Willow

-Lucasfilm Ltd. (1988)

Summary:

This is one of a few classic George Lucas failures. This time, it's a fantasy story about a little guy who has to save a baby.

My Thoughts:

Willow. What can I say about this film? This is one of the few pre-Lord of the Rings big budget fantasy movies that failed to capture the publics' interest in the genre, much like Legend. It also helped breed the idea that a popular fantasy film was never going to happen.

The film follows the story of Willow, whose main goal in life, besides being a good father and husband, is to become a sorcerer. His life changes forever when his children find a stray baby ala Moses. This baby is destined to become an all powerful good sorceress that will bring down the evil Bavmorda. Willow and some of the others from his village try to bring the baby to her own people and through a series of events he becomes her sole protector and a mighty hero in the process.

There's a lot of harsh criticism for Willow, and a lot of it may very well be deserved. Despite my better judgment I have always liked this movie. It does have its flaws and much of the George Lucas brand silly slapstick humor is present and barely digestible. The most annoyingly teeth grinding scenes occur with the two brownies, who are both small precursors for Jar Jar Binks, are always up to something “wacky” and “comical.”

One of the reasons Willow didn't have a lot of box office pull was that this is the first and only film to have a "little person" as the major protagonist . The main character of Willow is played by Warwick Davis, best known for his role as Wicket the Ewok in Return of the Jedi.   Not that I care or am small minded, but it seems like a big risk to put a little person in a lead role of a Hollywood spectacular, and then to name the film after this character. I’ve got nothing against Warwick Davis either, I actually like the guy a lot and have even met him at a Star Wars convention. (Oh god, please don’t tell anyone else.) For some reason, people are attracted to big named stars. The general public might have not been too keen on a no-named (to them) little person with his own film. Willow attempts to offset this underdog hero by having a more mainstream hero in the character of Madmartigan, played by a pouty-faced as ever Val Kilmer. This doesn't work that well because this is Willow's story no matter how you shake it. On another note I've always loved the character of Madmartigan, but I came upon the realization that he really isn't anything more than Han Solo and Indiana Jones wrapped into one person. There are times in the film where I swear I heard a line or two from Jones.

Another sticking point is the music. While well composed, at times it seems like it's a John Williams rehash. It as if composer James Horner listened to other Lucas soundtracks constantly and tried to replicate them as best as he could while not doing a very good job.

The whole film seems like a mishmash of Lucas's prior films combined with the story of Moses. Good writing this isn't, but despite these problems I like Willow. It tries really hard and there are too many good moments for me not to like it. From the first time Willow meets Madmartigan, to the battle with the ugliest two headed dragon in history, it provides enough thrills to be enjoyable and charming.

Extras:

Since this movie was a bomb, one really wouldn't expect that it would come out in any fashion more than a five dollar bargain DVD. But, since George has a lot of money to burn the DVD is a rather good special edition, but not as full on good as say, the Indiana Jones DVDs.

The making-of featurette, "Willow the Making of an Adventure" is a classic making-of to promote the film from way back in the mists of the late 1980s. It plays up the fact that the film was an original epic, and is pretty much your standard making-of. There isn't much information that someone who isn't a really big Willow fan might be interested in, except for some extra footage of Joanne Whalely, the actress that plays Sorsha.  Any footage of Joanne Whalley is a big plus in my book.

One of the coolest featurettes I've seen in a long time actually didn't look all that interesting at first. "From Morf to Morphing", traces the special effects shot that turns the old sorceress Fin Raziel from an animal form to her human form. It's kind of sad that this special effects shot is the most widely remembered moment from the film, but it was actually a big deal at the time. The featurette traces the history of this rather short moment in the film, and its use in other films including Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, The Abyss, and Terminator 2.  This featurette should be watched by anyone with any interest in how films are made or even in film history, it is really well done.

The rest of the extras are fairly standard. You get plenty of trailers and TV spots and some nice behind the scenes photos.

I also appreciate the artwork used for the jacket and DVD label; they look incredibly good.

Score:

Film:  7.5

Extras: 8

Edition: 9

A very good presentation for an unpopular film.

-Paul