Product Details
Willow [1988]

Willow [1988]
Directed by Ron Howard

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Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #1299 in DVD
  • Released on: 2002-08-05
  • Rating: Parental Guidance
  • Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen
  • Original language: English, French, Italian
  • Subtitled in: Danish, English, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Running time: 120 minutes

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Billed as a fantasy to please kids and adults alike in 1988, Willow was revolutionary in its day. Not only did it have a vertically challenged actor (Warwick Davis) as its leading man, it also set new standards for special effects, using the first known "morfing" (sic) systems. To top it all off it combined the talents of two of Hollywood's biggest names, director Ron Howard and writer-producer George Lucas, and changed Val Kilmer's destiny, influencing both his career and love life. In theory all this should have added up to a rip-roaring success of a film.

Alas, the end result has been unkindly if accurately described as the bastard son of Lord of the Rings, with Star Wars as its doting mother. The plot line (plucky young man sent off on a quest to protect something which could change the reign of evil) has obvious links to Tolkien's classic; Kilmer's Madmartigan (the diamond in the rough) has distinct similarities to Hans Solo. And with the great advances in modern cinemas special effects, Willow's ferocious two-headed dragons now look like something out of 1963's Jason and the Argonauts. However, even though it marked the end of the road for fantasy films in the 1980s, Willow's combination of locations, set design and groundbreaking SFX set new standards and influenced much modern cinema, including Peter Jackson's epic Lord of the Rings. All in all, this is a movie with its heart, soul and magic in the right place.

On the DVD: Willow is brought up to date on DVD with this excellent special effects enhancing anamorphic transfer of the original 2.35:1 screen ratio; the Dolby 5.1 surround sound boosts the power behind Badmorda's roar as well as spotlighting James Horner's swashbuckling score. A lively commentary is offered by Warwick Davis, although he has a tendency to dwell on his own musings rather than the film as a whole. Other features include "The Making of the Adventure", which is a standard TV behind-the-scenes documentary/advert and a wealth of TV spots, trailers and photos. By far the most interesting feature is the "Morf to Morphing: The Dawn of Digital Film" documentary including interviews with George Lucas, Ron Howard and Dennis Muren (the renowned special effects guru) on the creation of morphing and its influence on later movies. --Nikki Disney

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

Language: English Subtitles: Hard of Hearing English, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish Aspect Ratio; 2.35:1 (Widescreen 16x9) Sound; English 5.1

English 2.0 Surround Warwick Davis Audio Commentary Featurette Willow: Making of Adventure Featurette Morf to Morphing: The Dawn of Digital Filmmaking Stills Gallery (60 stills) Theatrical Trailer Two Theatrical Teaser Trailers Eight TV Spots

Synopsis
Based on a story by STAR WARS creator George Lucas, WILLOW is director Ron Howard's fantasy world of medieval adventure. WILLOW stars Val Kilmer as Madmartigan, a swashbuckling warrior, and Warwick Davis as the title character. In a mythical kingdom, the evil sorceress Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) plots to kill all infants so that the newborn princess, Elora, will never take over the throne. But a midwife sets the baby adrift in a river, and she is rescued by Willow (Warwick Davis), a farmer in Nelwyn, a peaceful village of trolls, fairies, and little folk. Willow and Madmartigan begin a quest to deliver the baby from evil while being chased by Queen Bavmorda's daughter, Sorsha (Joanne Whalley), sent to bring the baby back to Nockmaar. Director Howard benefited from his affiliation with George Lucas on the film--Lucas's company, Industrial Light and Magic, contributed the Oscar-nominated special effects. Lucas, the executive producer of WILLOW, went on to create a series of books based on the world of WILLOW, the SHADOW WAR series.

Customer Reviews

Good for its time3
Considering how few really good fantasy movies there are out there, this one has to rate pretty high. It is a rather good movie that is fast paced and fun, but it does contain flaws. The main one is Warwick Davis. In some scenes he is good, but in other scenes his character comes off as a bit too whiny. The story is kind of a take off of The Lord of the Rings books. A man, small in statute, has to keep a baby safe from an evil queen who wants to sacrifice it cause it may grow up to kill her. While protecting the child Willow (Davis' character) runs into a swordsman played by Val Kilmer. He does a great job playing this character and is my favorite character in the movie. Some of the effects are good, and some quite lame (the two little guys accompanying Willow), but considering this was 1987 you can overlook this. The battle scenes are ok (the one at the abandoned castle is the best), but they are just not on the scale of other movies of this type. This movie is worth a look though.

So refreshingly rejuvenating !5
An extremely simple story, nearly a skeleton of a story. A girl is born with a sign on her arm. She has been predicted as the one who will destroy the evil queen of the kingdom. Thus the queen decides to put under surveillance all pregnant women and to check all the babies for the sign. She is not as bad as that after all, and less bad than Herod, though we have here a rewriting of Biblical stories in the feminine mood and gender. But the midwife retrieves the baby and entrusts her to the river. Moses is thus revisited, though in the feminine mood and gender already mentioned. But far from being saved by Pharaoh's daughter she is saved by dwarves. And there the story starts: to escape the queen, then to save the baby from the queen, trolls and other monsters added into the story for good measure. The best part is that the queen's daughter is going to betray her mother and after all it is the queen's daughter who will recuperate the baby from her direst danger, more or less. The film is charming because of the dwarves. They definitely give some enticing flesh to that skeleton of a story and they help dangerous situations become nearly harmless, at least agreeably pleasant.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

MONSTERS AND SWORDS - GREAT STUFF5
I really enjoyed this film, which didn't take itself too seriously.

From the Lord of the rings/Conan the barbarian stable, we follow Willow, an elf, who is trying to return a sacred Human child to safe hands, whilst evading the usual black-clad baddies and a whole host of monsters in the process. Aided by Val Kilmer and his real-life wife-to-be, Joanne Whalley, the film has a nice blend of action, romance and humour.

GO FOR IT IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS ONE