Willow
Published 2022-05-22
Film info
- Title Willow
- Director Ron Howard
- Year 1988
- Run time 2hr 6m
- Genres Adventure, Fantasy, Action
- Tagline Adventure doesn't come any bigger than this
- Cast Val Kilmer
Enter the world of Willow. Journey to the far corners of your imagination, to a land of myth and magic, where dream and reality live side by side... to a place that never existed, a time that never was. It is a world where a young man named Willow lives out an adventure that explodes beyond the boundaries of his own hopes and fears. It is a tale of excitement and laughter, of brotherhood and personal virtue, of hope and heroism, and most of all pure adventure.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 4:44 | It's not a well thought through plan, is it? What if it doesn't float, what if the dog things can swim, where the bloody hell is it going to end up? |
| 7:03 | "We'll push it down stream and pretend we never saw it." That's what I'd do. |
| 14:03 | That is a weird and not fairly administered test for apprenticeship. |
| 16:37 | It was HER idea to take it to the council, Willow. |
| 20:25 | Magic acorns. |
| 26:52 | Love the Star Wars wipes. |
| 32:58 | I've never been so invested in a cup of water before. |
| 39:55 | I mean, it's not the best special effects I've seen, but I've also seen worse! |
| 48:08 | "Wanna breed?" "Tempting, but no." |
| 58:30 | I wonder where they filmed this, it's pretty but it's not New Zealand pretty. |
| 1:03:17 | Why are the brownies sort of French? |
| 1:15:21 | How do horses do on snow? |
| 1:23:30 | "'I dwell in darkness without you', and it went away?" |
| 1:28:08 | This is like Home Alone but in a castle. |
| 1:39:10 | I'm assuming the mink/crow/goat has been teaching Willow spells otherwise how does he know them? |
| 1:49:58 | I love that even the tiniest people make a difference. |
| 1:55:02 | Even the most powerful sorcerers sometimes just have to resort to punching people in the face. |
Thoughts
It's important to set the scene for this: we bought this (probably in a sale) a while back and have talked about watching it for quite a long time. Both of us can remember having seen it when we were younger and having really liked it... as kids. But would it hold up on a rewatch? We were urged into watching it now because it's the perfect Sunday night movie and ahead of the upcoming TV show on Disney+. I was worried though. It's magical, it's people going on a journey, would it have the same disappointing effect that the hobbits had?
I needn't have been concerned on that score. It was a really entertaining movie - funny and engaging, full of joy and drama and over-acting and fight sequences and Val Kilmer either taking his top off or dressing up as a woman. It's just fun. There are two things that let it down though: the effects are just not great, not even when you give it the benefit of 'remember when it was made.' They just don't quite work. And the final big boss battle really fell off a cliff for me. As soon as the trolls showed up, I started to enjoy it less.
But overall, I'm just grateful that it was entertaining and very watchable, and now I'm intrigued to know what the TV show is going to be all about.
Rating: 3 / 5