Rating: PG
Genre:
Fantasy
Theatrical Release: 05/20/1988(USA)
Release Date: 11/27/2001
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English/Espanol
Sound: 5.1/THX
Run Time: 126 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Questionable for Children
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
Though
Willow was one of director
Ron Howard's few box-office disappointments, it definitely deserves a second look. At once an epic celebration and a gentle spoof of the
sword-and-sorcery genre, the film concerns the efforts by little person
Willow Ufgood (
Warwick Davis) to protect a sacred infant from the machinations of a wicked queen (
Jean Marsh). One source book has assessed the picture as a combination of
The Ten Commandments and
Snow White. This is true enough, except that neither one of those properties offered such offbeat casting choices as
Billy Barty and
Jean Marsh. Executive producer
George Lucas has (through the conduit of screenwriter
Bob Dolman) added elements of his own
Star Wars saga to the stew. The results are generally satisfactory, though the film is sometimes weighed down by too much plot, and the
action sequences may not be suitable for very young children. Incidentally, this is the film where co-star
Val Kilmer met his future wife
Joanne Whalley.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
