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Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis, Jean Marsh

A reluctant dwarf must play a critical role in protecting a special baby from an evil queen.

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76% liked it

218,377 ratings

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48% liked it

25 critics

PG, 2 hr. 6 min.

Directed by: Ron Howard

Release Date: May 20, 1988

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DVD Release Date: November 27, 2001

Stats: 11,091 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (11,091)

  • ScoopOnline
    December 17, 2009
    ScoopOnline
    Willow is a Timeless Adventure Movie.
  • ironclad1609
    November 23, 2009
    ironclad1609
    Long before the Lord of the Rings films, George Lucas decided to create a "Star Wars in Fantasy", if you will. The result is a childhood favorite with many marvelous ideas, lovable characters and a really pretty production design. Some of the editing and special effects seem date...( read more)d today, the charm of the film lingers on, though. Especially Val Kilmer as the Han Solo of fantasy, sword fighter Madmartigan, adds a great sense of humor to the film. The action is great, the soundtrack lovely, an all around enjoyable film for those who still are kids at heart.
  • phubbs1
    July 18, 2009
    phubbs1
    Classic tale of good vs evil with great characters and creatures throughout. All the cast are likeable and fit well and make the film quite humerus in places, the Brownies and Madmardigan especially hehe the action is nice and not too brutal, brings back the feeling of old Errol ...( read more)Flynn films in a way with the swords and swashbuckling.
    The main event in this film was the effects in the form of the cgi, first time used in a movie. Looks cheesey now but it was state of the art back then. the Tippet creatures are nice too with the old stop motion effects.
    Classic fantasy and winner.
  • TheMachinist
    July 4, 2009
    TheMachinist
    "It is a time of dread..."

    As long back as I can remember, there's two movies that I've loved since my childhood. 'The Goonies' and 'Willow' were these two close to my heart. I recently saw them both, 'Willow' today, and still... The love is there.

    The movie is a wonderful ...( read more)fantasy that takes us to a world were nelwyns (dwarfs) and daikinis (humans) live their own peaceful lifes. A daikini child is born and she is the only one that can defeat the evil sourcerer Bawmorda, who's about to set her own reign of terror to the world. Willow, who finds the child from the river, is the one who's job is to get Elora Danan safe. On his journey, he meets Madmartigan, a talented but not so friendly swordsman. Together, they're off to a great adventure full of magic.

    "Follow the direction of the bird!
    - It's going back to the village!

    Ignore the bird, follow the river..."

    'Willow' is my favourite Ron Howard movie. Sure, now as I saw it for the first time for several years, I noticed some flaws and so on but you have to remember that filmmaking has progressed a lot in 20 years. The special effect, by George Lucas' ILM were at that time amazing. I remember when the two headed beast came from the water, I almost had to change my underpants. Now the effects may seem a bit dated but so what. The magic is still there.

    As a curiosity, 'Willow' was the film that united Val Kilmer (Madmartigan) and Joanna Whalley, who plays the evil sorcerer's daughter Sorsha. Movies can do magic. Well, their love didn't last forever but can it really?

    'Willow', despite that it is a bit aged, works wonderfully. The pacing of the film is good and the story develops nicely. The actors, especially Warwick Davis (Willow) and Val Kilmer perform well. Kevin Pollak plays a small but important role as a beer loving brownie.

    So what do you get of 'Willow'? A classic that will surely give you an exciting 2 hour. For me, this film will always have a special place in my film reel shaped heart.
  • AgentLexi2132
    November 28, 2008
    AgentLexi2132
    Madmartigan: Did I really... Did I really say those things, last night, in your tent?
    Sorsha: You said you loved me.
    Madmartigan: I don't remember that.
    Sorsha: You lied to me.
    Madmartigan: No, I... I just wasn't myself last night.
    Sorsha<    ...( read more)/b>: I suppose my power enchanted you and you were helpless against it.
    Madmartigan: Sort of.
    Sorsha: Then what?
    Madmartigan: It... went away.
    Sorsha: Went away? "I dwell in darkness without you" and it *went away*?


    A reluctant dwarf must play a critical role in protecting a special baby from an evil queen.

    Val Kilmer: Madmartigan

    Joanne Whalley: Sorsha

    Warwick Davis: Willow Ufgood

    Directed by Ron Howard and written by George Lucas, this still remains one of the best fantasy movies from my childhood. Still amazing how good it is even when watching now.

    Val Kilmer is so young in it as Madmartigan and shines with energetic vitality and charisma.
    Warwick Davis, Joanne Whalley and Jean Marsh all perform their respective characters amazingly.

    The music soulful, tingling and uplifting. The adventure fun and nicely paced. Full of imagination and magic. This film has a timeless magic to it that will always be a fave of mine.

    A perfect blend of Fantasy and Romance. With a heart thats larger than life.

    Classic.
  • alanahmoar
    January 24, 2010
    alanahmoar
    i grew up on this movie, my bff i snamed after the little baby in the movie...ELORA
  • Benjigecko3
    January 16, 2010
    Benjigecko3
    Even though most of my other friends had grown up watching Willow, I did not. Thus, when I came upon a copy of it from netflix and watched it for the first time when I was 20, I found it a silly movie, inexcusably long and rather obnoxious in it's acting. It was, however, a decen...( read more)t story told with decent techniques.
    Similar to Gilliam's Jabberwocky, Willow's visuals are grimy and dirty, and it tends to play well with the story. The story, about a young dwarfs' belief that he has an inherent skill of magic about him, is a decent one. Willow is a magician, but only one by slight of hand. When he's put up to the test of proving himself in front of the whole villiage, he fails, but is told that he is to go on to greater things and greater magic. When the villiage is in trouble, it's up to him to save the day, and rightfully he leaves his family behind to find himself. Cute, but long, still a decent movie.
  • spazzymcdoodle
    January 16, 2010
    spazzymcdoodle
    I Absoultely love this movie...it reminds me of my childhood
  • tacmovies
    January 8, 2010
    tacmovies
    Someone Give Warwick Davis More Work!

    Story: This is the archetypal David and Goliath style story of a little man (literally) vs. the big bad. It's also the quest style of fantasy story. It has more than a few similarities to the Lord of the Rings, not to mention some paral...( read more)lels with the story of Moses from Bible, but it does it in it's own way. All around, aside from some startling badass decay, which we'll explore in the acting section, the only real complaint I have with the story is that the ending is not terribly self explanatory. Whenever I make someone watch this movie for the first time, they always turn to me and ask, ?What just happened there?? and I do consider this a failure on the part of the movie. They could have explained it after the fact. B

    Acting: Val Kilmer is my favorite actor, largely because of this movie, Tombstone, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Spartan, and At First Sight, and while he's really, really good in this movie, I don't understand why he and Joanne Whalley got higher billing that Warwick Davis. Warwick is in nearly every shot of this movie, he's the titular character, and he really was the meat the holds the movie together. I guess it was a marketing decision. Anyhow, Warwick is awesome in this movie and really needs to be given more to do than be a side character in every Star Wars, Harry Potter, or odd ball fantasy movie/miniseries that comes down the pipes. Don't believe me? Watch Ray. He's in it, he's a little man, and it doesn't matter. It doesn't impact the story practically at all. He gives a strong performance and it works.

    Anyhow, back to Val. Madmartigan is probably the loudest, most animated character that Val has ever played, which is cool when you consider that he usually plays very thoughtful, understated characters (like his Ice Man character in Top Gun). He sort of plays this movie's version of Han Solo, the skeptic, smart mouthed fighter. His character does experience a certain level of badass decay as the movie approaches its climax, as he loses his smart mouth in favor of being the generic, noble warrior character. To a certain extent, this understandable, but I would like to have seen him retain more of his personality. That said, his sword fight with Pat Roach more than makes up for this.

    Madmartigan may experience badass decay, but not nearly as badly as Sorsha, the character played by Joanne Whalley. She starts out tough as nails with a strong personality. She's got a sword that looks like pain harnessed in steel form, and she's here to kick your ass... until she falls in love with Val Kilmer. After this, she barely gets two lines in for the rest of the movie and also devolves into an idealized sort of warrior woman.

    However, I think the real star of this movie is Jean Marsh. Queen Bavmorda is evil and powerful. She's knows magic spells to kill you in many painful ways and a enough of a lacking conscience to use it. When the Nostalgia Chick listed her top lady villains, I was quite disappointed to see that Bavmorda didn't make the list when the wicked witch of the west from the Wizard of Oz did (I realize that I'm about to utter blasphemy, but the witch didn't do anything in that movie except laugh in an over the top manner. Oh, and she used flowers to put people to sleep and employed an hour glass of doom, oh the horror!) Her acting is almost over the top, but not quite. She hits her note perfectly.

    Lastly, they got the cutest, most expressive baby in the world to play Elora Danan. She smiles and laughs at all the right times. B

    Visuals: This movie was really revolutionary at the time for raising the bar on visual effects with the whole process of morphing. The special effects hold up to this day and look better than a lot of digital effects you'll see on a Sci-Fi (or is it Sy Fy?) channel original. Also, may I say that Nockmaar castle is the most evil looking castle ever (sorry Orthanc and Barad-dur). I realize that sixty percent of it is a painting, but seriously I love the look of that castle. A

    Sound: The music in this movie is beyond epic, although I know I heard the same music in an ad for Disney's the Three Musketeers, so I don't know who borrowed it from whom. Whatever, it works in this movie. The sound effects are awesome, they completely compliment what we're seeing on screen. A

    Overall: This is one of my favorite movies from my childhood, not to mention my favorite NES game. I probably drove my parents crazy between the two of them. However, this is one of the few childhood memories that held up over the years. I definitely can't say the same for the Thundercats. B


    Tacmovies: We're not failed film students who bitterly criticize successful movies... really... sniffle... so, um... yeah, ahem: Follow our reviews on blogspot, flixter, imdb, yahoo movies, and youtube.
  • hstoosy
    December 30, 2009
    hstoosy
    Old Fashioned fairy tail movie nothing fancy...i enjoyed watching it...a really great movie to watch a bit cheezy

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Critic Reviews

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

At the story level, Willow is turgid and relentlessly predictable. full review

View more Willow reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • jamesraveon
    February 6, 2008
    jamesraveon
    this film is the most best film ever there is no other film like it. there never will be.
  • berenpurple
    April 13, 2007
    berenpurple
    it is a beutiful movie its actually one of my favorites
  • dawslu
    October 8, 2006
    dawslu
    Absolute crap...coming to a bargain bin near you....
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  • Which of these names was NOT a character in the movie Underworld?  Answer »
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  • Joanne Whalley accidently stuck her sword in a stuntman's foot while sticking the sword into the ground at the tavern in the film Willow ?  Answer »
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