Review of Willow (1988) by Andii H — 06 Apr 2012

I just finished watching this movie while sick with some kind of stomach flu. Not usually how I like to enjoy (a-hem, using the word loosely considering I was in and out of my chair) a film like Willow.

But despite it's editing and bad writing in the beginning (the rat-like hunter dogs should have sniffed out the baby in the village and failed a second time in the forest. Clue for the bad guys; GET NEW DOGS), it's a wonderful film.

It owes much to The Lord of the Rings; the young un-confident small person charged with the key to saving the kingdom who finds himself homesick from time to time, the rogue swordsman/warrior who aids him, the face-off between the Gandolf-like character with the Sauroman-like character in a tower, and of course the moral lesson that "even the smallest person can make a difference" has an appearance here.

The film was a staple of my youth and many others like me, and I had not seen it since 1989. When I saw it in a bargain bin for five dollars, I remembered all the likeability of the film, as I remembered it, and had to purchase it.

Supposedly Willow "flopped" at the box office. I remember differently, for all the popcorn and lobbies full of excited families that were at stake. This film affirmed Val Kilmer as a leading actor and the rest is history.

The others didn't fare as well. Helen Slater makes an appearance here as the fairy queen (a likeness to Galadriel who confirms Willow is the only being to save the baby Elora and sends him on his journey, after he suffers his first major moment of doubt), most people will remember her from movies like Ruthless People and her first seminal role as Supergirl, which failed at the time as well but has a cult following.

Joanne Whalley, who married Val after the film was lost to the background after a few lackluster roles, and Warwick Davis who went on to have very few roles because of the discrimination of the industry will be remembered more for his roles in the recent Harry Potter films than for his trollish role in the Leprechaun series.

Despite this however, he was very appealing in his role as Willow and was the only one who could have made audiences root for him, which just goes to show that the underdog should never be counted out.