Customer Reviews

Willow (Widescreen)

5 star:		(103)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

"Willow"tries to be just like great fantasy films like
"Hobbit",and "Neverending Story".Unfortunately,"Willow"
falls flat on its face.The story intended to be good,but
it kept plodding along,taking forever to get to certain parts
of the storyline(the 25-minute scene where the soldiers
were turning into pigs,the 20-minute scene where the brownie
drank beer,the 30-minute scene of the 2 sorceresses fighting,
etc).Perhaps if the movie-makers kept the storylines shorter,
this movie would'nt been more enjoyabel.There are a couple of
of hilariuos moments,but they only last about a couple of minutes.The special effects are okay,and the evil queen
was only half-convincing.Advice:Rent this movie.

Willow Ufgood (Played by Warwick Davis) is a nelwyn (little people) farmer who aspires to being a good farmer, a good father, and (if possible) the village sorcerer's next apprentice. However when he finds a daikini (tall people/us) baby, his whole world is turned upside-down. This baby is Elora Danan, a child of prophecy, destined to be the end of the evil witch-queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh), and Bavmorda's army is looking for her. There's a destiny at work here, and Willow must see it through. But along the way he will find help in unexpected places, most unexpectedly in the form of Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), a rogue of rogues and self-proclaimed "greatest swordsman that ever lived."

This is a great story of swords and sorcery, good and evil. I thought that the battle scenes were very good, as was the magic. Heck, I even thought that the special effects were good. It's not The Lord of the Rings, but nothing else is. This is an excellent fantasy movie, one that you can sit down and watch with your whole family. It's got something for everyone - action, adventure, magic, romance and comedy. My children (a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old, who are both fans of The Lord of the Rings) both loved this movie, especially the brownies, who have to be seen to be believed. My family and I all highly recommend this movie to you.

oh willow what an odd little film. It started out a little too jokey pokey fairy flimsy but by the end it gains a so bad its good personality. Is it just me or did the storyline seem like a mishmash of the lord of the rings meets moses. Really tho the little girl at the begining is suppose to bring down the kind and is saved by being sent up the river, just like moses. then a dwarf or dare i say hobbit finds the girl(ring) and must deliver it somewhere....and so the hobbit i mean dwarf played by the very annoying warwick davis must go on a journey to fullfill his destiny. Anways what i liked a disliked about the movie. What i liked was how dark and cheesy it got at the ending with a gory dragon being born and reaking havok on everyone. The dragon was comprised of very terrible effects which we were treated to throughout the whole film but since some time has gone by these effects have added a biut of charm to the movie. in fact i would say the bad effects were actually my favorite part of the whole movie. What i did not like were the two main characters. Val kilmer gave a very strange corny performance and warwick davis was his usual anonying self, except he was a dwarf wearing a cape so that was pretty cool. There are many wizards and fairy like creatures to keep my attention going and near the end the movie kind of got a little creepy for a kids movie and made the difference between a 3 and 4 star review. All in all this movie is best for its nostalgiac values and possibly a good pick for an adult who needs something to watch with the kids.....ps the begining has more dwarfs on screen at one time than ive ever seen....for what its worth.

When i was little, i really did enjoy this film, and watched it for hours. I am not sure about it now, since its been a while. But i remember it being amazingly fantastic, and i loved every minute of it. The storyline was well thought out, and it had a mixture of genres. Including, Fantasy, Comedy, adventure and more, all the aspects which will please a child audience.Its a love, hate relationship, either you LOVE it or hate it really. Its not every ones cup of tea, but its certainly mine. If your things such as Lord of the rings, Never ending story, etc, (anything with magical aspects) Then this is the thing for you! :)

I remember seeing this movie as a child and absolutely loving it. The sets and monsters are magical and entertaining, and the plot is well-crafted and fast-paced for a kid. I did get the movie for Christmas, and it doesn't hold up as well to my now adult mind as The Dark Crystal or The Princess Bride, especially the acting, but still, it's fun to watch. If you liked this as a kid, or are still a kid, I'd recommend it.

Willow is not the perfect movie. It suffers from some of the annoying film conventions of the time, such as stupid chase scenes and shots of the baby making editorial faces (yawning when everyone else is scared, being disgusted, etc. which reminded me of some really awful dog-cop movie) and one unconvincing projectile-vomit. The special effects do date the movie, but progress has to come from somewhere.

I wrote this review mainly to put in my two cents on the originality and plot. Willow has a lot of fairy-tale elements, such as an evil queen (this was not invented by Snow White), an unlikely hero, prophecy fulfilled by a(n often orphaned) child. That is not borrowing someone else's original material, that is using _archetypes_, which in literature is considered fair game. I do not understand why people are comparing this to Lord of the Rings for originality--LoTR follows the books.

You get the gist of the plot mostly from Willow's perspective. He doesn't understand all the details, he just has a mission and he's following his nose. If you can see something as a serious plot hole, you can probably come up with a reasonable explanation for it. Example: requiring that the baby's soul be exiled rather than just killing her. If her soul is released, she could be reborn and the threat would remain.

As for the acting, I thought the characters had some wonderful interactions in the film. I love the scene where Willow rescues Mad Mardigan, and I love the sorceress's little white lie. Their bickering really works for me, and I chose to enjoy the little brownies with their French accents not following Faerie stereotypes. They were more happy-go-lucky and careless with magic than I would have made them, but they were pretty marginal so it didn't matter. The princess came off to me as just following Mom's orders rather than being evil in her own right, so I didn't mind when she changed sides. It is not normal to follow Mom's orders forever. In a nutshell, I thought the acting was appropriate for who the characters were supposed to be. It's been a while so I don't remember the "scary-looking" guy, but I felt it is more powerful to let the queen have all the evil anyway.

If you spend more energy attacking the film than you do enjoying it, you will voluntarily be missing out.

Before there was The Lord of the Rings (the movie), there was Willow!!! This was the first fantasy movie that I really fell in love with.

It is fun and magical and recommended to everybody. I've been anticipating this DVD release for a long time and I'm so glad to have this movie in digital (my VHS was wearing down over the years).

OK, this isn't a work of cinema art - big deal! This is a fun and adventurous fantasy movie that is a rollicking bit of fun. Do you like great adventure? Swords and Sorcery? Romance? Comedy? Well, this is a great mix of all of the above. Does it have bad acting? Heck no! For a all-inclusive, family-friendly movie, this one really hits the target. The little, cowardly goofs have French accents - what a big surprise.

No, this is a great movie, one that's sure to please every Fantasy fan. Buy it!

I am watching this movie again for an uncountable time, fastfowarding through the commercials from some long ago Christmas taping.
I think the time has come to buy an actual, commercial free copy. It is lots of fun to watch.

Ignore VIEWER FROM NJ folks.

Willow has all the components for a fantasy story: a fairly long journey, myth, legend, a band of varied heroes, a witch, a dragon, trolls, and brownies...action, adventure, humour, romance...

For the time when it was made, it is great; as time passes, all your favourite movies will seem slip backwards, from a technological point of view. You appreciate a movie for what it is.

And while VIEWER FROM NJ mentions THe Phantom Mencace, which I must agree was tardy from every stand point, except the effects, he or she does not appreciate Willow. It's not that the movie is bad as he/she states; they just can't appreciate it for what it is.

It is not on the same epic scale as Lord of the Rings in terms of the books and the movies (after all, Willow is 1 movie, not 3). And unlike what VIEWER FROM NJ stated about "You gotta have plot character and the mythic element of the hero for fantasy to work and to make great movies on the subject", Willow has it all then some (see first paragraph).

See this movie remembering whence it came. VIEWER FROM NJ does appreciate that fact; also he/she seems to be young since they praised LOTR, saw The Phantom Menace then asked if there was "CGI back then". This seems to be the norm, for the younger folk not to appreciate and respect the movies from the previous years that has paved the way for the great (and unfortunately, not-so-great) movies of today and tomorrow. The dragon was actually done using a method called stop-motion animation; not CGI. There was more worked involved in this method - actual (minitaure) models were used.

So ignoring VIEWER FROM NJ review, borrow Willow if you can; I'm pretty sure you'll want to own it afterwards. Also have a look at Neverending Story (The first one), The Princess Bride, Legend, and Krull.