Willow is a 1988 American dark fantasy adventure film directed by Ron Howard. It was produced by George Lucas and written by Bob Dolman from a story by Lucas. It stars Warwick Davis, Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Jean Marsh, and Billy Barty. The film score was written by James Horner and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Davis plays Willow, a reluctant farmer who plays a critical role in protecting a baby from a tyrannical queen who vows to destroy her and take over the world.
Lucas conceived the idea for the film in 1972, approaching Howard to direct during the post-production phase of Cocoon in 1985. Bob Dolman was brought in to write the screenplay, coming up with seven drafts before finishing in late 1986. It was then set up at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and principal photography began in April 1987, finishing the following October. The majority of filming took place in Dinorwic quarry in Wales with some at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, as well as a small section in New Zealand. Industrial Light & Magic created the visual effects sequences, which led to a revolutionary breakthrough with digital morphing technology.
The film was released in 1988 to mixed reviews from critics. It grossed $137.6 million worldwide against a $35 million budget. While not the blockbuster some expected, it turned a profit based on international box office returns and strong home video and television returns. Additionally, it received two Academy Award nominations.
A television series based on the film is in development, scheduled to be released on Disney+ in 2022. {Oooohhh, I know I can't wait!!!}.
Plot
To prevent the fulfilment of a prophecy that a Daikini (tall people) child with a special rune birthmark will bring about her downfall, the evil sorceress Queen Bavmorda of Nockmaar imprisons all pregnant Daikini women in her domain. The foretold child is born, but her mother convinces the midwife to smuggle the baby out of the castle. Bavmorda executes the mother and sends her wolf-like Nockmaar hounds after the midwife. The midwife sets the baby adrift on a grass raft before she is killed by the dogs, and Bavmorda sends her daughter Sorsha and an army, led by General Kael, to hunt down the baby.
Some distance downriver, a village of Nelwyn (little people) prepares for a festival. The baby is found by the children of farmer and aspiring sorcerer Willow Ufgood, and his family takes her in and comes to love her. At the festival, a Nockmaar hound arrives and attacks all the cradles it finds. After the Nelwyn warriors kill it, Willow presents the baby to the village leader, the High Aldwin, as the probable reason for the dog's appearance. The High Aldwin orders the baby must return to a Daikini family, so Willow and a party of volunteers set out to find one.
At a crossroads, they find Madmartigan, a mercenary trapped in a crow's cage, who offers to take the baby in exchange for his freedom. The majority of the Nelwyn think that they should give the baby to him, but Willow and his friend Meegosh refuse, causing the others to abandon them and go home. After meeting Madmartigan's old comrade Airk, on his way with an army to attack Bavmorda, Willow relents and agrees to Madmartigan's terms.
On the way home, Willow and Meegosh discover that some brownies have stolen the baby, and pursue them. They are captured by the brownies, but Fairy Queen Cherlindrea frees them and explains the baby is Elora Danan, the foretold Princess of Tir Asleen. She gives Willow a magic wand and sends him to find Fin Raziel, an aging enchantress.
Willow sends Meegosh home, and continues the journey in the company of two brownies. On the way, he re-encounters Madmartigan, who is hiding from his mistress's husband Llug. Sorsha and Kael's army arrives, but Madmartigan reveals himself to Llug, who starts a brawl which helps Willow and Madmartigan escape with the baby.
Madmartigan reluctantly leads Willow to the lake where Raziel lives. They are captured soon thereafter, along with Raziel, who had been turned into a brushtail possum by Bavmorda. Willow tries to restore her, but he turns her into a rook.
The brownies accidentally dose Madmartigan with Love Potion. He declares undying love for Sorsha, but she is sceptical. Willow's party flees, finding Airk and the remnants of his army after Bavmorda defeated them. When the Nockmaar army pursues, Madmartigan takes Sorsha hostage, and they flee once more. However, Sorsha manages to escape.
Willow's party arrives at Tir Asleen, only to find it cursed and overrun with trolls. Kael's army arrives, and Madmartigan and Willow attempt to fend them off. Sorsha, realizing she has fallen in love with Madmartigan, defects to his side. Willow accidentally turns a troll into an Eborsisk monster with the wand, and in the chaos that ensues, Kael captures Elora and takes her to Bavmorda. Bavmorda orders preparation of a ritual to banish Elora from the world forever.
Airk's army arrives and Willow's party joins them, but Bavmorda casts a spell to turn them all to pigs. Willow uses the wand to protect himself before finally restoring Raziel to her humanoid form. She breaks Bavmorda's spell over the army, and they trick their way into the castle. Kael slays Airk, but Madmartigan avenges him, and Willow, Sorsha, and Raziel confront Bavmorda in the ritual chamber. After a gruelling fight, Bavmorda incapacitates Raziel and Sorsha. Willow uses sleight-of-hand to trick Bavmorda into thinking he has made Elora disappear. Bavmorda attacks him, but accidentally spills some of the ritual blood, banishing herself from the world forever.
Willow is gifted a spell book by Raziel. Madmartigan and Sorsha adopt Elora and go to live with her in the restored Tir Asleen, while Willow returns home to his village and family in triumph.
Production:
George Lucas conceived the idea for the film (originally titled Munchkins) in 1972. Similar in intent to Star Wars, he created "a number of well-known mythological situations for a young audience". During the production of Return of the Jedi in 1982, Lucas approached Warwick Davis, who was portraying Wicket the Ewok, about playing Willow Ufgood. Five years passed before he was actually cast in the role. Lucas "thought it would be great to use a little person in a lead role. A lot of my movies are about a little guy against the system, and this was just a more literal interpretation of that idea."
Lucas explained that he had to wait until the mid-1980s to make the film because visual effects technology was finally advanced enough to execute his vision. Meanwhile, actor-turned-director Ron Howard was looking to do a fantasy film. He was at Industrial Light & Magic during the post-production phase of Cocoon, when he was first approached by Lucas to direct Willow. He had previously starred in Lucas's American Graffiti, and Lucas felt that he and Howard shared a symbiotic relationship similar to the one he enjoyed with Steven Spielberg. Howard nominated Bob Dolman to write the screenplay based on Lucas's story. Dolman had worked with him on a 1983 television pilot called Little Shots that had not resulted in a series, and Lucas admired Dolman's work on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati.
Dolman joined Howard and Lucas at Skywalker Ranch for a series of lengthy story conferences, and wrote seven drafts of his script between the spring and fall of 1986. Pre-production began in late 1986. Various major film studios turned down the chance to distribute and co-finance it with Lucasfilm because they believed the fantasy genre was unsuccessful. This was largely due to films such as Krull, Legend, Dragonslayer, and Labyrinth. Lucas took it to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which was headed by Alan Ladd Jr. Ladd and Lucas shared a relationship as far back as the mid-1970s, when Ladd, running 20th Century Fox, greenlighted Lucas's idea for Star Wars. However, in 1986, MGM was facing financial troubles, and major investment in a fantasy film was perceived as a risk. Ladd advanced half the $35 million budget for it in return for theatrical and television rights, leaving Lucasfilm with home video and pay television rights to offer in exchange for the other half. RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video paid $15 million to Lucas in exchange for the video rights.
Lucas named the character of General Kael (Pat Roach) after film critic Pauline Kael,[11] a fact that was not lost on Kael in her printed review of the film. She referred to General Kael as an "homage a moi". Similarly, the two-headed dragon was called an "Eborsisk" after film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
Filming:
Principal photography began on April 2, 1987, and ended the following October. Interior footage took place at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England, while location shooting took place in Dinorwic quarry, Wales and New Zealand. Lucas initially visualized shooting the film similar to Return of the Jedi, with studio scenes at Elstree and locations in Northern California, but the idea eventually faded. However, some exteriors were done around Skywalker Ranch and on location at Burney Falls, near Mount Shasta. The Chinese government refused Lucas the chance for a brief location shoot. He then sent a group of photographers to South China to photograph specific scenery, which was then used for background blue screen footage. Tongariro National Park in New Zealand was chosen to house Bavmorda's castle.
Some of the waterfalls scenes for the movie were shot at Burney Falls in Northern California, although Powerscourt Waterfall in Ireland was also used for other scenes.
Visual Effects {Why not?}:
Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) created the visual effects sequences. The script called for Willow to restore Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes) from a goat to her human form. Willow recites what he thinks is the appropriate spell, but turns the goat into an ostrich, a peacock, a tortoise and, finally, a tiger, before returning her to normal. ILM supervisor Dennis Muren considered using stop motion animation for the scene. He also explained that another traditional and practical way in the late 1980s to execute this sequence would have been through the use of an optical dissolve with cutaways at various stages.
Muren found both stop motion and optical effects to be too technically challenging and decided that the transformation scene would be a perfect opportunity for ILM to create advances with digital morphing technology. He proposed filming each animal, and the actress doubling for Hayes, and then feeding the images into a computer program developed by Doug Smythe. The program would then create a smooth transition from one stage to another before outputting the result back onto film. Smythe began development of the necessary software in September 1987. By March 1988, Muren and fellow designer David Allen achieved what would represent a breakthrough for computer-generated imagery (CGI). The techniques developed for the sequence were later utilized by ILM for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
The head of ILM's animation department, Wes Takahashi, supervised the film's animation sequences.
My Review:
Aw I remember this film, I used to watch it while I was little. Looking back on it though, after recently re-watching it, you can definitely tell it's an 80s film. I mean, the cheesy acting, the questionable choices, the special effects are passable - that's because it's early special effects so they won't be that good, that and it had a smaller budget than usual - the practical effects were good though; especially how they made the Brownies actors look convincingly small.
I love Warwick Davis in this, it's so weird seeing him so young - I mean I know this is one of his first films, but come on... I'm not the only one used to seeing him as a goblin in Harry Potter and a hilarious, murderous Leprechaun, right?
Oh and Batman was in this, his character was an asshole at first like, but don't worry he got there in the end. {If you don't know which Batman I mean, Val Kilmer played Batman/Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever - Not as good as Batman and Robin like, but yeah that's a good one too}.
Though the final battle scene got very tedious; the fact that it went on for a day and by the time Willow got into the sorceress's castle she still hadn't killed the baby despite having it for a good, in movie time, 6 hours. And that thing that thing that the dwarf wizard gave Willow that supposedly turned things to stone proved utterly pointless. Willow throws it at Bavmorda but it doesn't affect her in the slightest.
But other than that I'd say watch the film if you're interested; 6/10, it's good enough for a worth to watch, but it's not as good as I remember I thought it was when I was littler.
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