The prophecy speaks o the one who will bring
balance to the Force...oh, wait. The prophecy speaks of the
one who will bring order to the land and overthrow the Queen.
Ok, so it doesn't take a genius to spot the
similarities between Star Wars and Willow. Let's see, in one
we have two droids who drop from the sky and into the lap of
a farmboy. He is spurred on to lead a rebellion to overthrow
the evil Emperor. In the other we have a baby who floats down
a river and into the lap of a farmboy. He is inspired to lead
a rebellion against the evil Queen. Granted, the fine details
do differ, but the arc of Willow's story is lifted right out
of George Lucas' earlier epics.
Given his track record, it could be argued
that Lucas is a one-trick pony. But if it's a good trick, who
cares?
Warwick Davis plays the title character, Willow
Ufgood. Willow aspires to be a sorcerer, but he lacks confidence
in his abilities. When a Daikini (human) baby finds its way
into his arms, the village's, chief sorcerer, the High Aldwin
(Billy Barty), sees this as a chance to boost young Willow's
confidence. He orders the boy to take the baby to the Daikini
crossroads so it can be returned to its own kind.
Meanwhile (these sorts of films always seem
to have a "meanwhile" about every five minutes or
so), the evil queen, Bavmorda (Jean Marsh), is hunting the baby.
It seems that the child bears a mark that foretells the downfall
of the queen and her empire. She charges her daughter, Sorsha
(Joanne Whalley), with the task of finding the baby and bringing
it to her so it can be destroyed.
When Willow and company arrive at the crossroads,
the only human they find is Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), who is
imprisoned in a hanging cage. Unwilling to leave the child with
such a scoundrel, Willow vows to stay until he finds someone
suitable.
Naturally, Madmartigan turns out not to be
as bad as he seems and, in fact, is a great warrior. He and
Willow eventually team up for a quest to find the sorceress
Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes), who is reported to be powerful
enough to combat Bavmorda. The catch is that Bavmorda has turned
Raziel into an animal, literally. The question is, will Willow
find the self confidence necessary to harness his magical talents
and turn Raziel back into a human?
The movie was intended to be a lighter, family
movie. Too bad no one bothered to tell this to the characters,
who are always fighting, calling each other names and trying
to kill one another. Granted, the violence is pretty tame, especially
by today's standards, but the intent versus the execution of
the film still seems to be entangled in confusion.
As for why the characters are always fighting,
well, the best conclusion I can come up with is because they
were told to fight in the script. Despite running better than
two hours, the film finds little time for character development.
Characters are evil when required to be evil and good when required
to be good.
Still, there is an overall sense of energy
to the film that makes it entertaining. We may not particularly
care about the characters, but it's at least fun to watch what
happens to them. Willow is a popcorn movie, pure and simple.
The film was directed by Ron Howard, but you
wouldn't necessarily know that by watching it. Producer Lucas
was on the set and you can definitely see his influences in
the way shots are composed. Lucas is quoted as saying that Howard
is the director and free to shoot the film as he wants. However,
Howard was still fairly new at the director's game at the time
of Willow and it seems pretty obvious that he deferred to Lucas
any time there were questions. The result is direction that
is a little shaky, but retains the overall look and feel of
a Lucas film.
At the time the film was released, the special
effects in it were heralded as groundbreaking. I remember watching
the film in the theater and being amazed at some of the things
that were done -- especially the morphing effects. Watching
it from the perspective of today's films is almost laughable
and certainly eye-opening to how far special effects have come.
For instance, I have the tools to create more convincing effects
right here on my laptop than any of those filmed for Willow.
Despite the film's many shortcomings, I still
find myself enjoying it. Willow is just a goofy, absurd film,
but sometimes that's OK.
