Willow (1988)

Fun adventure romp with slight cases of traumatizing imagery for youngsters?

Has to be a favourite of mine, no doubts there.

Let me introduce you to 'Willow', one of the perhaps lesser known exploits of a person named George Lucas. You may have heard of him. He also thought up minor series like 'Star Wars' or 'Indiana Jones'.

But before Lucas became the corporate big boss he is today, he was first and foremost a storyteller. True, maybe he himself was never the ideal person to put his ideas to film (the first 'Star Wars' was saved by a wonderful team of editors, never forget that), but George always had a knack for fun stories that entertained and occasionally scared the shits out of you. In short: fun adventure romps. He did it in space, he did it with archeology, and this one is his stab at fantasy, albeit fairly grounded fantasy.

And it is a lot of fun, let me tell you.

Willow is a Nelwyn, sort of like a dwarf, who one day finds a Daikini (regular sized humans) baby near his home. This turns out to be a princess, who according to some vague prophecy will bring the downfall of the evil queen Bavmorda.

There's always one of those pesky prophecies, isn't there? You'd think people would grow sick and tired of it after a while. I mean, do you have any idea the pressure it puts on you if you're ever prophesied to do this or that? Egads, most people would crumble and say "Stuff it!" before lighting a big doobie and declaring themselves neutral and disappearing off the face of the earth.

Willow meets a bonkers swordsman called Mad Martigan along the way, who turns out not to be quite the madman but semantics, I guess. Together with two Brownies (not the cookies, but something akin to forest imps) and an aged sorceress, they plan to defeat Bavmorda once and for all.

What makes 'Willow' so much fun, is the characters. Warwick Davis was still rather young, but you can easily feel for him as the titular character. I mean, he is so screwed in the 'big' world, but he still manages to come through and his taking care of a helpless infant thoughout endears you to him. If that doesn't do it for you, you clearly have no affinity with kids or 'classic' hero types. But I would be lying if the sidecharacters weren't the focal point most of the time. Val Kilmer is charming and funny as Mad Martigan, the two Brownies are the comic relief, but not in an overtly annoying way and I've always had a soft spot for Martigan's friend Airk, the stoic soldier who obviously dies near the end. Because reasons.

Then again, this is one of those flicks where the bad guys really shine. I've always found the imposing figure of general Kael quite impressive, although that was probably his Skeletormask talking. When he takes it off, he looks like a funny cross between an angry Scotsman and a Neanderthal. But they made a master move by casting Jean Marsh as the wicked queen Bavmorda. Her outfit and demeanor fit the part so well and she is so cold and yet so wickedly funny at times, you can't help but think she's cool. She has that presence that makes her a memorable villain. It's a shame she often was the villain in films (remember 'Return to Oz'?) but she pulls it off with that effortless glee. I can easily imagine it's a lot more fun to play the villain because you can be more over the top and I might be mistaken, but it feels as though miss March relished in the role.

Also: you might think the wizard's duel between Gandalf and Saruman in 'Lord of the Rings' was epic, but here you have a witches' battle between Fin Raziel and Bavmorda that tops that. Not just in time but also in wacky shenanigans, yet it does stay compelling.

Nice work there then.

But there are scenes forever stamped into my mind for a different reason, and that is that this one does not shy away from truly terrifying stuff, at least for young children. The hellhounds of Bavmorda? The dragon? The trolls and their demise (especially the one who is stripped from his skin)? The scene where the good soldiers are transformed into pigs in all it's glorious detail? Truly, the special effects are brilliant for their time and also holy fudge, because you can almost feel the pain the soldiers go through during their transformation.

And yet people wonder why I turned out so peculiar as an adult. Who knew you could fondly blame films for this?

Okay, if I'm brutally honest: the acting can be a bit uneven at times and events are fairly predictable, but still, whenever you're talking about a good time with a fantasy film that doesn't overdo the fantasy part, you could do a lot worse than this.

Meaning I highly recommend it.