Willow

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bookworm
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Willow

Post by bookworm »

Thread for the new series coming out. Can also be about the original movie since we don't have one yet.

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Post by Catspaw »

I've never seen the original movie. I mean to at some point. If I decide to watch the new production I would probably watch the old one first...maybe. Anybody have strong thoughts on this?
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Post by bookworm »

I haven't seen the movie either. I've thought about checking it out a few times, but was never really interested enough to go through with it. I think most people view it pretty fondly though so maybe I should finally watch it myself sometime.
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Post by Catspaw »

Haha, we're basically twins on this topic - that's basically my situation too. I have wondered if it's the kind of movie that improves significantly when you have warm childhood memories attached, which I do not, but I'll never know unless I actually watch it!
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Post by bookworm »

Yes that's exactly what I wonder too, how much of the fondness that people have may just be nostalgia. I have a feeling that most of it may be, which is what's held me back from making an effort to watch it. I don't know why I think that though, it's baseless.


We should watch it 'together' so we both finally see for ourselves, and then will know if we care to watch this series when it comes out.
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Post by Catspaw »

What if we (and anyone else who wants to join the Willow challenge) watch in the next week and commit to sharing deep thoughts next weekend? Or did you have something else in mind?
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Post by bookworm »

That is what I meant. :yes: Not sure which evening I'll be watching but I'll be sure to do it by next weekend.
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Post by Catspaw »

Same here!

If anyone else wants to take the Willow challenge, you have one week! :mad:
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Post by bookworm »

I watched it!

I'm unsure if I'd call it a fantasy classic, but I did like it and I'm very glad I finally saw it. I was pleased to find it holds up more than I had unfairly assumed it would based on nothing in particular.


Pretty intense start; two deaths before the opening credits ended. That was unexpected as I was originally under the impression this was a family movie. That's certainly not the case though, at least it's not all ages family.

The effects done for the Brownies were very impressive! In other things like that I've seen from similar time periods, where someone is supposed to be either smaller or larger than their environment, something about it always tends to look or feel off to me and breaks my suspension of disbelief, but nothing here ever noticeably took me out of it.

I thought the running joke of the transformation spell getting interrupted so the sorceress kept becoming different animals was a really fun thing. There was no actual reason to have that in the story, plot-wise, it was just entertaining extra.

The design of the troll was distinctively off-putting to me, because it made me think of the Morlocks in the Wishbone episode on The Time Machine which had terrified me as a kid. If I didn't have that subconscious association I would have thought it was good; as were the decomposition effects when Willow used the spell on it. Disturbing, but really well done. The double headed thing it turned into was also impressive; it blended into the scene extremely well for what I'm guessing was stop motion. Or it could have actually been a puppet more probably, but either way it was very neat and very well done.

The look of the entire movie in fact was particularly good I thought, in terms of both the general visuals of the world they created as well as specific costume and creature designs. And of course the effects as well; the pig transformations was another standout sequence.


Follow-up after writing out my initial notes: I needed to find out how that two headed thing was actually done so I did some research and learned it was neither stop motion nor puppet, but an at-the-time innovative blend of the two called go-motion. Very cool! (details here and here) I also learned that creature was named the Eborsisk in reference to Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel which is fantastic.
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Post by Catspaw »

I watched too! I'm glad we did this because I might never have gotten around to it otherwise. The hazard of so many choices!

I was expecting it to look more "just off VHS" but they clearly did some remastering or whatever when they put it on Disney+ because it looked great. Obviously some of the creatures and stuff looked pretty cheesy by today's standards (like the two-headed monster), but I don't let stuff like that bother me too much. I'm guessing that at the time it was pretty impressive.

The baby was super cute and I did like the happy baby moments - but some of the times when the baby was crying was stressing me out, hoping that baby wasn't traumatized for life for the sake of our entertainment. I have a three and a half month old niece, so maybe that was making me extra sensitive to worrying about crying babies.

I was surprised to see George Lucas listed at the beginning of the movie, credited with the story. I'm familiar with Warwick Davis thanks to George Lucas (Star Wars episode 6, plus other assorted SW movies and shows) so that connection does make sense.

It's definitely a fun story and interesting plot. I think I enjoyed it more than I expected to! I wouldn't show it to young children but it is reasonably family friendly for older kids (like bookworm said, depending on the ages.) I enjoyed the little romantic storyline too. The music was well done.

I agree with bookworm that it might not quite be a classic for me, but it is good movie and I'm glad I watched it. I would watch it again at some point in the future.
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Post by bookworm »

Now that I've seen the movie I am interested in checking out the new show at some point.
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Post by Catspaw »

Yes, I feel the same way. I might not watch it right away. We might need to make another timed watching goal for me to get around to it!
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Post by bookworm »

Catspaw wrote: Sun Oct 02, 2022 7:07 pmWe might need to make another timed watching goal for me to get around to it!
Well, Disney+ is removing a bunch of content in a few days and this show is reportedly one of the things going.

I am still interested in checking it out, so I guess I'll be binging it quick. The show isn't being moved somewhere else, it's going to just disappear like it never existed. And because of how Disney manages their content there's no way to know how or when it will come back. It's very possible this will not be viewable again for years, or maybe even ever. It seems like it should be unlikely that they would lock it away for too long when this was one of their biggest headline productions, but that's also what makes this move so shocking, that they would be pulling one of their biggest productions mere months after it premiered, so there's really no telling what will happen here.

There are eight episodes so watching two a day starting now will finish the series just in time. (Removal date is reportedly May 26th, unclear if it remains available through then or until then.)
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Post by Catspaw »

It is odd that they're removing it so soon. I won't be watching in the next few days but I hope it works out for you, bookworm!
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Post by bookworm »

I finished it!

It wasn't that great, sadly. I liked parts of it. But on the whole it was disappointing, after I had been so pleasantly surprised by how positively I ended up feeling about the movie when I finally watched it.

What mainly didn't land with me was the writing. Almost all of the humor felt off somehow, like it didn't fit in this setting. Not that having humor didn't fit, the movie certainly had plenty of silly comedic interjections, but I guess the type being done here or how it was done didn't feel right.

The series overall didn't feel like it really fully meshed with the original movie either. Oh there were an abundance of references and various connections sure, but at the actual core of the plot did this really have to be a sequel to Willow? No, it could have been just a generic fantasy series and not lost anything substantial. Or flipping that around, which may be the more meaningful way to think about it, it didn't gain anything particularly substantial by being a continuation of Willow.

But while I wasn't completely into the story I really liked the look of the show.

I thought the costuming was great, and that's not usually something I take particular notice of for either good or bad, so it was notable to me that I repeatedly caught myself thinking 'That outfit looks really good, shoutout to the wardrobe department.'

The creature design was also fantastic, particularly the concepts of each of the Gales whose features made them distinctive and frighteningly memorable entities despite having rather little screentime. Also, on the complete other end of the spectrum, the mudmander! Oh my gosh how is this thing so cute?!

Excellent set design too, there were some really spectacular looking scenes. Two that particularly stood out to me were the vermiscus lake in Episode 6 and the beautiful starfield in Episode 7.

Fun fact: Warwick Davis's real life daughter played his daughter in this which is neat. Also his son was his stunt double.

If the show ever becomes available again I'd say if you liked the movie it's worth checking out, with tempered expectations, if just to see how they carried on from it here. If the first few episodes really don't grab you it wouldn't be the worst thing to drop it, but since it's a short season I would stick with it. It's a questionable start for a while, but it does improve as the show goes on, even if the best it gets still isn't great. The next to last episode is definitely the high point, it had noticeably better story pacing and the most engaging viewing experience I thought.
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Post by Catspaw »

Thanks for sharing your review, bookworm. If I ever watch this I'll share my comparison thoughts...but don't hold your breath. ;)

It's neat that his daughter played his daughter - that's fun! :D
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