“Willow” is about a small Nelwyn farmer who longs to be an apprentice sorcerer and ends up saving a world from an evil queen.
Willow Ufgood’s world is one of magic, and one afternoon he and his children find a baby floating down the river on top of a leaf and branches that have made a makeshift raft. His wife immediately takes to the auburn-haired babe and even though he’s reluctant, the baby makes it obvious that she likes Willow as well.
Later, Willow attends a festival in his village, where he hopes that the village sorcerer will choose him to be his apprentice. The sorcerer asks each of the other apprentice hopefuls “What finger holds the power of the universe?” Each hopeful, including Willow, answers incorrectly. But there’s little time to be upset, because the village is attacked by evil warthogs sent by Queen Bavmorda to find the baby. The sorcerer tells Willow he must take the child to the crossroads and give her to the first Daikini (the Nelwyn’s word for humans) that they see. Willow and a few other Nelwyn’s set off to bring the baby to the crossroads, but the first human they encounter is Madmartigan (played by Val Kilmer). Madmartigan has been locked in cage and left to die out in the middle of no where. He pleads with Willow to free him, promising to take care of the baby. Willow eventually agrees, only to have the baby stolen a short time later by brownies, six inch tall fairy like creatures with a yen for mischief.
Willow and Madmartigan follow the brownies who were told by the fairy queen Cherlindrea to bring the child to her so that she may tell Willow what he must do to save their world. She tells them the baby’s name is Elora Dannen, and that they must seek out the sorceress Fin Raziel who can help them defeat Queen Bavmorda.
There’s much more to the story of Willow and his party. It’s a decent enough film for the family to watch, but many movie-watchers will recognize the influences of other films and books on “Willow”. It’s very reminiscent of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings (not surprising of the first because the story was penned by George Lucas) and is a fairly typical fairy-tale journey story. It was a little scarier for kids than I remembered (not for me, but my recollection of it) and our five year old commented he thought it was a little scary, but he still enjoyed it. It clocks in at just over two hours. To be safe I’d recommend it for children ages eight and up.
Willow is rated PG and stars Warwick Davis, Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Jean Marsh and surprising Kevin Pollack as one of the brownies.
Related blogs:
Quest for Camelot
Howl’s Moving Castle
The Dark Crystal