Willow (1988)

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I continued my mission of educating Bethany and Tyler in the classics by showing them Willow and Labyrinth as a double feature.  Again, this holds up very well for its age and really deserves to be rediscovered by a larger audience.  

Originally posted 12 Jul 2012.

Every once in a while, Christy (she of the Experiment) and I will call each other up, set our blu-rays, and watch a movie together.  Now that our show (So You Think You Can Dance and don't you dare judge us!) has gone from two episodes a week to only one (which I am not happy about) we now have potentially more time to do stuff like this.  But let's face it, it's rare for her and me to agree that a movie is worth watching. 

In this, though, we are of one mind.  We were both too young to see Willow in the theaters but clearly remember watching it multiple times on video.  It will always hold a special place for us.

It is a time of magic and prophecy.  A babe is born who is destined to defeat the evil Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh).  Spirited out of the queen's realm, the baby winds up in the care of Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis), a poor Nelwin farmer.  His village wise man (Billy Barty) decrees that the child must be taken to the crossroads, in the hopes that one of her own kind will care for her.  However, all Willow finds is the reprobate Madmartigan (Val Kilmer) imprisoned in a cage.  Against his better judgment and at the urging of his travelling companions, Willow frees Madmartigan and turns the child over to him.  This turns out to be a poor decision as the child is stolen almost immediately by Brownies, forcing Willow to rescue her and make sure that she survives long enough to fulfill her destiny.  To this end, two Brownie guides (Kevin Pollack and Rick Overton) lead Willow and the reluctant Madmartigan to rescue the sorceress Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes) without getting caught by Bavmorda's daughter Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) or her right-hand man General Kael (Pat Roach).

As a sword and sorcery epic, the effects hold up pretty well.  They used blue screen for the Brownies, which is not terribly great, but the practical effects for some of the sorcery is awesome.  The trolls on the bridge gave me goosebumps as a kid, though Christy said she found General Kael's skull mask to be more frightening. 

I always forget that this was brought to us by the combined might of George Lucas and Ron Howard, probably because neither one of them ever did anything like it again.  But for all those blissful hours of repeated video viewings, I thank them.