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

 

Starring Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis.

Directed by Ron Howard. 

This is my first review of a long time favorite of mine. I watched this the other night and thought, “this is definitely worthy of a review”. My reasoning for reviewing it is due to the alarming fact that some people have never seen it… (MY BOYFRIEND… cough cough)  For his sake, I had to show him it’s magnificence (… I know! There are still people out there that still don’t know this!)

If it’s been a while or you’ve NEVER seen this, watch it NOW!

Here’s why:

1. It is fantasy driven, 100%. If you detest that, then GET OUT OF HERE! If not, then get to watching this! It contains magic, sorcery, prophesies, sword play, monstrous creatures… and any other fantastical thing you can think of…

2. It is non-stop action that’s fun. There is never a dull moment. Something is always happening and is always so very exciting and surprising.

3. If you dig STAR WARS and LOTR, you’ll adore it. Watching these movies throughout my childhood prepared me for a bright future of fantastical movie watching. Immediately, you will fall in love with this if you fell for LOTR. It contains very similar backdrop locations and story lines. I could tell that George Lucas had a hand in the production just from the scene transitions. He was the king of producing this type of work and he was still in his prime!

4. Calling all powerful ladies! Something I did not notice until recently is the industry’s inability to give strong exciting roles to females of this genre. The lead is not a female in this film, however it is full of various stages of powerful female roles that are played perfectly.

5. The characters are true. They where insanely well written. It was reminiscent of Star Wars again in terms character roles, classic and exciting! All acting was top notch down to even the smallest of parts. It’s obvious that there was passion felt throughout the entire cast of this movie. Val Kilmer’s at his best, in my opinion.

6. The music is epic. James Horner is held responsible for Braveheart, Titanic, Glory, Field of Dreams, etc. He stands beside fellow movie music men such as John Williams, James Horner, and Danny Elfman. Just like you are captured for the greats, Willow’s music will steal you away as well.

7. The story serves as an escape. If you need a quick vacation from reality, let this story take you there. It tells itself smoothly and simply without getting too complicated. No thinking caps needed, just relax and enjoy!

8. The Scenery makes your mouth water. Some of the scenes are breathtakingly gorgeous, similarly to LOTR. As a nature-lover, I wanted to climb inside the screen and never come back.

9. The Art Direction. For 1988, this film hits high quality standards on every spectrum. Since there was very little special effects used in this time (compared to now), I believe it held it’s own. The way the film is shot is also quite impressive and gives it that “going-on-a-journey” feel we need. I would also like to give props (ha ha.. see what I did there…?) to costuming and set design. I really love it when characters appear to have dirt under their fingernails that you can actually see! All of these elements add up and had me believing until the very end that this was an awesome adventure.

10. You have to love the screen play. You know how a movie lives on by the words that are spoken from it? I don’t know if there are other people out there like my friend’s and I, but we can “one-line” this movie to death! Great dialogue and delivery throughout.

~ WATCH TRAILER ~ TOMATOMETER ~