Believe it or not, until this review, I had never seen
Willow. Or, to be more specific, I had not seen the film all the way through. I am aware of its pop culture status and that it was this film that made Warwick Davies a household name. Yes, he had appeared in Star Wars before doing this and usually anyone that has done Star Wars, usually becomes a big name soon after. But I guess the reason why it took this film to make him big was because he was wearing a mask in Star Wars. In fact, he was playing an Ewok. So with the sequel series having just finished, I figured it was a good time to not just review the sequel series, but to also review the film as well. Not sure what to expect, but having met the guy in real life, I'm sure we'll be in for a good time. So let's get to it:
1988 Film
Interesting to also note that both of these were also produced by LucasFilm with George Lucas himself having done the story treatment for this film. In an unnamed fantasy world, the evil queen of the land, Bavmorda of Nockmaar (played by Jean Marsh), hears a prophecy about a young child with a special birthmark that will bring about her downfall. As a precaution, she imprisons all the pregnant women in the land, unaware that the child herself was smuggled out once she was born. The mother (played by Sallyanne Law) is executed and the midwife (played by Zulema Dene) who is being chased by the queen's minions, is sent onto a river via a grass raft. With the queen desperate to find the baby, the baby winds up near a village of Nelwyn (a race of dwarves) where the children of farmer and aspiring sorcerer Willow Ufgood (played by Davies) find the baby and agree to look after it. After presenting the baby to the High Aldwin (played by the late Billy Barty), he orders Willow to find a Daikini family (what they call tall people) to look after her, and Willow leads a party with the baby to do just that. Meeting various enemies and allies along the way, and also learning what it takes to be a sorcerer and that he may have a part to play himself in the prophecy. This film is OK for what it is. It came out before Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films so much of it, used practical and special effects over CGI which, at the time, was still being worked on. It looks good and a great amount of work went into it, which I can clearly see. But it's lacking in the story department, and the acting is fine. Nothing perfect, but you got Val Kilmer and Warwick Davies putting on the best performances they can with a mix of banter, fun and other stuff too. So probably didn't quite make it to pop culture status then, at least until the series came about. 7/10
Season 1 of 2022 Series
The sequel series, set many years later, sees Willow (reprised by Davies) leading a new group of unlikely allies in a quest to save their world from beings known as the Gales. Willow, now a very competent sorcerer, begins training Elora Danan (played by Ellie Bamber) who was the baby from the film and had lost her memories and identity of such as they go on this quest. Accompanying them is Princess Kit Tanthalos (played by Ruby Cruz) whose twin brother Arik (played by Dempsey Bryk) had been captured by the Gales alongside Prince Graydon (played by Tony Revolori) and Jade (played by Erin Kellyman) who together form a love triangle in the series. Finally, there is Thraxus Boorman (played by Amar Chadha-Patel) who was a prisoner but agrees to tag along in exchange for all his charges being dropped. Together, they journey to find Arik and defeat the Gales before they start taking over their world. The series I would say is a lot better than the film. Every character is fleshed out and the series, unlike the film, isn't just focused on the effects this time. Plus, although I do feel Disney (who of course own LucasFilm whom in turn own the rights to the franchise) are pushing the LGBTQ+ thing a bit too far in their shows and films, it's pretty well done here with the queer representation in a couple of characters. It's funny, got some good battles, great effects and good acting, even if Warwick Davies sounds like he's reading from a script rather than putting effort into it all. 9/10
I think overall, the series and film are good. They have their issues, and both are not perfect by any means. But if by having a sequel series has taught us anything, it's that some things that started out as films, tend to do better in shows because you can flesh things out a lot more than in a film which is a sad, but fair truth in a way. 8/10
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