Plot: Willow Ufgood is a Nelwyn (if you know what a Hobbit is you'll understand) a member of a dwarf race in a magical fantasy realm that looks, interestingly enough, a lot like New Zealand). He comes across a special baby, Elora Dannen, the heiress to the throne of the land by prophecy. This spells bad news for the wicked Empress Barmovda, who took over the realm through violence and black magic. Her rival, the good witch Raziel was banished and she has a ton of evil minions including wild pigs, a skull-masked General and a great army. Secure in her power, she feels all it will take is to find the baby Elora and destroy her. But Willow, a rebel named Mad Martigan and the wild warrior daughter of Bavmorda herself, will team up with Raziel to save the day. Willow's confrontation with Bavmorda results in goodness' triumph.
I've seen Willow two times. The first viewing was as a child of the 1980's, when Willow would show up on television, usually on a Saturday night on either basic TV's Channel 13 (back then called "Very Independent", and would also air other children's classic fantasies of the 80's like "The Never Ending Story" from '84 and "Excalibur" from '81) and or Channel 5 now known as the WB. Willow was larger than life, a huge epic, as I recall and everything about it was pure magic adventure.
Basically, it was the Lord of the Rings of the 1980's, and no other fantasy movie of the decade topped Willow. It was unbelievable. I still have strong feelings about this movie connected to the first viewing as a child and this is always the case with children who grew up on adventure fantasy films of the 80's. Everything was like something as epic as the Bible - a child with a destiny who floats down a river on a basket like the baby Moses,an evil Queen and Sorcereress who wants to keep her power from being replaced, a dwarf with a heart of gold and courage, magic spells,beautiful locations, evil characters (the skull-masked General Kael was especially frightening). Being a child, and a sensitive one, certain scenes were violent, scary, beautiful and awe-inspiring. The fairy queen Cherlindrea, who manifests herself to Willow in the forest was a very memorable scene. There were many things I did not understand about the film, particularly the importance of the quest to save the baby, and the grown-up dialog went beyond my understanding. The movie, too, was too long and long-winded for a child to fully pay attention. The battle outside Queen Bavmorda's castle, her evil ritual and her fantastic death (that cloud of red smoke) was all very intense the first time I saw it.
The second viewing was as an adult, I hadn't seen it in years, not since probably 1989. I'm a girl so I enjoy romance and adventure films so I have a fondness for the fantasy genre. I sincerely think Willow is one of the best fantasy films of the 80's. It was very special and ahead of its time. Sure, I can be cynical and analytical about it now. The script is intelligently written but the characters are very one-dimensional, underdeveloped and lacking any real complexity. It's just black-and-white in terms of who is good and who is evil. Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) is pure evil as she is a "bad witch" as opposed to a good "witch" like her rival Raziel (Patricia Hayes). They don't explain just how Bavmorda took over the land and the extent of her evil. Obviously she is unpopular with her own countrymen and she ruled the land with an iron fist like a tyrant. The baby Elora Danan is considered special and magical but there is no hint of magic in her (she would not do one little magic trick) and throughout the movie she just makes cute faces and needs rescuing all the time. Willow, the hero of the film, seems to take second chair when Val Kilmer's character Madmartigan, enters the movie and soon becomes the sword-wielding, paperback novel romantic hero (complete with long Indian-style hair and shirt open to reveal his chest) who can really fight. Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) is the worst character in the film. There is no real conflict in her when she betrays her mother Bavmorda and falls for Madmartigan and joins the good guys. Jean Marsh' Bavmorda is also flat and her scenes could have been extended so that we can see just how wicked she really is. It seems like they toned down her character so as not to be too frightening. Willow is also too much like a Hobbit and Bavmorda is evil without any depth. So, yes, the film has its flaws, these flaws being in the story (apparently there was lots of back story but Ron Howard and Lucas did not want the film to be longer than standard movie time). Both Howard and Lucas did this film because it was their retaliation at their denial of buying the movie rights to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. This is their alternative to Tolkien, a story so right for the late 80's, with special effects and computer graphics, then in its infancy, used sparingly and yet beautifully, never killing the story and in fact appropriately enhancing the action adventure. Today's fantasy movies contain far too many special effects and CG effects that they completely take over the story. Willow is an example of a story that can be told through good acting, fine script, great cinematography and great music (James Horner's second fantasy movie score; his first was Krull in '83). This is a movie that you can escape into. It is perfect in every sense and no fantasy movies made today can compare to Willow.
I've seen Willow two times. The first viewing was as a child of the 1980's, when Willow would show up on television, usually on a Saturday night on either basic TV's Channel 13 (back then called "Very Independent", and would also air other children's classic fantasies of the 80's like "The Never Ending Story" from '84 and "Excalibur" from '81) and or Channel 5 now known as the WB. Willow was larger than life, a huge epic, as I recall and everything about it was pure magic adventure.
Basically, it was the Lord of the Rings of the 1980's, and no other fantasy movie of the decade topped Willow. It was unbelievable. I still have strong feelings about this movie connected to the first viewing as a child and this is always the case with children who grew up on adventure fantasy films of the 80's. Everything was like something as epic as the Bible - a child with a destiny who floats down a river on a basket like the baby Moses,an evil Queen and Sorcereress who wants to keep her power from being replaced, a dwarf with a heart of gold and courage, magic spells,beautiful locations, evil characters (the skull-masked General Kael was especially frightening). Being a child, and a sensitive one, certain scenes were violent, scary, beautiful and awe-inspiring. The fairy queen Cherlindrea, who manifests herself to Willow in the forest was a very memorable scene. There were many things I did not understand about the film, particularly the importance of the quest to save the baby, and the grown-up dialog went beyond my understanding. The movie, too, was too long and long-winded for a child to fully pay attention. The battle outside Queen Bavmorda's castle, her evil ritual and her fantastic death (that cloud of red smoke) was all very intense the first time I saw it.
The second viewing was as an adult, I hadn't seen it in years, not since probably 1989. I'm a girl so I enjoy romance and adventure films so I have a fondness for the fantasy genre. I sincerely think Willow is one of the best fantasy films of the 80's. It was very special and ahead of its time. Sure, I can be cynical and analytical about it now. The script is intelligently written but the characters are very one-dimensional, underdeveloped and lacking any real complexity. It's just black-and-white in terms of who is good and who is evil. Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) is pure evil as she is a "bad witch" as opposed to a good "witch" like her rival Raziel (Patricia Hayes). They don't explain just how Bavmorda took over the land and the extent of her evil. Obviously she is unpopular with her own countrymen and she ruled the land with an iron fist like a tyrant. The baby Elora Danan is considered special and magical but there is no hint of magic in her (she would not do one little magic trick) and throughout the movie she just makes cute faces and needs rescuing all the time. Willow, the hero of the film, seems to take second chair when Val Kilmer's character Madmartigan, enters the movie and soon becomes the sword-wielding, paperback novel romantic hero (complete with long Indian-style hair and shirt open to reveal his chest) who can really fight. Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) is the worst character in the film. There is no real conflict in her when she betrays her mother Bavmorda and falls for Madmartigan and joins the good guys. Jean Marsh' Bavmorda is also flat and her scenes could have been extended so that we can see just how wicked she really is. It seems like they toned down her character so as not to be too frightening. Willow is also too much like a Hobbit and Bavmorda is evil without any depth. So, yes, the film has its flaws, these flaws being in the story (apparently there was lots of back story but Ron Howard and Lucas did not want the film to be longer than standard movie time). Both Howard and Lucas did this film because it was their retaliation at their denial of buying the movie rights to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. This is their alternative to Tolkien, a story so right for the late 80's, with special effects and computer graphics, then in its infancy, used sparingly and yet beautifully, never killing the story and in fact appropriately enhancing the action adventure. Today's fantasy movies contain far too many special effects and CG effects that they completely take over the story. Willow is an example of a story that can be told through good acting, fine script, great cinematography and great music (James Horner's second fantasy movie score; his first was Krull in '83). This is a movie that you can escape into. It is perfect in every sense and no fantasy movies made today can compare to Willow.