Review of Willow (1988) by Brendan L — 28 Apr 2012

Willow is a movie that really gets overshadowed by other much better Fantasy films of the 80's (The Princess Bride, Labyrinth) but still manages to be a fun gem of a Sword and Sorcery movie.

This movie follows a Nelwyn (Dwarf) sorcerer-in-training named Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis) who is tasked in protecting a small baby prophesized to defeat and evil Queen named Bavmorda (Jean Marsh). He must leave his small village to embark on this quest.

Along the way, Willow meets an interesting cast of allies including the down on his luck warrior Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), the Queen's daughter Sorsha (Joanne Whalley), an old wizard named Raziel (Patricia Hayes) and two Brownies named Vonkhar (Phil Fondacaro) and Rool (Kevin Pollack), an almost fairly like race of little people.

I think this film is lacking in the whimsicality of the actual fantasy world. Look at more recent imaginings like Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson) and you will see what I mean. The actual world just seems devoid of life. Good performances from Davis and Kilmer make this film quite interesting, but can't save it from it's rather slow paced plot.

The film's highlight for me is the soundtrack (James Horner), which in my opinion is really underrated. Not even an academy nomination? They really dropped the ball in my opinion.

Overall a decent fantasy film, and I can see how many people would love it. For me, it's a fun watch but nothing to write home about. 3/5.