From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie Willow released in 1988.
Starring:
Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis
Directed by:
Ron Howard
Genre:
Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Rating:
PG
Budget:
$35,000,000 (estimated)
Current IMDb Rating When Reviewed:
7.2
The Synopsis is:
A young farmer, Willow Ufgood is chosen to protect a small defenseless baby, Elora Dannon from an evil queen.
Story:
American film director, producer, screenwriter, and entrepreneur George Lucas wrote the story called Munchkins in 1972 influenced by the Wizard of Oz. However, it got a second life after Lucas met English actor, comedian, film-maker, and television presenter Warwick Davis on the set of "Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) when Warwick was only 11 years old. George was so impressed with the actor that he got the inspiration to expand the idea.
Even Though George Lucas was wildly successful at the time with both the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises he faced significant challenges to get the film made because fantasy genre films categorically did terribly at the box office so many major studios turned down the film, until MGM got involved.
It was during the post-production phase of Cocoon released in 1985, when George Lucas approached its director Ron Howard to take on the project. Ron was the star of Lucas' breakout film American Graffiti (1973) where they got along well. Ron Howard turned down Cocoon: The Return and brought in Bob Dolman who wrote the screenplay in 1986.
The story we witness feels like a single narrative, but the lore is actually pretty substantial before and after the story represented in this film, so this could technically be considered the middle of the tale. What we got was a magical action packed flick with intense sentimental value and an adorable charm.
Pacing:
At 2 hours and 6 minutes it's long, but I never actually feel the length of the film because every part to me is so good. I am always happy to make time for this one.
Challenge:
The big challenge in this film is Queen Bavmorda. The film shows us the last portion of her life, but there is a significant back story that leads up to the events we see in the film. She was born into magical powers in the Valley of Tir Asleen in a place called the Mother World getting training from the fairy queen Cherlindrea and enduring a rivalry with the young enchantress Fin Raziel. Craving more power, Bavmorda stole a powerful book of dark magic, the Malatrium, that had a will of its own, and left Tir Asleen.
She returned during the engagement of Fin Raziel to the young Prince Mikal. Bavmorda cast a spell on Mikal that made him break off his engagement to Raziel and married her instead. After the birth of their daughter Sorsha, Bavmorda killed the King and Queen, making Mikal the new king. Bavmorda was not interested in sharing the throne with her husband so she gathered supporters, moved to her new fortress, Nockmaar. She then cast a spell to trap the King and his loyal subjects within Tir Asleen, summoned trolls to guard the city, and surrounded it within a stone maze.
This led to the first big showdown between Bavmorda and Fin Raziel. The battle was fierce but Bavmorda was not powerful enough to kill Fin Raziel so she transformed her into a muskrat and confined her on an island in the center of a great lake in the north.
Bavmorda was told of a child that will become the future empress of Tir Asleen and vanquish her. As a result she imprisoned all of the pregnant women in the land and in her dungeon and this is where the film begins to tell the tale.
So now that we're all caught up,we get a good picture of how evil Bavmorda is and why she is after this baby. Simply killing the baby would only cause her to be reincarnated, however Bavmorda’s plan was to perform the Ritual of Oblivion to banish Elora Danan's spirit to the Netherworld.
When the child was born, a midwife took pity on the situation and escaped with the child. Finally! A win for the other team. Bavmorda has just been getting her way this whole time, so this was a big loss for her… and she doesn’t handle it well.
When Sorsha’s efforts to find the child failed to please Bavmorda she sent her fiercest warrior, General Kael to assist.
I always imagined a romance between Bavmorda and her general based on their interactions with each other. There was something very personal about it, but based on Bavmorda’s past, she could be using magic to keep his loyalty.
General Kael was actually named after film critic Pauline Kael, who gave unfavorable reviews to popular films, especially all of George Lucas’ films. Some people thought it was petty and mean spirited to do that, but Kael admitted to being flattered by it.
In the story Kael is much like Darth Vader, the scared face beyond recognition covered by a very scary mask to conceal his humanity. He is also a powerful henchman that intimidates and dominates his opponents.
Bavmorda acts much like the Emperor, cruel, selfish and has the same cackling flair in their demeanor. Together, this dynamic duo of doom lights up the screen with so much energy and fun for me. I enjoyed the challenge in the story immensely!
Empathy:
What I love about this movie is the journey the audience is taken on with so many amazing protagonist characters. I hope you will indulge me as I go through the story play by play to highlight specific thoughts I have about the characters.
At first we see a poor midwife sacrifice herself unceremoniously so that the child Elora Danan may live, putting her afloat in a river as a last act of heroics. The tension in that scene alone was riveting!
We were clearly not meant to sympathize with or have an emotional reaction to the nursemaid being attacked by Bavmorda’s Death Dogs but we were meant to realize the deadly stakes involved in this story! So there's an immediate tension in the story when we see that Mims and Ranan, Willow Ufgood’s adorable little children found Elora and brought her to their family. You hope and you pray that Bavmorda’s beasts don’t find out where Elora is to hurt this precious family.
Willow’s backstory is that he showed magical talents as an infant, and the wise elder magician of the village, High Aldwin, announced that he was special when he was born. However, Willow's father made his son follow the family business as a farmer.
The High Aldwin held a contest to choose his next apprentice and asked which finger held the power to control the world. Willow failed by not trusting his intuition to choose his own finger which was the correct answer. This reminds me of the moment Conan learns the riddle of steel in Conan the Barbarian 1982. The lesson that Willow is meant to learn is that the power to change the world is always in one’s own hand. This is pretty much the handbook on how to become a hero.
At first it seems as if the nursemaid’s last minute plan to save Elora was working brilliantly, but when we least expected it, in the middle of a crowded festival, Willow’s village was attacked by Death Dogs searching for the child.
Willow is put in the hot seat for having the baby that brought destruction to the village. Not only that, the baby is a Daikini, which a foreign tribe of people. Willow’s tribe is called the Nelwyns. There are other tribes like fairies, trolls, and Brownies that live in the Mother World.
This is where the High Aldwin, announces that Willow with a band of volunteers will be sent on a journey to give the child back to the Daikini’s. These tribes usually don’t mix, so it’s important for Willow to leave the baby with a stranger when he finds them.
After reaching the crossroads between lands, they meet a man in a cage and an army marching towards a battle. These are not the proper circumstances to drop off a baby.
At first you may think that Willow’s team will be the band of characters that will endure the whole journey, but most of them return to the Nelwyn Valley. The only person left to stay by his side is his best friend Meegosh. They decide to free the man in the cage and give him the baby. It was a bad decision because the baby is stolen immediately by two adorably obnoxious Brownies. Cherlindrea appears as a forest spirit and puts them together with Willow to protect Elora.
I mention all of this to highlight the fact that this is the moment in the film that Willow makes the courageous decision to accept his call to be the hero and the responsibility to take on this challenge head on. Sending Meegosh home is his sacrifice of comfort of having a shoulder to lean on during the journey. Now, he can be comforted that Meegosh was safe at home and Willow was doing his part to save their world. I really loved how delicately that scene was written and how important it was for Willow to make that mature decision.
The man in a cage is actually Madmartigan, a self proclaimed “greatest swordsman that has ever lived”. It’s skeptical, but later on in the story he proves that he most likely is, or at least we can agree he’s pretty spectacular with a sword.
When we meet him in the story, he’s set up to be a bit of an irresponsible pompous scoundrel with a witty tongue. Madmartigan was a knight of the kingdom of Galladorn along with his best friend Airk. Madmartigan had a love affair that ruined his family name and he deserted Airk and his brethren.
He too goes through his own rejection and acceptance to the call to adventure, joining Willow in his mission to save the life of the child.
Next Willow rescues the sorceress Fin Raziel, to join the fight. There is a wonderful dynamic between Fin Raziel and Willow as she becomes his teacher in the arts of magic. There is quite a bit of endearing hijinx surrounding Willow’s failed attempts to transform her back into her true form as well as a gradual improvement in his abilities to the point you actually believe he may become a great wizard.
Throughout the story, Sorchia is hot on their trail, with General Kael nearby. They even manage to capture the heroes and at one point Sorchia kicks Madmartigan in the face, which is the birthplace of many moments of enjoyable snarky banter between the two. Through a love spell, Madmartigan professes his undying love for Sorcha, which is something that she has never heard in her life.
This leads Sorcha and Madmartigan to fall in love and she joins the team.
Many viewers criticize the story because it may seem too sudden for Sorcha to turn against her mother. But what was not revealed in the film, is that Bavmorda was always cruel to her daughter because Sorcha had no magical talent. She was also jealous of anyone that got close to Sorsha and used the magic to remove them. Sorcha took a liking to swordplay, archery and horseback riding. She earned the right on her own merit to command the Nockmaar army second in command, under General Kael. Bavmorda barely tolerated her except for the fact that Sorcha was loyal and worked hard for her. So there was a huge strain on their relationship from the onset.
There was a secondary reason why Sorcha turned sides in the story explained in a deleted scene. When Sorcha arrived at Tir Asleen she spoke with her father who was trapped in suspended animation.
From my perspective, Sorsha’s transformation made sense to me because you can see from her reaction, that declaration of love by Madmartigan visibly shakes her. Before the adventure to Tir Asleen, Madmatigan uses Sorcha as a hostage to escape a sticky situation. In my opinion, I think she allows him to capture her waiting to hear more of this declaration of love from him.
Once he says he’s not in love with her, she no longer needs to stay. I love that moment when she says, “‘I dwell in darkness without you’ and it went away?!?” However, you can see that the two of them have been permanently affected by these events.
There was definitely some underlying excitement between the two of them brewing for one another.
Just when you think that there are enough protagonists to get the job done, Airk also joins the band with his knights of Galladoorn to finally face off with Queen Bavmorda at Nockmaar.
At the final battle Bavmorda's citadel we get full character arcs for most of the characters. Madmartigan proves himself to be worthy of knighthood again, redeemed for his past. Sorsha confronts her mother and learns ultimately that she is truly lost to her. After suffering in exile for decades, Fin Raziel gets a chance to have a final EPIC battle with Bavmorda.
During this entire story Willow has been failing and improving along the way to the point he transformed Fin Raziel back into her human form. By the time he faced off with Bavmorda, I believed he had a decent chance to face her. But even still it is evident that she is too strong to defeat. Willow ultimately learns that he can use his wit to win a battle against a more powerful opponent, by using a low level practical illusion to make it seem as if he teleported Elora away from the citadel. It’s a wonderful moment of growth for the character that sweetens the joy of this movie’s happy ending.
Technical:
Principal photography began from April to October 1987 at Dinorwic quarry in Wales, Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, New Zealand, some scenic photography in South China for blue screen footage, and some exteriors shot around George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch on location at Burney Falls, near Mount Shasta.
These scenic aspects were pivotal to providing the audience with a sense that the Mother World was a lush wonder of nature! I was blown away by the gorgeous traveling scenery expressing the long trek of adventure Willow and his friends span during the story. It really sold me on this world.
The film had many practical visuals and costumes to help sell the story such as Bavmorda’s devil dogs that were Rottweilers outfitted in rubber masks and suits. There were excellent make-up transformations and fantasy creatures throughout the story.
The main macguffin in the story was the baby, Elora Danan who was adorably played by six-month-old twins, Kate and Ruth Greenfield. Whenever filming with babies and toddlers there are many challenges to production, but this film seemed to work it all in stride making Elora feel like more than just a macguffin but a lovable character. Much of that is due to coordination, editing, and visual trickery.
The twins were too young to have hair yet, so a miniature wig was applied using syrup as a gentle adhesive. And no worries, Madmartigan does not feed Elora blackroot. It was actually vanilla that he gave her.
There was also a 13 pound animatronics baby used for the action scenes. It was capable of moving its head and opening its mouth. Another, more flexible prop baby was used in other more dangerous scenes as well.
Kate and Ruth outgrew the props and the baby carrier that Willow had on his back, so second assistant director, Gerry Toomey, had his new born niece, Rebecca Bearman, body double, though uncredited.
The Brownies were filmed against a blue screen on a soundstage, then added within the scenes in post production.
George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic visual effects company worked on one of the most incredible revolutionary breakthroughs at the time, a digital morphing technology coordinated by Dennis Muren and developed by Doug Smythe and David Allen from September 1987 to March 1988. Before this, the best way to do it was editing the target, matching the positioning as best as possible, then applying optical dissolves into the final desired transformation. Other means were a string of transforming clips edited together from different angles of the transformation as seen in An American Werewolf in London 1981.
This new technique involved feeding clips of the transformation stages into their program which would output a smooth transition from one stage to another before outputting the result back onto film. It was wonderful and created a big splash once it was discovered.
It was used in later ILM projects for Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
The technology was used in the triumphant scene where Willow finally transforms Fin Raziel from a goat to her human form. Before it finally works, he turns the goat into an ostrich, a peacock, a tortoise, a tiger, and finally her correct form. It was fantastic!
Two-headed dragon was a stop motion character shot on green screen and at one point there was a puppet of Madmartigan riding the monster. The dragon was named "Eborsisk," as an inside joke to the crew in reference to movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, who had been giving George Lucas bad reviews.
I would expect that a George Lucas film would have been composed by John Wiliams and for many years I thought this was. I was wrong. The composer for this film was James Horner who put together a beautiful score for heroes with a great deal of influence from classical works. The main theme which can be heard in the title sequence was airy, light and had a wonderful suggestion of hope. In contrast, the theme for Bavmorda’s side of the story was filled with dark mysterious stings and rumblings as if evil is slithering beneath the surface. I loved it. The action scenes were infused with the score suggesting a more exciting and trumpet ladened tune you can hum along to. What a score! It was so good that it was licensed to be used in many theatrical trailers in the 80's and 90's.
Performances:
Warwick Davis was cast to play an Ewok extra for "Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) as I explained earlier at the age of 11. Actor Kenny Baker who played R2D2 was to play the main Ewok character by the name of Wicket, but unfortunately, he got sick. George Lucas gave the role to Davis after watching his performance as an extra and being impressed by what he saw. In 1987, Davis was offered the role of Willow, the main character that was written with him in mind. He was only 17 years old at the time playing a character that was indeed a grown man with children. Warwick played the character with a believable maturity and a vulnerability all through the film that made the audience root for Willow. What a fantastic performance and a display of Warwick’s incredible talent as he was starting his career!
Davis had to learn how to take care of a baby, ride a horse, sword fight, he worked on his speech and how to perform a few magical tricks. Warwick also met his future wife, Samantha Davis through the film who appeared as a Nelwyn villager in the film.
Val Kilmer played the valiant Madmartigan ad libbing a lot of his dialogue which infused the character with comedy, complexity and an fun unpredictability. This character was so good and displays Val’s range as an actor. It’s hard to imagine that this was the same actor who appeared in Top Gun in 1986.
I have to say that one of my favorite actors in this was Joanne Whalley who played Sorsha. Not only did I find her to be so very beautiful, she had a mix of demure grace to play nobility but also a fiery rebellious stature to play a character bold enough to defy her role in life. She was fantastic. Her on screen chemistry with Val Kilmer led to a romance between the two and eventually a 7 year marriage and had 2 beautiful children together, Mercedes and Jack Kilmer.
Jean Marsh deliciously played queen Bavmorda with rambunctious glee! She played a similar role to Queen Bavmorda in Return to Oz (1985) and then continued the type cast in Doctor Who: Battlefield: Part One (1989). She leans so hard into playing the evil all powerful character. You can see that she is having so much fun playing this juicy character and I personally love every moment of the performance.Oh my goodness, how I loved seeing her eat up the scenery!
Kevin Pollak and Rick Overton played the Brownies, inserting so much comedy in the film keeping the storyline fun and lighthearted. After work they would polish their skills doing stand-up improv at a bar in San Rafael, California.
As well, about 240 actors were hired to play the Nelwyns.
Enjoyment:
After 13 levels of preparation to get to the Ritual of Oblivion Queen Bavmorda is interrupted by invasion. The final battle with Bavmorda ends with her accidentally spilling her dark potion on herself vanquishing her into the Netherworld, while removing all of the magic she cast upon the kingdoms, freeing the King of Tir Asleen.
Elora Danan was given to Sorsha and Madmartigan and Willow returned home as a burgeoning wizard.
What a wonderful happy ending.
The film received a Royal Premiere before the Prince and Princess of Wales at the time. It opened to mixed reviews from critics. It grossed $137.6 million worldwide against a $35 million budget. It did well at the box office, but it did not perform as well as George Lucas expected so that was why we never got a sequel movie. However it did get enough recognition to receive two Academy Award nominations.
I remember being so excited to see this based on the trailer. The music, the action, the adventure was so enticing. As well, I was excited to see yet another George Lucas brain child. He just had a knack for creating content I adored. My mom took my brother and I to see the film and instantly it became a classic in my household. My mom purchased the video cassette of the film and we would gather around the living room eating homemade popcorn, watching the film and reciting as many lines as we could remember. Oh my goodness, we had so much fun together!
I thought that Willow was a great one off movie and I was more interested in a prequel detailing much of the events I uncovered for this review. Elora ends up a princess living in a castle so she is where she needs to be to fulfill the prophecy.
I was surprised to know that there were books known as "The Chronicles of the Shadow War" written by Chris Claremont based on George Lucas’ ideas. They are "Shadow Moon" 1995, "Shadow Dawn"1996, and "Shadow Star" 2000. Unfortunately, they were disliked by fans and disowned by Lucas who wasn't able to oversee the writing of series.
In 2020, Ron Howard announced a sequel series for Disney+ was in the works. November 30, 2022 the series aired starring Warwick Davis as Willow Ufgood and Joanne Whalley reprised her role as Sorsha. Even Though the actors are 34 years older, it was set only 17 years later with Elora being a kitchen maid. I had imagined Elora being in her thirties and indeed being Empress by now, but what do I know?
I’ll tell you what I know. This film was a beautiful tale of the hero's journey. Willow was a farmer that was bullied and shunned. When it came down to it he led with his heart and took on responsibilities that may have been beyond his abilities, but his courage was his strength. He learned to use his cunning and given skill to beat the impossible and save the day. This is a wonderful fantasy adventure film with a beautiful love story and a lighthearted tone of uplifting hope and magical wonder!
My Rating:
9.7
That sums up my review. I hope you liked it.
This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off!
Take care movie lovers! I'm off to the next review!
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