Willow

Willow is a 1988 fantasy film directed by Ron Howard, and based on a story by George Lucas. The film centers on the struggles of Willow Ufgood, a young farmer who must protect the baby Elora Danan from an evil Queen, who she is prophecized to one day overthrow.

On April 1, 2006, StarWars.com updated its Databank with elements from the film and its spin-off novels, indicating that Willow would be added to the Star Wars continuity. Elaborate databank entries were written which attempted to plausibly fit the film into the history of the Star Wars universe. However, two days later, it was revealed to be an April Fools' joke, and thus non-canon.

Synopsis
Lucas' story is Tolkienesque; a young farmer named Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis), one of a halfling-like people called Nelwyns, is drawn away from his sheltered home to save Elora Danan (a baby girl with a destiny) from the evil queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) who would see her destroyed.

Willow is aided by the disillusioned master swordsman Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), who has turned to a life of roguery after the fall of his kingdom to the evil queen, and the sorceress Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes), who has been turned into a muskrat by Bavmorda. They are initially thwarted, but later joined by the queen's daughter Sorsha (played by Joanne Whalley, later Kilmer's wife).

Characters

 * Queen Bavmorda
 * Burglekutt
 * Elora Danan
 * Franjean
 * General Kael
 * High Aldwin
 * Madmartigan
 * Meegosh
 * Fin Raziel
 * Rool
 * Sorsha
 * Airk Thaughbaer
 * Willow Ufgood
 * Vohnkar
 * Vohnkar warriors

Species

 * Bird
 * Brownies
 * Daikini
 * Ebersisk
 * Nelwyn
 * Tiger

Locations

 * Andowyne
 * Tir Asleen

Vehicles/vessels

 * Horses
 * Sled
 * Wagons

Other items

 * Sword
 * Magic
 * Wand

Production
The film was notable for employing more dwarfs than any production in many years, and was widely praised by the "little person" community for employing Davis as the lead. The film also used morphing special effects to transform an old sorceress into various animals, a revolutionary effect for the time.

As an interesting sidenote, the two-headed monster in the film, the Ebersisk, was named as a reference to popular movie critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. Siskel and Ebert would both later say that they weren't flattered. The villainous General Kael was also named for a critic, noted female journalist, Pauline Kael.

Filming action scenes in the snow of a New Zealand winter prompted Val Kilmer to remark that he wished his wardrobe shirt had buttons, as the open shirt bared his chest to the cold.

Much of the concept art, such as creature designs and storyboard art, was drawn by Jean Giraud (Moebius) and Christos Achilleos. Ultimately, the designs which appeared in the final film were considerably different from those initial designs; several sequences were also completely cut from the film due to time constraints. One such scene was a battle at sea in which the heroes narrowly escape a giant sea monster, which was depicted as a huge anthropomorphic shark in storyboard artwork.

Soundtrack/music
The music in the film was composed by James Horner, in what is considered to be a very strong musical score. Distinct echoes of Robert Schumann's Rhenish Symphony may be heard in the triumphant theme. The main theme also bears a resemblance to the "Redemption" motif from Richard Wagner's operatic tetralogy Der Ring Des Nibelungen.

Release
When Willow was initially released on home video, it was distributed by MGM and Lucasfilm Ltd. At the time, the VHS was from RCA/Columbia Home Video. The later DVD release was THX-certified, whereas some MGM films are owned by 20th Centry Fox (preferbly the United Artist ones) with Lucasfilm. Imagine Entertianment's logo was not shown on the film/Vhs/Dvd.

Reception
The film received mostly negative reviews and had a mediocre box office performance. The performances (particularly Davis') and special effects were generally praised, but the film's story was widely dismissed as too derivative of Tolkien and other fantasy authors. The film's poor response may have been due to the previews, which were vague, i.e. "Forget all that you know... or that you think you know."

Another factor in the film's lackluster box office performance was that many scenes, plot elements, and creature designs which would have improved the effect of the movie were completely cut due to time and budget constraints. Over the years, however, Willow has developed a strong cult following.

Box Office Performance
Unfortunately for George Lucas, the film got spectacularly bad reviews and equally bad box office performance. This may have been due to the previews, which were badly designed and vague. Over the years, however, it has developed a cult following and is now considered one of the best made films of its genre.

Video game
The film was the basis of the video game Willow, which was released in 1989 for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Capcom. Capcom also created a Willow arcade game which played much differently than its console cousin, being a side-scrolling platformer rather than a Zelda clone.

Novels
The film was eventually followed by a trilogy of fantasy novels written by Chris Claremont (again from a story by George Lucas), with the grown-up destiny girl as the central character. These stories were originally to be made into films themselves, but following the unsatisfactory box office performance of the film, the stories were instead turned into novels. The entries to the trilogy are:


 * Shadow Moon (1995)
 * Shadow Dawn (1998)
 * Shadow Star (2000)

The novelization of the original film, written by Wayland Drew and available around the time of the movie's release, was based on Lucas' original screenplay and contained historical background and events not included in the final cut of the movie, as well as color stills from the film.

TV series
In April 2005, during the Star Wars "Celebration III" fan convention, George Lucas hinted in an interview that given his company (Lucasfilm) was moving into television production again, there could be a Willow television series.

Similarities to Star Wars
The film shares multiple similarities with Star Wars. Although the April 1, 2006 announcement on StarWars.com which joined the two universes was a joke, the film has multiple elements which would allow the film to be set in the Star Wars universe.


 * George Lucas, the man who created the Star Wars films and universe, wrote the story for and executive produced Willow, and wrote the story for Willow's spin-off novels.
 * The transitions in the film are done in a similar manner as the transitions in the Star Wars films.
 * The Ewok films established that "magic" exists in the Star Wars universe. For example, in The Battle for Endor, Charal is able to transform herself into a bird form. In Willow, Fin Raziel is tranformed into many creatures by Willow before he is able to transform her into her human form. Also, Fin Raziel and Queen Bavmorda use their magical powers in ways nearly identical to to the ways Force users in Star Wars use the Force. Willow's magic works in basically the same way as The Force.
 * Several plot points in Willow parallel plot points in the Star Wars films.
 * Same occurs to the main characters. Willow is the dreamer character with hidden potential, Madmartigan is the scoundrel turned hero and the brownies are the comic relief.
 * The fairy species is similar to the Wistie species in Star Wars.
 * Warwick Davis, who plays Wicket in the Ewok films, plays Willow in this film. Additionally, Tony Cox, who played another Ewok in the Ewok films, played a "Vohnkar warrior" in ''Willow'.
 * In the non-canon Alien Exodus, on Corellia, the Human refugees encounter a two-headed dragon-like beast which resembles the "Eborsisk" in Willow. Note however, that the story also features elements from some of Lucas' other non-Star Wars productions.
 * "Skywalker" is the English translation of the sanskrit word "Daikini", which is the name of Elora Danan's species in the film. Both Anakin Skywalker and Elora Danan are individuals who are the subject of a prophecy to overthrow an evil enemy. Whether this similarity in naming was intentional by Lucas is unknown.
 * The planet in Willow is obviously not Earth, due to its inhabitants and their use of magic. This would leave the film's planet unknown, allowing it to be a planet in the Star Wars universe.
 * According to Leland Chee, Lucas Licensing actually toyed with the idea of canonizing Willow and the Shadow War novels.

Trivia

 * This film featured the very first detailed computer graphics morphing scene.
 * John Cusack and Matt Frewer were both considered for the role of Madmartigan.
 * Warwick Davis was only 17 when he was cast as Willow.
 * Joanne Whalley's natural hair color is dark brown; she had to dye it bright red for this film.
 * Val Kilmer had to train intensively to create a unique sword fighting style for the Madmartigan character. He even studied juggling and came to incorporate juggling movements into the action sequences.
 * Val Kilmer improvised and ad-libbed much of his dialogue.
 * While filming the crossroads cage scene, Val Kilmer was being let out of the cage one day and, while he was half way out, the chain holding up the cage broke and the cage, made of real iron, fell right on his foot, nearly breaking it. Later in the film Kilmer can clearly be seen walking with a slight limp.
 * The original script had more information on the backgrounds of Madmartigan and Sorsha. Madmartigan had been a knight of Galadoorn (the city mentioned as having been destroyed by General Kael) who disgraced himself by having an illicit love affair, and although he had the chance to redeem himself in battle, he ruined the opportunity by going off on his own, which is why there was so much antagonism between him and Airk (Gavan O'Herlihy). Sorsha was the daughter of both Queen Bavmorda and the good King of Tir Asleen, which meant that she already had the capability of being good, and during the battle at Tir Asleen, she was supposed to see her father encased in stone and he would slowy but surely reach out to her for help, which was what provoked her to join the forces of good. This information was cut from the film but featured in the novelization.
 * As an April Fool's joke on Starwars.com, both Willow and the Shadow War novel series were claimed to be part of the Star Wars canon, complete with detailed character profiles. Though the character entries were removed from the Databank proper after the joke was over, the entries remain viewable at the Shadow War page linked below.

DVD release


Willow was released on DVD on November 27, 2001. The film was presented in anamorphic widescreen in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio, with its sound remixed in 5.1 surround sound.

Features:


 * Available Subtitles: English
 * Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
 * Commentary by: Warwick Davis (Unknown Format)
 * "Willow: The Making of an Adventure" (original 1988 featurette)
 * "From Morf to Morphing: The Dawn of Digital Filmmaking"
 * TV spots and trailers
 * Photo gallery