Willow (1988)

Synopsis:

After finding a baby girl in a basket by the river bank, farmer Willow (Warwick Davis, Return of the Jedi) is chosen by village leaders to take the infant back to her people. Unbeknownst to Willow and his people, though, the baby is a princess destined to dethrone an evil Queen (Jean Marsh, The Eagle Has Landed).

Reaction & Thoughts:

“Magic is the bloodstream of the universe.”

Willow is an entertaining, lavishly filmed adventure-fantasy movie. However, it’s awfully derivative. Once again, producer George Lucas steals shamelessly from celebrated Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Like Star Wars (1977), Willow is essentially a reworking of Kurosawa’s 1958 samurai saga The Hidden Forest.

As a matter of fact, Lucas goes on a thieving rampage: Willow isn’t only channeling Kurosawa’s 1958 action-comedy movie, but also J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings book series, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and even The Bible. The film’s cookie-cutter style has its charm, but the storyline is way too predictable and safe.

All things considered, Willow isn’t a bad choice if all you are looking for is a movie that helps you escape reality and relax for a couple of hours. Sometimes it is goofy, sometimes it is whimsical, sometimes it is corny, all in all, it’s a fine example of a fairy tale coming to life. The film has some slow patches, but the main character is appealing.

Although director Ron Howard (Cocoon) fails to transcend Bob Dolman’s (Far and Away) flawed screenplay, he gets terrific performances out of the fine cast. I say well done to Warwick Davis, who plays the title character with warmth and passion.

Val Kilmer (The Doors) is a lot of fun as an ornery bandit who helps Davis. Joanne Whalley (Kill Me Again) plays the evil witch’s daughter (Kilmer and Whalley got married after completing the movie). Jean Marsh and Patricia Hayes (The NeverEnding Story) steal a few scenes as the wicked witch and the good sorceress, respectively. The confrontation between Marsh and Hayes is my favorite scene in the movie.

The visual effects are the main joy of this film along with the sets, make up effects and costumes. Willow has a great sense of time and place. The visuals and sound effects by Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic received an Oscar nod from the Academy.

Truth be told, some effects look better than others. The scene where a goat is transformed into a person garnered a lot of attention because it broke new ground in the digital morphing technology. However, the effects regarding the two diminutive (and very, very annoying) sidekicks look terrible. There is also a two-headed monster that looks more funny than scary (where is Ray Harryhausen when you need him?).

Conclusions & Final Thoughts:

Frankly, Willow wasn’t as good as I remember. I don’t know if memory is playing tricks on me again, or I have just outgrown the film. Willow has as much depth as a Saturday morning cartoon show. But the cast is good, and James Horner’s (Braveheart and Titanic) music score is awesome. While far from perfect, it’s the kind of escapist movie destined to give audiences a silly good time. Color, 126 minutes, Rated PG.

This is my contribution to The Wilhelm Scream Blogathon, hosted by Realweegiemidget.

The Wilhelm Screams (in Willow):