0 Comments | Add

 

Rate & Share:

 

Related Links:

 

Info:

WILLOW

As things happen, I eventually grew tired of the film, but never lost my soft spot for it. 10 years later I found myself at the local Video Supreme and was overjoyed to locate this new Special Edition version on DVD. I approached the clerk and said, "WILLOW. Wow, this film is a masterpiece - better than STAR WARS, I'd say." He said "3 bucks." "So do you like WILLOW? I mean, wow, how could you not! It's an American masterpiece." "I SAID 3 BUCKS!"

According to prophecy, a young child will end the reign of wicked Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh, RETURN TO OZ). When the time comes for the child to be born that nasty lady orders the baby girls of the local areas killed, ala Moses. The unfortunate mother of the chosen child manages to have her baby snuck away by the fastest walking handmaiden in history before being killed. This speedy lady conveniently gets the baby to a river, before she is overcome by what looks like giant killer shrews. At the last minute she just happens to find a nest big enough for the child and sends it downstream - Moses again - where it is found by the diminutive Willow Ufgood's (Warwick Davis, LEPRECHAUN) children. Willow senses something amiss and advises the children to send the rugrat downstream, which they don't do and as things turn out, Willow winds up stuck with the child. At a big town celebration the festivities are disrupted by the killer shrews. One of the village's keener minds figures they were after a baby. Not being able to hide the fact that he's got the most likely intended victim, Willow is sent on a journey to leave the baby with the first tall person he meets.

This, unfortunately, turns out to be the questionable Madmartigan (Val Kilmer, BATMAN FOREVER), a Han Solo for medieval times. After a lengthy decision making process it is decided that Madmartigan will become the guardian of the child and Willow heads for home. Surprisingly, his ability to hold onto the infant is poor and fortunately Willow is there to see the baby being kidnapped by the truly unfunny "brownies." Being captured by this diminutive anti-comic relief, Willow is freed under the orders of a wood fairy who informs the dwarf that the chosen child wants him to be her protector. Willow accepts and the adventure continues.

Filled with set pieces and the best special effects money could buy at the time, WILLOW would be a handsome piece of work if it was still 1988, but sadly, things change. Utilizing a primitive form of morphing and an overabundance of blue screen, the film looks as good as an early episode of XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS, which is to say it feels like a TV movie. Lucas built his reputation in the fantasy arena by putting together classy composites of older films that kept people enthralled with engaging heroic and evil paradigms and an abundance of nail-biting action. WILLOW stays within this pattern, a merge of such disparate elements as bible folklore, Dumas type swashbucklers, Tolkien nods/steals and toboggans. Helming the adventure is Ron Howard, noted at the time for his enjoyable comedies such as SPLASH, NIGHT SHIFT and GUNG HO, along with the sleeper hit COCOON. Faced with the daunting task of following in Lucas' (STAR WARS) and Spielberg's (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) footsteps, he manages to turn an epic adventure into a slow-moving snooze fest. Not a single action sequence packs a punch and the final battle between two elderly witches comes across as laughable (not helped in the slightest by Patricia Hayes' (CARRY ON AGAIN, DOCTOR) turn as Fin Raziel). The inclusion of trolls that look like Mon-Chi-Chis and a dragon resembling two penises attached at the testicles (a hold over from FLESH GORDON?) doesn't help much either.

And what about that performance by Val Kilmer? Did the guy want to come across as a jokey surf bum slumming in ancient times? He stands out like a pair of Bermuda shorts at a Goth party.

Things aren't helped by the more than passing resemblance to Tolkien's HOBBIT and LORD OF THE RING tales - short stature gentleman reluctantly goes on a quest. I'm surprised his estate didn't sue. Bob Dolman's by the numbers screenplay, based on Lucas' "original" story, is pretty flat. (Surprisingly, he would work with Howard again on the equally disappointing epic FAR AND AWAY.)

As a film intended to satisfy the kid in all of us, WILLOW is a failure. That doesn't mean that it can't baby-sit your kids for a couple of hours. They'll probably love the epic, forgiving little bastards, and delight in all the antics. For them WILLOW is just what the doctor ordered, except for some of the violent bits but hey, kids today need some scares! Why, my granddad used to piss himself to sleep after his granddad read to him from GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES and SHOCKHEAD PETER, and gramps grew up to a be mighty fine alcoholic. Mighty fine.

With two featurettes, one more concerned with morphing than with the movie, 11 adverts, behind-the-scenes photos and a commentary track from Warwick Davis, this is the barebones of Special Editions. (Why, it doesn't even include the famous deleted scene where Willow was attacked by a shark-like creature!)

WILLOW is presented widescreen (2.35:1) anamorphic and the print quality is fairly good, with things having been cleaned up a bit since its VHS days. A few scenes that were either blown up or poorly lit, hence an abundance of grain, are now more apparent, but other than that it's tiptop. The sound, as to be expected with THX mastering, is first rate.

The featurette "WILLOW: Making of an Adventure" features those damn brownies far too much (couldn't one of the crew squash them?) and is your basic ad hidden as a making-of documentary nothing but positive sound bites from all involved. Interestingly, though, the intro to this featurette makes a snide comment about sequels while boasting about WILLOW's "original" concept - apparently they didn't stop to think that first films in an intended franchise can also stink.

The second featurette "Morf to Morphing" is about how the morphing process evolved from WILLOW into a special effects movie staple. Pretty dry stuff here; put it on when you want the relatives to leave.

11 advertisements for the movie all seem to act as warning lights to the dull adventure ahead. Watching all of these in a row will give you a migraine.

The most interesting thing about the DVD is the commentary track by Warwick Davis. His stories and anecdotes about the making of WILLOW are fascinating; he also goes into a lot of background about his acting career. If there is one reason to check out this disc, it's to hear him talk.