Summary
A Dwarf is tasked with delivering a child, chosen to fulfill prophecy, to those who will protect it from the evil Queen Bavmorda.
The Film
I have no idea how this movie stayed off my radar for so long. It’s not like I had never heard of it but I guess I figured if it was any good I was past the age of appreciating it. I thought, perhaps, that if I watched it now, as an adult, I would surely think it was too childish or slow because of the day in which it was made. I figured it would be like someone in their 40s watching “Labyrinth” for the first time.
I could not have been more wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and would rank it with any of the other classic 80s/90s Fantasy Adventures that I enjoyed in my preteens. I would rank it above certain classics like “The Dark Crystal,” or “Legend,” for sure.
What is it that makes this movie so enjoyable? It’s the structure of the film. The characters and plot are built on a structure which is tried and true. George Lucas, producer on “Willow,” loves this structure referred to as the hero’s journey and has employed it in most of his great films to such an extent that it is difficult to watch “Willow” without referring to “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” throughout.
While some may look at this as a negative, I see it as a positive. It isn’t groundbreaking to model a film after a mythic structure but this film isn’t trying to be groundbreaking. It’s trying to be good fun and nails that goal right in the bulls-eye. By using common tropes and types, the audience is able to smoothly join a world already in progress with lots of weird creatures and countries and still know who the good guys and bad guys are. This isn’t the sort of film that wants you to get lost in too much thinking.
Where it lacks in depth “Willow” more than makes up for it in humor, earnest heart, and top notch production design. Since LotR, many may have forgotten that fantasy films didn’t get much in the way of budgetary consideration from most studios. Big budget means big risk so the number of sets, miniatures, costumes, and special effects in “Willow” are simply staggering.
The character of Willow is played by Warwick Davis with remarkable accessibility and candor. H isn’t the greatest actor but his vulnerability transcends his actual acting ability and creates its own sense of fragility that I did not expect to find in a kid’s movie.
In addition to Warwick Davis (“The Return of the Jedi”), we get Val Kilmer (“Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang”) as Madmartigan, the Han Solo of this film. Or maybe he is Indiana Jones. Either way, I think you see what I’m getting at. This is a risky move. Aping popular characters can really backfire and, certainly, Kilmer, is no Harrison Ford, but for the most part he carries the ridiculous, confident, lucky, scoundrel as true as if the Millennium Falcon had set down next to Willow’s stone house.
I could go on and on, and will, when we record the podcast, about all the Indiana Jones/Star Wars analogues in this film. I suppose it could look cookie cutter or same to some but I prefer familiar.
There is the kind of familiar that wears at you, like a joke being told too many times. “I know the punchline, shut up already!” The other familiarity is when something is warming and safe and comfortable because it is so familiar it is like our second skin. This is the kind of familiar that “Willow” is. I may never have seen it, but I have seen its kind and loved them. When this new unfamiliar expression of the same comes on, I feel like wrapping up in it the way I would grab a blanket and curl up on a cold night by the fire. It just feels so good to be home.
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