Review of Willow (1988) by Justeen Frances M — 27 Apr 2009

I get the sneaking suspicion that this was sort of autobiographical for Ron Howard (in the sense that it was a very personal project for him) because there's this dumpy dreamer named Willow who becomes a great hero over the course of the film. I actually liked this movie, though, as it was a fun little fantasy flick. I can't imagine showing this to a kid and him or her not liking it because it has a bunch of different interesting, fantastic elements: An evil witch, a magical child who will defeat the witch, fairies, lilliputians, great battles, sorceresses, etc. The special effects are really good for the film's time and they hold up well-enough for modern viewers.

Val Kilmer does a great job and has fun with his role as a lascivious master swordsman who becomes good over the course of the film. Willow is pretty conventional in its story and nothing too unexpected happens, but that's not really why you watch fantasy movies. I will say that the film felt about 20 minutes too long, but it's not a huge complaint.