Willow | 
| Director: Ron Howard
Actors: Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis, Jean Marsh, Patricia Hayes
Category: DVD
Buy New: $11.20
New (3) Used (5) from $8.31
Rating:  353 reviews
Sales Rank: 128576
Format: Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
UPC: 024543025139
EAN: 0024543025139
ASIN: B000065FWT
Theatrical Release Date: May 20, 1988
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
This epic Lucasfilm fantasy serves up enough magical adventure to satisfy fans of the genre, though it treads familiar territory. With abundant parallels to Star Wars, the story (by George Lucas) follows the exploits of the little farmer Willow (Warwick Davis), an aspiring sorcerer appointed to deliver an infant princess from the evil queen (Jean Marsh) to whom the child is a crucial threat. Val Kilmer plays the warrior who joins Willow's campaign with the evil queen's daughter (Joanne Whalley, who later married Kilmer). Impressive production values, stunning locations (in England, Wales, and New Zealand) and dazzling special effects energize the routine fantasy plot, which alternates between rousing action and cute sentiment while failing to engage the viewer's emotions. A parental warning is appropriate: director Ron Howard has a light touch aimed at younger viewers, but doesn't shy away from grisly swordplay and at least one monster (a wicked two-headed dragon) that could induce nightmares. --Jeff Shannon
Description
From legendary filmmakers George Lucas and Ron Howard comes one of the most beloved fantasy tales of all time. This groundbreaking film features stunning special effects, dazzling action and a classic battle between good and evil. When young Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis) finds an abandoned baby, he is suddenly thrust unto an adventure filled with magic and danger. According to an ancient prophecy, the sacred child is destined to end the reign of the evil sorceress Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh). Now, the only a single swordsman (Val Kilmer) at his side, Willow must overcome the forces of darkness that threaten to destroy anyone who stands in the Queen's way!
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 348 more reviews...
 Nothing NOT to love about this movie! June 2, 2009
Shuree D. Munden-Wagstaff (Southern California)
One of my all time favorite movies. Each time I introduce it to someone new, they always run out and buy it...enough said, except for this..you will not regret buying this movie!!
 Nice condension of Evil Overlord list, but largely a nostalgia film. May 12, 2009
Ana Mardoll (United States)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Willow / B00003CXDD
*Spoilers*
As I write this review, I cannot help but note that Willow currently stands at an impressive four-and-a-half stars, and I fear that this review might not be received well by fans. This review is, however, for people - like me - who missed seeing Willow when it came out and wonders if maybe it's worth buying now.
I like "old" movies, shoot, I just watched The Dark Crystal (25th Anniversary Edition) for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. And I am very sympathetic to the argument that older movies should be judged for what they were at the time, and that it is important to remember that the fantasy genre was a bit more sparse in those days. I understand why people might have liked Willow then, and I can understand why the same people would still like Willow now.
Having said all that, I do not think that many people who haven't seen Willow up until now, would like it at this point. This review is for them.
Unlike the sharp, clear-cut direction of Lucas' other early works (most notably, of course, is Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope (1977 & 2004 Versions, 2-Disc Widescreen Edition)), the script of Willow meanders painfully around, never seeming quite certain which direction to follow. The infant Elora Danan is prophesied to be responsible for the death of Queen Bavmorda, setting in motion Bavmorda's ill-fated attempts to murder the child, but the infant is never "responsible" in any meaningful sense of the word other than as a catalyst for the action. The main characters seem to stumble blindly through the movie, never quite certain what, precisely, to do with the infant, which might make for a believable plot (what does one do with a 'chosen one', anyway?) but does not make for an interesting movie.
The addition of Val Kilmer's character is not a bonus for this movie. Kilmer is one of those rare actors who either does an exemplary job or a truly awful one, but never in between. Madmartigan is, supposedly, a sort of golden-hearted villain, along the lines of Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)), but his character traits lurch randomly from noble to blackguard to lecherous, without any rhyme or reason other than the change of scenery and the needs of the plot at that timeline. Particularly annoying is the ridiculous romance subplot, which I found to be remarkably awful, even by Lucas' current standards.
To wit, the evil Queen Bavmorda has a daughter who is the highly capable, well trained, and fiercely loyal commander of the queen's forces. She loves her mother completely and has few qualms about preemptively killing an infant in order to protect her mother. Really, you could not imagine a woman more in control of her faculties than this admirable, if evil, princess. She is immune to the charms of men, which is highly understandable since she has surely been inundated with "love struck" suitors all her life - being that she is beautiful, rich, competent, and heir to the throne. However, her personality changes in a instant - literally - when a magicked, love-struck Kilmer clambers into her bed chamber, mumbling nonsensical words of love. Within a mere matter of hours, the princess has transformed into a love-struck maiden, desperate for Kilmer's affections, and completely ready to betray her mother. That's either Very Bad Writing or Madmartigan is wearing Very Good Cologne, but I personally tend towards the bad writing side of the fence. It may seem like a small point, but the princess' betrayal is a large portion of the story and the entire catalyst to allow the ending to occur and the fact that it is done so poorly really detracts from the storyline in a serious way.
There are good elements to this movie. Willow and his wife, children, and villagers are all superbly acted and wonderful characters. In fact, the point at which the movie can reasonably be said to have turned for the worse is when Elora and Willow leave the village - everything up to that point is extremely enjoyable.
I do hope this review isn't too offensive to long-time fans of Willow who treasure the movie for nostalgia's sake. Nostalgia movies are wonderful and healthy things and I don't mean to criticize that in any way. I just want to caution newcomers that, for your money, there are other fantasy movies out there with more consistency of plot and character development than I, personally, felt was contained in Willow. Your mileage may vary, however.
Great Story!!! May 12, 2009
Joyce Manning
This is an enchanting story, lots of action and exciting for the whole
family...
 Fun Ride, but Not Exceptional May 10, 2009
R. A. Kaelin (Computer Chair)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have good memories of Willow. Rather than going a typical fantasy route, with typical creatures, it sports some wholly unique elements that make for a really fun ride. With the exception of the distressing transformation scenes, this is a perfect movie for older children, and is most comparable to The Never-Ending Story.
However, some elements of Willow just haven't aged well. To me, Willow represents a lukewarm middle ground for George Lucas. On the negative side, it's an uneven mixture of movies he had worked on before, combined with a shot-up plot that wanders all over the place, a really horrible romance subplot, and a disjointed script. It's brightened up by some passable-to-stellar acting, great ideas, and interesting characters. The resulting film only manages to limp to the finish line. I feel that this movie points toward Lucas' devolution to a hack vomiting out horrid Star Wars prequels more than anything else.
It's very sad that this movie isn't any better; it has great ideas, many lovable characters, and a very good heart. You can't help rooting for it, riding along with it, and forgiving its slights. It's kind of like a goofy, lovable, dorky friend. Sure, this dorky pal says and does things that make you wince and groan, but he's such a cool person underneath all the awkwardness that you can easily overlook his faux pas and just love him all the same. My family and I laughed at this film, threw out one-liners, and shook our heads at the corny bits, but we also had a great time -- and there's not a kid among us!
The cons are legion. The script is wince-worthy, but passable; the characters seem to wander in mindless circles; the romance is terrible, and the transformation scenes are nauseating and painful to watch. The plot is rather awkward and full of irritating holes, the most bothersome being that Elora Danan is not responsible for the death of Queen Bavmorda as much as she's the catalyst for a deus ex machina. Furthermore, sometimes it's difficult to infer the intended meaning from certain scenes -- for example, when Willow and Meegosh are standing by the road, trying to hand out Elora Danan to an army. The first time I watched this I thought it was Bavmorda's army (when it was actually Eric's), and this is only cleared up after a couple of minutes had passed. It wasn't a natural confusion, if that makes sense -- not an intended confusion. Indeed, sometimes it seemed as though the filmmakers were kind of lazy and just shot everything willy-nilly, praying it would all come out in the end.
This is also not a special edition as much as it is the not-VHS-version. There is commentary by Warwick Davis and sadly... that's pretty much it.
The pros of this movie are myriad. Probably the most outstanding element of this movie is its optimistic outlook and its wonderful characters, as well as its unique take on the fantasy genre. It's not fair to compare this to Tolkien or as a mere Star Wars ripoff; both of these took quite liberally from the fairytale formula. Frankly, that fairytale formula is all that Willow takes from. With the exception of the Nelwyns, I never once thought of Tolkien; with the exception of Bavmorda's face at the end of the movie, I never thought of Star Wars.
I also loved Willow's characters. Bavmorda is a fantastic villain; one-sided, yes, but such a delightfully horrible character that it's a blast to watch her go down. Madmartigan is downright fun -- half Jack Sparrow, half Han Solo. Sorsha manages to come across as more than a politically correct, stereotypical, token female warrior (at least, until the bizarre addition of romance). The Brownies, Franjean and Rool, were a blast. And a big shout-out to Warwick Davis, who played the title role -- a fabulous job for a young actor! I was also completely impressed by Julie Peters, who played Kaiya. She was absolutely believable. It's only a shame she hasn't been able to play in any other leading roles.
Special effects range from pretty terrible (the trolls) to extremely cool (the two-headed dragon) to holy crap, I want to throw up (every single transformation scene). Still, for the most part, they're all right for a late 80s film (and I'm very impartial to stop-motion animation anyway, so I loved watching the dragon and didn't mind that a bit).
This might also sound rather silly, but I absolutely loved the nonsensical fantasy names they used in this movie. Every fantasy buff knows that fantasy names can be a nightmare to hear, read, or remember, mostly because they're full of random vowels and consonants that were all slapped together at random. But in Willow, almost every name is strangely appropriate and memorable. They're often lyrical (Kaiya, Elora Danan, Raziel, Tir Asleen), or the consonants and vowels are put together in just the right combination to create certain feelings (Bavmorda -- all of those hard, angry consonants in close quarters), or sound faintly reminiscent of something else (Madmartigan, Sorsha, Tir Asleen [Tir na Nog]). Whoever named those characters did an admirable job!
Don't go into Willow expecting too much, but don't go into it expecting it to completely suck, either. I own it; I'm glad to own it. I think it's a unique spin on the fairytale formula, and that most people will really enjoy it if they suspend their belief.
SATISFIED March 30, 2009
Liza Escobar (ca usa)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am very happy with this purchase! It was a a very fast, smooth transaction. When I recieved my dvd it was in "new" condition as stated in the description. I am very satisfied!
|
|
|
