Willow

Before the Lord of the Rings set the benchmark for fantasy with it's astonishing CGI, the 80s had some fine fantasy films. LadyHawke, Legend and this well made piece of work. True the limitations of budget can be seen, and some of it is very dated and absurd. But it works, Warwick Davis in his first lead role before he became an EWOK and many years before he became part of the Harry Potter juggernaut, is suitably inconvenienced. Remind you of a certain Martin Freeman? Val Kilmer as the rogue who shows his knightly colours to become a King is on top goof mode. Joanne Whaley is perhaps the big let down but she isn't given that much to work with. The effects pre-CGI are well utilised and overall it has fun and energy for the most part. A must see if you love 80s films and well worth a watch if you like hollywood fantasy

Willow copies Lord of the Rings. Or at least that is the general consensus. From epic space battles in a galaxy far, far away, George Lucas turned his screen-writing pen to a time of ‘sword and sorcery.’ Despite the film predating Peter Jackson’s (now classic) Lord of the Rings franchise by about thirteen years, it was possible that George read the books a while ago and was heavily influenced. Is that a problem? In my opinion, not really. Willow is set in a time of magic and monsters and follows a dwarf (I forget the technical term for ‘little people’ they use in the film) called Willow, who finds a human baby washed up on the shores of his village. He is then tasked with protecting the baby on a journey to return it to its own kind. For this is no ordinary baby, but the princess who will later grow up and overthrow the evil queen. Did I mention an evil queen rules the land? No? Okay, well she does. She’s evil, powerful and everyone lives in fear of her (actually, that’s more Snow White territory than Lord of the Rings, but anyway...). Expect the usual characters to pop up along the way – elves, pixies, heroic knights, sorceresses, two-headed monsters and so on. It’s like an early version of Lord of the Rings, only they’re on a quest to drop a baby off (as opposed to throw their precious cargo into a fiery pit). I think there are only two groups of people who would appreciate Willow nowadays. One is me, who grew up with films like this in the eighties and looks on it with a sense of nostalgia. The other is very small children, who haven’t seen The Lord of the Rings. I think if you showed it to anyone in between (dare I say those dreaded teenagers?) they would see it as cheap, low budget and generally a bit dull. And perhaps they’re right? Lord of the Rings captured, on a grand scale, the depth of an entire world and even managed to throw in a good deal of human emotion into the bargain. But was it a fun movie? Could you laugh and cheer at it? Probably not. However, with Willow you can. Yes, Willow is not as well written. Yes, it’s cheesy. Yes, the effects now look very dated. But if you’re bored on a wet Saturday afternoon and happen to stumble on it, sit there and give it a go (taking every battle with a larger pinch of salt than the last).

i adore this film. it has been a favourite of mine for as long as i can remember and am now hoping my son will love it as much as i always have done

very brilliant underated film.

this is one of the films that is timeless, no matter how many times you watch it you never get bored.

the characters, the story and the whole film is just great

Willow has been a favourite with my (now very grown-up) children for over twenty years! It is just as enjoyable to watch now as it was then. It is a great fantasy with lots of action but nothing too scary for the over 5's.