Willow

Enjoyed this. A good family film. Warwick Davis should have been a Hobbit.

It's one of those films they starting SUPER GREAT and you saying "Oh my God, what a gem I found"... and as the film continues its getting less better and ends almost bad.

To me, the first 40 minutes are AMAZING, probably equal to "Lord of the Rings" trilogy!!!! Trust me, THAT GOOD! And then... the plot/scenario does a HUGE drop/fall, its getting quite boring and the finale (the last battle) is almost hilarious/joke/comedy!

But... its a remarkable fantasy film, left a mark to the fantasy universe of movies.

For its day, Willow was one of the better fantasy movies. The effects look a little dated now (especially the two-headed beastie) but it has enough humour and action to keep most satisfied. It's no LOTR, but then it was made 14 years ago.

Warwick Davis plays Willow, a Nelwynn, a race of hobbit-sized folk who don't have anything to do with "The Big People" as they call humans. Basically, it's the Shire transplanted into this movie, but without the budget. Billy Barty is the village's wizard and basically plays the character Gweldor again (from Masters of the Universe) but without the silly make-up and stupid musical key.

Val Kilmer is Madmartigan, a human warrior who befriends Willow and helps him on his journey with varying degrees of ulterior motive.

The acting is all reasonably good. Warwick Davis was only 18 when this film was released so his performance is very good considering his age and lack of experience (prior to this he'd played a goblin in Labyrinth and an ewok in Return of the Jedi). It's also interesting to see Pat Roach here. Pat was a former wrestler and has carved out a little niche for himself playing villains and tough guys. Here he plays General Kael, the right-hand henchman of Queen Bavmorda, played with gusto by Jean Marsh. That woman is truly frightening.

It's all good fun and the two funniest characters in the movie are Franjean and Rool, two Brownies, who "help" Willow regardless of the latters wishes. They have the funniest double act and reminded me more than a little of Merry and Pippin in LOTR.

All in all well worth a watch if you want some pure, and somewhat silly, entertainment.

At a stormy and dark night in the bowels of a stronghold whose owner results to be a nasty witch Queen called Bavmorda : Jean Marsh, there takes place the birth of a baby. According to a prophecy, as the innnocent child grows, it means the end of her rule . Howewer, a basket containing the baby carries her at the Munchkins land and darf Willow : Warwick Davis, meets her. Willow carries out his fate by sheperding the abandoned baby on a risked journey to fulfil his destiny as a saviour for good . As Willow discovers that the founded girl is actually a sacred infant who is destined to overthrow the ominous queen and rule the land . On the quest her parents, Willow falls with a plausible roguish adventurer called Madmartigan : Val Kilmer . Both of whom join and set out to destroy the power of evil, the heinous witch : Jean Marsh and her daughter : Joanna Whaley. Along the way they are helped by two small men : Rick Overton, Kevin Pollack.

This epic fantasy picture has more than a few elements in common with Bible's innocents massacre , Moises history, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and fairytales as Snow White. This is a great adventure movie with too much action-packed, though strangely predictable and the bulk of plot concerns Willow's mission who is assigned the task of returning a child her security , while attempting to free her from the claws of the evil hag and give the baby to the good witch . The picture contains a lot of weird creatures as Death Dogs, Faeries, Brownies, Trolls, dwarfs and a two-head, fire-breathing dragon . Breathtaking climax full of struggles , muscle and magic, providing a thrilling final confrontation . As you can expect from executive producer George Lucas, there is much action and plenty of high-quality FX made by specialists Dennis Muren and Phil Tippet, in addition, stop-motion monsters by Dave Allen. Cast is pretty good with some dwarf actors as Warwick Davis, Billy Barty, David Steinberg, Tony Cox. And popular actors as Val Kilmer and Joanna Walley Kilmer, marriage at the time . As well as a nice secondary cast, such as : Jean Marsh, Gavan O'Herlihy , Kevin Pollack, Rick Overton, Pat Roach and Patricia Hayes as good witch.

The film displays a breathtaking, enjoyable, and, nowadays classic, musical score by the great James Horner. Colorful and brilliant cinematography by Adrian Biddle. The motion picture was well directed by the famous actor and director Ron Howard. From his starts as an actor, as he played George Lucas' American Graffiti , he's had a long career, as he went on as a filmmaker, shooting successfully, his film debut was Grand thef auto, following other hits, such as : Night shift, Splash, Cocoon, Gung Ho, Parenthood, Backdraft , Far and away, The Paper , Apollo13, Ransom , EdTv, The Grinch, A beautiful mind, Cinderella man, The Da Vince Code , Frost/Nixon , among others. Rating 7/10. The yarn will appeal to fantasy fans and Sword/witchery genre buffs.

I attended a screen writing class once, and the teacher said that the worst movie ever made was "Willow" ... he also defended "White Chicks" (in the same class) as being some sort of underrated theatrical gem.

What an idiot. Obviously, this man has no soul.

Anyway, it must have been this sort of "I'm too good for that" attitude that killed "Willow" in the theaters. I remember seeing previews for it when I was a kid, and there was nothing more in the world that I had wanted to watch. I was raised on "The Neverending Story," "Legend," "Krull," "The Beastmaster," and "The Dark Crystal." So, sure, I loved fantasy. It was my favorite genre. And even though many will say that "Lord of the Rings" is better, I have to disagree. "The Lord of the Rings" is a good melding of drama, real-life struggle and fantasy, but's it not fun to watch. "Willow," on the other hand, is a blast to watch.

The music from Horner's great ... I can still whistle the adventure theme song, and often do sometimes. Val Kilmer as Madmartigan was a great rogue hero, who had plenty of great lines, laughs. Sorcia was by Joanne Whalley, was hot as hell ... a fiery redhead who just refused to be ordered or commanded. General Kael (who was supposedly based on one of Lucas' critics) is awesome. His look spawned an entire decade of me thinking that people with skull masks were horribly cool. The woman who played Fin Razel (sp?) was great. The Brownies were hysterical. And last but not least, give it up for Billy Barty and Warwick Davis, little people with big roles. I think little people probably thank Mr. Lucas and Ron Howard for making them stars for once, for giving them a showcase piece. Davis really had no better role in his life than this one. And he shined in it.

Well, if that particular teacher is reading this by any chance, I hope you go back and re-watch this as a kid. For me, and obviously many others on this website, the movie was more than a fun, little escape ... it was almost a genre-leading film. If there's one thing that pre-prequel George Lucas was good at, it was at giving the audience a good time ... Indiana Jones, Willow, Star Wars ... the best adventure/fantasy films ever to come out. Each of them with charming heroes, obvious bad guys, magic, swords, and humor.

"Pirates of the Carribbean" resurrected this sort of cinema, I think, and the American public responded to it with verve. I still remember hard-nosed critic Lisa Schwarzbaum giving "Pirates" a D rating in Entertainment Weekly. I bet she about choked on her own vomit when she saw how much fun everyone had with the film.

And "Willow" is the same thing. It's pure magic. Pure escape. Especially good for children, but good for the adults, too. If you can't have fun with this one, than you better go get your laughs from movies like "White Chicks" ... just don't be surprised when the kids come out making jokes about d*cks and p*ssies afterward.