...oh, wait, that's the wrong franchise. Or is it? Let's begin...
On a fantasy resembling Earth in the Middle Ages (in Europe, anyway), a prophecy foretells of a girl born with a specific birthmark who will herald the downfall of an evil witch, Bavmorda (Jean Marsh). Needless to say, she's more than a little upset about this and seeks to kill the child before any heralding can be done. In doing so, like most antagonists of the sword and sorcery genre, she sets up her own defeat by trying to prevent her defeat. Nice job breaking it, villain!
At the very least, we can say she didn't do something bizarre like transplant the unborn child into a cow (yes, I'm still on about that). However, the child gets spirited out of Bavmorda's castle before any killing can be done, at least of the child. Floating away on a raft of grass, the baby eventually comes down the river to
However, as we've seen a few times this year, an attack on the home that ends in either banishment or the call to adventure is inevitable in these movies and thus is it so for Willow. Tasked with returning the baby to the humans, Willow finds himself having to make new allies in the mercenary Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), the brownies Rool and Franjean (Kevin Pollak and Rick Overton), and the polymorphed sorceress Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes) in order to get the child - Elora Danan - to the castle of Tir Asleen where she will be safe from Bavmorda's wrath. Or so it is said.
 |
| "Ahahahaha! I have a very cunning hat!" |
On the way, they must evade Bavmorda's daughter Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) and the intimidating Kael (Pat Roach), Bavmorda's general.
Now, given that this story was developed by George Lucas (who also serves as an executive producer), the question becomes if this was Lucas trying to rip-off the success of Star Wars. Was he? Sort of.
Willow plays out several of the same beats of the Hero's Journey that Star Wars does. The hero receives a call to adventure (Luke finding Leia's hologram in R2, Willow finding Elora Danan), refuses it (Luke feeling that he can't leave his Aunt and Uncle, Willow originally wanting to send the baby further down the river), them receiving a boon and guidance from a wizened mentor (Luke receiving his lightsaber and Force training from Obi-Wan, Willow receiving a wand from Cherlindrea and training from Fin Raziel), and so on.
It also more directly echoes Star Wars such as the hero picking up a roguish companion of questionable morality, but who helps out when the ships are down (Han Solo/Madmartigan), a sinister, armored figure pursuing the heroes at the behest of a greater power (Darth Vader/General Kael working for Emperor Palpatine/Bavmorda). Was it a direct rip-off? No, but I think Lucas wanted to reuse story beats that worked in Star Wars, given the absolutely phenomenal success that that franchise had.
One thing you
No, the story really isn't the main draw here. It's just that it's your standard fantasy fare by this point. We are approaching the 1990's by this point in the timeline, and we've seen where that leads. Willow has a lot of help from the charisma of the cast, however, particularly the then-seventeen year old Warwick Davis playing the title role. Davis is actually a very good actor, it's kind of a shame that his only two big roles besides this film were as a teddy bear speaking gibberish and...the Leprechaun movies.
 |
| "Dude...did Batman just call us midgets?!" |
Val Kilmer does pretty good as the cocky and somewhat arrogant Madmartigan. Much like Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China, Madmartigan is a skilled fighter (some might say he's the greatest swordsman who ever lived), but it's very clearly out of his depth in a lot of scenes as he fights things that are far bigger than him. He also does comedy very well. Unfortunately for him, as awesome as he is, he doesn't hold a candle to Kurt Russell in that role, or to Harrison Ford in the role that he's essentially the Medieval European fantasy version of.
Joanne Whalley rounds out the main trio as Bavmorda's daughter Sorsha, at first evil but thanks to hijinks eventually falls for Madmartigan and joins him and Willow against her mother. She's...okay. She does evil well enough and she and Val Kilmer do have at least some chemistry for when the romance subplot has to kick in, though it's not really focused upon all that much.
Jean Marsh as Bavmorda is basically just her playing the role of Morgan le Fey from the Doctor Who episode Battlefield, in what is a comparison that I'm sure that no one has ever made before while doing a review of this movie. She does well, but if you've seen that episode, then you've basically seen her entire portrayal of Bavmorda on a smaller budget.
One of the biggest draws, and one that gets referenced quite often, is the use of special effects. Lucasfilm's own Industrial Light and Magic did the effects, many of which still look really good even today. The scene of Willow attempting to turn Fin Raziel back into her human form uses a digital morphing trick as she shifts between the forms of different animals, and is an effect that would be used in later movies like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Terminator 2. This, by the way, is one of those scenes that looks good even today in this the year 2020.
There's also a scene where Madmartigan and a bunch of soldiers get turned into pigs by Bavmorda.
...I'm still in therapy to this day.
There's also the dreaded beast known as the Eborsisk, which Willow accidentally turns a troll into during the siege on Tir Asleen. It's a hideous, two-headed draconic abomination that was supposed to be homage to film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Get it? "Eborsisk"? Yeah, it's not particularly clever. Ironically, it's still better than their cameo appearance during the 1998 Godzilla movie, but that's neither here nor there. Needless to say, the Eborsisk isn't exactly a highlight of the movie, and is far more interesting for its off-screen reasoning than it's on-screen appearance.
 |
| "Put that thing away, you're gonna get us all killed!" |
I do actually enjoy Willow, though I know a lot of people apparently don't. It's a shame, really, because [insert Deathstalker joke here]. It is a fun adventure with a likable cast and oh, look at that, it has a James Horner score to it. As you probably already know from the Krull review of mine that I already linked, I have a hard time hating a film with James Horner doing the score.
Willow is brought to us by Lucasfilm and MGM.
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
No comments:
Post a Comment