Willow

Willow's a medieval fantasy movie with a lot going for it. Val Kilmer is the down-on-his-luck swordsman, Joanne Whalley is the swordswoman daughter of the evil Queen, and between them is a baby that neither of them has much concern for. But, as tends to happen in these stories, their hearts are softened.



Luckily for the baby, a Nelwyn (fantasy term for little people) woman takes it in - and her husband, played by Warwick Davis, gets drawn into caring for it. Val only agrees to help out in return for being let out of a cage. But he, too, is drawn to the little cutie. Joanne is a tougher nut to crack. It's her evil mother who wants to grab the kid and do harm. Joanne's been raised all her life to be mercenary. She's excellent with the sword and commands the loyalty of her troops. But a few encounters with Val, a bit of magic dust, and romance is in the air.

I like that they at least try to give some justification for the typical falls-in-love-and-abandons-all-reason type of storyline. Still, I do think the transformation comes a bit TOO strongly without enough supporting meat. Joanne has been raised since birth to be cold and hard. This is the way she is. I'd like it if they spent even a little more time on her thawing process with Val. Still, the movie gets immense kudos for allowing her to stay strong and skilled. So often in these movies the heroine is kick-butt in the first scene and then turns into a flailing "help me! help me!" by the first half hour.



The cinematography is awesome in this. There are so many vistas that I took photos of (from my home DVD) to use as inspirations in my artwork. Gorgeous settings. Glowing colors.

The acting is a bit mixed. The brownies definitely get the highest of kudos, though. They are small parts (heh heh) but Kevin Pollak and Rick Overton make them absolutely shine. There are so many lines that I could quote from this because they are delivered perfectly. Then again, there are some that suffer. Val's complaint that he doesn't want the baby to come along with him, but they're going the same way so he has to, always stands out in my mind. A high school performer could easily do better. So a bit of up and down there.



This is clearly fantasy medieval, but it does still feel like a coherent world. The rustic Nelwyn village is a bit shiny, but it's quaint and lived-in. The taverns are appropriately rough and tumble. There are definitely scenes in here where you wonder if the Lord of the Rings guys watched this a few times to get ideas.

So, all in all, I like this a lot. Where many children-aimed movies make the women into babbling idiots (George and the Dragon, I'm looking at you) here we have all the characters with complex, multi-faceted personalities. Sure, the queen is Pure Evil, but the rest of them aren't shimmering gold. They're real people with flaws and issues. They have to overcome those to reach their goal. That's a lesson I think we can all learn.

Buy Willow from Amazon.com

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