Growing up, Willow was my Lord of the Rings. It combined the archetypes of a high fantasy adventure with dorkish humour and unapologetic modern American accents, resulting in a pretty lousy movie that was nevertheless cherished dearly by many, then completely forgot about, and then barely remembered by those same people in time for a new Disney+ series.
Willow the series takes place decades after the movie ends. The drama centres around Prince Dempsey being kidnapped away to a mystical city across the other side of the World. Princess Kit and her retinue go on a quest to find and return him. Included in her motley crew is a big dumb rogue, a book nerd, a serious-business knight, a dim-witted apprentice wizard, and of course Willow himself. The original Willow said that a hero can come from the unlikeliest of places. This time, the whole gang are unlikely heroes, so much so that they look up to Willow as the wisest and most powerful of them, despite him having never actually lived up to being the all-powerful sorcerer he claimed to be.
Willow the film never got too dark or scary for kids, because it offset a lot of its frightening monsters and moody situations with jarringly modern comic relief elements. In the same vein, the series has lots of dorky, silly jokes that are still charming when they don't land. Or even charming because they don't land. Much of the joy I had was between Willow and Elora, a kitchen girl who might be the chosen one, might be a complete idiot, and is probably both. Their relationship is adorable. Boorman is probably going to be a fan favourite though, as an oafish, compulsively dishonest himbo. As to the dark elements, the special effects are surprisingly impressive and grandiose for such a modest inspiration, I didn't expect Disney to flex its muscles over what must have been at the bottom of the pile of George Lucas licenses to adapt. It was this or Howard the Duck, right?
That said, the show is clearly not aimed at children. There is slightly too much swearing, sex and drug references for it to be age appropriate. Instead it tries to find an uneasy target audience that sits between nostalgia baited middle-aged codgers like myself, and teen zoomers who want to see hot people in a D&D type setting. Some of the former might be put off by the show's modernisation, some of the latter by having a lack of personal connection to the franchise. I managed without an issue.
I can't fault Willow because it follows the same pantomime logic of the original movie. Any flaws with story telling, gags, or special effects feed into the campy fun. I'm sure there will be curmudgeons who complain that it is not exactly like the original film, and others who simply see it as incompetent generic fantasy, but I found it very successful in capturing the essence of the movie and had a good time because of that.
High Camp
Growing up, Willow was my Lord of the Rings. It combined the archetypes of a high fantasy adventure with dorkish humour and unapologetic modern American accents, resulting in a pretty lousy movie that was nevertheless cherished dearly by many, then completely forgot about, and then barely remembered by those same people in time for a new Disney+ series.
Willow the series takes place decades after the movie ends. The drama centres around Prince Dempsey being kidnapped away to a mystical city across the other side of the World. Princess Kit and her retinue go on a quest to find and return him. Included in her motley crew is a big dumb rogue, a book nerd, a serious-business knight, a dim-witted apprentice wizard, and of course Willow himself. The original Willow said that a hero can come from the unlikeliest of places. This time, the whole gang are unlikely heroes, so much so that they look up to Willow as the wisest and most powerful of them, despite him having never actually lived up to being the all-powerful sorcerer he claimed to be.
Willow the film never got too dark or scary for kids, because it offset a lot of its frightening monsters and moody situations with jarringly modern comic relief elements. In the same vein, the series has lots of dorky, silly jokes that are still charming when they don't land. Or even charming because they don't land. Much of the joy I had was between Willow and Elora, a kitchen girl who might be the chosen one, might be a complete idiot, and is probably both. Their relationship is adorable. Boorman is probably going to be a fan favourite though, as an oafish, compulsively dishonest himbo. As to the dark elements, the special effects are surprisingly impressive and grandiose for such a modest inspiration, I didn't expect Disney to flex its muscles over what must have been at the bottom of the pile of George Lucas licenses to adapt. It was this or Howard the Duck, right?
That said, the show is clearly not aimed at children. There is slightly too much swearing, sex and drug references for it to be age appropriate. Instead it tries to find an uneasy target audience that sits between nostalgia baited middle-aged codgers like myself, and teen zoomers who want to see hot people in a D&D type setting. Some of the former might be put off by the show's modernisation, some of the latter by having a lack of personal connection to the franchise. I managed without an issue.
I can't fault Willow because it follows the same pantomime logic of the original movie. Any flaws with story telling, gags, or special effects feed into the campy fun. I'm sure there will be curmudgeons who complain that it is not exactly like the original film, and others who simply see it as incompetent generic fantasy, but I found it very successful in capturing the essence of the movie and had a good time because of that.