Disney+: Willow

[Vee]

In an apparent attempt to win the devotion of no one more than my eight year old self who was absolutely obsessed with this film when it was released, Disney+ has against all odds greenlit a sequel series to Ron Howard and George Lucas' cult fantasy film Willow. This was Lucasfilm's major bid for a fantasy epic in the late '80s post-Star Wars. Reviews and audience response were mixed. I loved it anyway. For those of you who have like much of planet Earth either forgotten Willow or never knew it existed, have a primer below:

The Willow series looks a bit too plastic, modern and quippy in spots for my tastes, but the original film was not without plenty of often broad or anachronistic humor and was not entirely a genius script to begin with. It's from Lawrence Kasdan's son Jonathan who did the unfairly maligned Solo so it's very clearly still a Lucas gang affair.

I was obsessed with this film, its beautiful score and cast as a kid. The ensemble included Warwick Davis in the title role (who Lucas plucked out of obscurity as a child to play Wicket the Ewok in Return of the Jedi, then gave a starring role in this film), Jean Marsh as Queen Bavmorda, my first scorching glimpse of Val Kilmer as Madmartigan and most especially Joanne Whalley, his future IRL wife, as Sorsha the warrior princess, decked out in Kurosawa-inspired samurai armor. She was my brutalist heroine (and is also great in the classic mystical-conspiracy UK miniseries Edge of Darkness). I cannot believe they got her to come back for this and that she still looks every bit the part.

I am pretty cynical about the Disney content factory and its many blunders outside of Feige's Marvel fiefdom, but with Willow I don't really care how bad it is or how completely needless and unasked for a sequel project is; I'll watch it because I was one of about a hundred kids who loved the original. I'm also pleased they got Kevin Pollak as one of the two pixies from the original film. So here's the Willow thread no one asked for.

Edited September 12, 2022 by Vee

[Taoboi]

Well as someone who also was a kid when it came out with a more open mind (which is not the norm with things from my childhood), I have been curious about it. And the trailer (regardless of apparent type-o) has been good. So I look forward to it.