Technically brilliant though short on narrative, "The Black Cauldron" is a painless, old-fashioned way to take out the kids, and a triumph for the animation department at the Disney studio, where it has been in development for almost a dozen years.

Possibly not the worst animated feature the House Of Mouse has produced, but certainly stumbling around the darker recesses of the Disney vault.

The characters, though cute and cuddly and sweet and mean and ugly and simply awful, don't really have much to do that would remain of interest to any but the youngest minds.

It hardly seems to have been worth waiting 14 years for. But if you judge it on its own merits rather than on its publicity it is quite entertaining as well as exciting when it needs to be.