �Witches Challenge� riddle game.

Toon Talk Rating: C

• The latest from Pixie Hollow, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, arrives on Disney DVD September 21.
• The �tale as old as time�, Beauty and the Beast, makes its Blu-ray debut October 5.
• The true story of the legendary racing horse Secretariat comes to the big screen October 8 from Walt Disney Pictures.
• The second in the DisneyNature series, Oceans, premieres on DVD and Blu-ray October 19.