Willow

I guess I must be feeling the post-Christmas blues. I was contemplating heavily on what to review today. It couldn’t be that I ran out of movies to review because there are so many out there to review. To end the year, I couldn’t think of anything else besides the 1988 fantasy movie, “Willow.”

“Willow” is the much-heralded elfin epic directed by Opie from “The Andy Griffith Show” and Richie Cunningham from “Happy Days,” Ron Howard, but it’s clearly the idea of executive producer George Lucas. Here he shaved one of the Ewoks from “Return of the Jedi” to make a Nelwyn, the Hobbit-sized hero in the title role.

Rita Kempley of the Washington Post commented on her review, “If "magic is the bloodstream of the universe," as "Willow" tells us, Lucas needs gamma goblin. There's little of magic in this anemic, high-tech fantasy, no matter how well-dressed the sets or how splendidly scenic the locale. The big budget can't conceal the fact that this fiction is fallow, more rootbound than spellbound.”

It’s déjà voodoo. Not only does Lucas rework his own mythology but others as well. He borrows from Oz, “Masters of the Universe,” and even the Bible. You heard right. Baby Moses meets the Munchkins meets the medieval Star Wars. Kempley said, “The gnomenclature changes, but the creatures remain the same as a war rages between good and evil.”

Queen Bavmorda, played by Jean Marsh, has ordered that all pregnant women be put behind bars and any child who has “the mark” killed. One midwife saves her daughter Elora (Kate and Ruth Greenfield/Rebecca Bearman) from being killed because Elora has the mark, by putting her in a reed basket and making her sail to the land of the Daikini. Elora washes up on shore in Nelwyn, where she is rescued by a farmer named Willow.

Warwick Davis, a 3-foot-4 actor who played a Ewok, plays Willow who is married to Julie Peters and has two kids with her. Willow, like all fantasy heroes, has this drive for adventure and dreams of becoming a great wizard. It will prove a growth step if only in the emotional sense. Even though he has the powers, he lacks the confidence to try them.

Elora is actually a princess who has her destiny written to overthrow Bavmorda, and Willow and his wife, Kaiya, take her in. Then the village is attacked by Bavmorda’s army, killing a nursing mother in the process. The High Wizard, played by Billy Barty, tells Willow that he should travel to Daikini and give the child to the first big person that he sets eyes on. That person is Madmartigan, played by Val Kilmer, an irresponsible traveler – not the type who would want a baby with him.

After a series of accidents, the two team up to take Elora to the kingdom of Tir Asleen. They are hunted on the way by General Kael, played by Pat Roach, and an army of creatures that look like a mix between “junkyard standard poodles and wart hogs,” according to Kempley. They are aided by Fin Raziel, played by Patricia Hayes. Raziel is a witch who was turned into a possum by Bavmorda. Along the way, they meet a fairy queen, played by Maria Holvöe, who tells two of her Brownies (Kevin Pollak and Rick Overton) to guide them along the way. Now we have four men and a baby.

Kempley describes Elora as “a bonny, burping girl who can melt hearts right through chain mail.” She’s red-headed, and the Greenfield twins who portray her are as cute as the Pound Puppies. Elora isn’t the show-stealer in this film, the Brownies are. Always underfoot or falling into ale buckets, these two are the equivalent of R2D2 and C-3P0. Without their arguments and sass and the hesitant daring-do of Madmartigan, the movie is only in monotone.

Lucas’ story, helped by the dialogue of Bob Dolman’s screenplay, focuses on the coming of age of the title character. He is played by a teenage Davis with dignity, not charisma. Madmartigan is like Inigo Montoya from “The Princess Bride,” the character we want more of, but we don’t get.

He looks like an Arthurian samurai, with his black hair in braids, his swordplay and arrogant stance. Kempley comments, “He is nevertheless in chivalric shell shock, spiritually beaten by the war with Bavmorda.” Mardmartigan changes thanks to Willow’s courage and a love potion which makes him crazy for Bavmorda’s daughter, Sorsha, played by Joanne Whalley.

Kilmer is one of America’s great screen secrets, covered by Tom Cruise in “Top Gun” and Ralph Macchio in “The Karate Kid.” With this performance, a feverishly silly mix of Toshiro Mifune and Harrison Ford, he promises to get himself in the same place as the pantheon of Spunky Guys to Die For.

With ease he walks that hairline between mumbo and jumbo, between child’s epic hero and man-size dilemma. It’s the same line that Han Solo and Indiana Jones walked on, which is also known to other characters like Alice, Babar and Bilbo Baggins alike. T.H. White, Jonathan Swift, Lewis Carroll and Lucas himself have called themselves both the adult and the child. But “Willow” is an empty tale. All of the nice costumes and special effects from Narnia to Oz can’t hide that fact. We are always aware of the man behind the curtain.

In the end, I have to rate this film with a 5. It’s not good, but it’s nowhere near terrible or god-awful. There are far worse films than this. “Willow” just is an adequate film.

Well that ends the year. Hope everyone closes out 2013 positively and here’s hoping for another great year in 2014 for blogging. I will see you all then.