Review of Willow

Introduction

After the first Star Wars trilogy, George Lucas came down to Earth with the rich fantasy Willow. Directed by Ron Howard, Willow was an ambitious movie, shot all over the world. A quest, a battle of good against evil, swords and sorcery, this all sounds familiar, but this film was made 12 years before Lord of The Rings. There may not be a hobbit in sight, but Willow is no less magical.

Willow Ufgood is a lowly Nelwyn farmer, with aspirations of being a high sorcerer. To this end he practises his magic tricks in the hope of being made the apprentice of the High Aldwin. However, his simple life is rudely interrupted by the arrival of a Daikini baby, floating downstream near his farm. Although he is initially wary, his children and his warm-hearted wife convince him to look after the child. The Nelwyn village is put in danger though, when it is attacked during a fair by a group of vicious dogs that are searching for the child. The dogs are defeated but the Nelwyn villagers decide that keeping the child is dangerous and must be returned to the first Daikini that Willow finds. Unfortunately, the first Daikini that Willow finds is the roguish warrior, Madmartigan and despite his own misgivings, is persuaded by his fellow Nelwyn to hand over the child. His suspicions are confirmed, when he next sees the baby in the claws of a hawk. Giving chase, he is captured by the Brownies who stole the child and is brought before the Fairy Queen, Chelindrea. There he learns of the prophecy of the child who will be the downfall of the evil Queen Bavmorda, the baby who is now entrusted to his care. He learns that he must take the child to safety with the aid of Raziel, a witch who can defeat the plans of Bavmorda. To aid him in his quest, he receives a wand, and the dubious aid of two Brownies, Franjean and Rool. He soon meets up with Madmartigan again, and with his reluctant aid sets off in search of Raziel. But hot on their trail are the death dogs, the evil Kael and Bavmorda`s own daughter, Sorsha. The motley group of adventurers must overcome insurmountable odds to defeat the twisted plans of Bavmorda.

Video

Willow is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The transfer is pristine, with no signs of digital artefacts or aging of the print. It`s as if the film was released yesterday. The picture is crystal clear, with sharp images and strong colour. A good transfer is just what the film needed, as Willow looks stupendous. Shot on location all over the world, including New Zealand long before Lord of The Rings made it a tourist destination, Willow boasts some breathtaking scenery. Whether it is mountains or forests, the cinematography is wondrous and the locations inspired. The only things that date this film are the effects. When this film was made in 1988, cinema stood on the cusp of an effects revolution, with digital imaging poised to remake Hollywood. A few digital effects are used here, especially in the morphing as described in the extras but the majority of the effects are old-fashioned optical effects. This is immediately apparent when the Brownies first make their appearance. The bluescreen effect is initially jarring and obvious, but after a while you fall back into the spell that the movie is weaving. But every time an old fashioned effect appears, you are once again jarred. The dragons look particularly Harryhausenesque.

Audio

You get the choice of DD 5.1 or DD Surround English tracks. The action is conveyed well and the surround really sets the atmosphere. When it comes to Lucasfilm, you can be assured that they put an emphasis on quality video and audio, and it certainly shows here. The dialogue is always clearly audible. James Horner provides the music and he gives a jaunty and vibrant score perfectly suited to the material. The Nelwyn music has its own signature and helps defines their character, and the adventure as a whole has an expansive and powerful theme. But I must admit that the music didn`t really stay with me, and after Star Wars and Indiana Jones, I found myself wondering how the film would have sounded if John Williams had composed the score.

Features

The first thing you notice about Willow is the beautifully animated menu screen. If you select languages you will find the useful THX optimiser. The extras on this disc include…

Willow: The Making of An Adventure, which is a 22-minute documentary filmed at the time of the release. Director Ron Howard looks like Richie Cunningham with a moustache and Producer/Writer George Lucas also makes some contributions, as does the cast. Surprisingly the material is informative as opposed to the extended trailers most of these affairs usually are.

From Morf to Morphing is a more recently made documentary that describes the birth of digital effects which acme about during the making of Willow. Lasting 17 minutes, it goes into quite some tech heavy detail regarding how they accomplished the morphing effects.

TV Spots and Trailers comprise some 8 TV spots and the 2 teasers and 1 theatrical trailer. There is also a photo gallery containing some 46 pictures.

Finally there is the commentary given by Willow himself, Warwick Davis. This is somewhat different from the usual commentaries that come with films, as Warwick Davis doesn`t really go into to much detail regarding the making of the film itself, rather the commentary is more of a personal recollection of the film for him. You feel as if he is sharing a diary of his experiences during the shoot and it makes a refreshing change to hear such an individual point of view. That said, he does discuss certain scenes to a fair extent and does point out the occasional continuity error. There are also a few repetitions of comments.

It should also be noted that while the film itself is subtitled, as you would expect, there are also some HOH English subtitles provided for the extras, especially the commentary. If only all companies were as thoughtful.

Conclusion

It`s very easy to make comparisons of Willow to Star Wars. The story and the characters seem familiar, but such comparisons would be unfair. In Star Wars, George Lucas has gone about creating a modern parable. Why else would people see Jedi as a religion? Similarly, Willow is also akin to a parable. The story at its basic is a struggle of good against evil. The innocent sent on a quest, the heroic rogue, the orphan child are all elements of stories that are far older than the pen of George Lucas and it is no surprise that these similar characters keep cropping up. At its heart, Willow is a fantasy, and a far more audience friendly one than the recent Lord of The Rings. In this, Lucas manages to reinvent the epic so that it is more palatable and relevant to modern audiences.

The audience is far more sympathetic to the characters when they have a sort of modern irony to them, which is why the original Star Wars trilogy worked so well. In Willow, the characters are similar, with Madmartigan a brilliant rogue. Val Kilmer really lights up the screen as the flamboyant swordsman with a brash flair. He is the best thing in this film. Joanne Whalley plays Sorsha and the on screen relationship sparkles, as their off-screen relationship was no doubt developing. Jean Marsh hams it up as the evil Bavmorda, and relishes the role. It`s amazing to think that when Warwick Davis was cast as the father of two Willow, he was himself only seventeen. He brings a tender honesty to the part that is enchanting. However his accent does tend to wander a bit. Speaking of accents, the French sounding brownies, Rool and Franjean, played by Kevin Pollock and Rick Overton are by turns irritating and entertaining. But I`m sure that children will lap them up.

This DVD presentation of Willow is very well done, with excellent sound and picture. There are a good amount of extras, with documentaries and a decent commentary. As mentioned in the commentary, some scenes which were originally excised from the British release have been restored, but some scenes are also mentioned which were cut or reshot, and if anything is missing from this disc then some deleted scenes would have been nice. Willow is a wonderful family film, with all the ingredients necessary to entertain, a lively story with some great characters. I think there may have been a couple of scenes a little scary for really young children and you may want to watch the film first yourself. On second thoughts, why should kids have all the fun? Watch Willow yourself, you`ll have a good time.