| Show l r r f Film Review by Mike Mik Richan I i S t I fi X a Wow r M May ay Start tart m You Yau Weeping i i the film from Willow is new V George Lucas The previews V. V r which have been showing or- or nonstop J V. V since last October suggest t. t w we v should forget all Y you know or t I think you know and g go go see Y Willow It has reached the theatres I F with witha a fantastic fury of anticipation promotion and bad reviews Oh Ohi f i yes and its it's directed by Ron Howard whose assets include includeS J G Splash and Go f S t. t recently racked up a critical liability j with Gung Gling Ho Lucas himself 1 r i a recently delivered Howard H the thet t f f D Duck ck and so so oth have have a al athing l v- v thing to prove What Willow delivers is the ther r- r story of a d dwarf arf with the same name who is charged with protecting protecting protect- protect j ing an infant destined to be a G. G o princess princess' The existing regime an anevil f. f evil que queen n. n knowing of a prophecy i f foretelling the infants infant's birth and rl i eventual rise to power seeks to l dest destroy oy the babe but Willow steals J fi the child off to a lonely island t If whereupon lies stranded a powerful power- power t ful but good sorceress who will raise the child Adventures occur along the way not the least of which is his meeting with Val Kilmer a lucky happy swords swords' swordsman man who aids them in dealing with f fairies iries trolls brownies and evil ar- ar 0 mies Its It's a pleasant story presented present- present ed with an occasional surprise and f t V f 9 side by side while racing along at high speeds Instead of Moses being be- be ing pl placed in r reed reed d raft on the Nile to protect him from the baby murderers s sent nt by the evil king its it's fhe ih princess ss f the reed raft raft floating away from the baby murders the sent-by-the evil queen Even James Horner Homer who wrote the musical score has stolen from tot oher other er scores cre Q notably t bl M rr es e's the The 1 Mission It jand nH Horners F I sown own Aliens Another problem is t the fact that n not t many of oJ heI w in this film can can act Billy Barty in a special appearance appearance ap ap- and Warwick Davis who plays Willow are the main ex ex- ex- ex The characters in Willows Willow's imm immediate diate family are ac ac- ac- ac All AU the others with speaking speaking speak peak peaking ing parts perform rather poorly one gets the impression that Howard was desperate for dwarfs this film uses more than any other with the exception of Oz and took what he could get If you you forgive its it's lack of originality ty and occasional bad acting the film pulls off fairly well to Howards Howard's credit Its It's obvious that there was plenty of money to be had and the special effects and matte photography are top quality Lucas owns the largest pro post facilities in the world situated on his Ranch plenty of humor Unfortunately it does not meet up to all the hullabaloo Its It's just an average average movie not a great one or a a special one Just average and rand that's a compliment for fora a film so derivative you cant can't go ten seconds without recognizing a stolen scene or idea Lucas has blatantly stolen from all the best stuff The Wizard of Oz Indiana Jones and his own Star Wars trilogy even even the Bible Its It's altogether too bad that these hese offs are Wh what lt hold th the film together er without them it would be just another fantasy film that didn't work And that's basically the problem its it's fantasy and fantasy has a terrible terrible terrible terri terri- ble time on the screen Theres There's so much happening visually and this is born out by Henson's Labyrinth also produced by Lu Lucas as that the story gets neglect neglect- ed Lucas fills in the holes and contrivances with images he knows will wiH work the tested and true battle and chase scenes choreographed a abit abit abit bit too much like his other films almost lifted entirely from them In Instead Instead Instead In- In stead of a mine car speeding down downa a mine shaft its it's a runaway runaway wagon pursued by another wagon with a large supply of bad guys in it The road conveniently splits into two parallel tracks so they can fight 1 and at nearby Industrial Light M Magic gic in Marin Mann County California and Willow spent a good deal of time there Pity the syncing lip tip syncing on some overdubbing c could couldn't nt t have been worked out better though its it's so much nicer when the words coming out match the moving lips And Lucas cant can't resist throwing in inan inan inan an overdubbed dialogue line designed to explain what's happening ng though theres there's rare rarely y a aneed aneed aneed need for it its ifs like having someone riding with you while youre you're driving and they always the pronounce I t word stop stop every you time cometo come cometo to a stop sign Lucas would have done better to have supplied some motivation instead of this underhanded underhanded underhanded under under- handed narration If you have an aversion to this genre stay away Its It's not a good goodenough goodenough goodenough enough movie movi to win you over Its It's far too convoluted with rituals and missions and unexplained things that have to be accomplished accomplish accomplish- ed by the characters with little more reason than they just have to But then the scenery is gorgeous gorgeous you might enjoy just looking at the film not worrying that occasionally it doesn't seem to make sense P Perhaps rh P making sen sense e and originality were some of the things I was supposed to forget I knew Or think I knew Or whatever 2 1 2 1 I J |
