Review - WILLOW (2022 Series)

Warwick Davis revives his iconic role as an unlikely sorcerer in what may be the unlikeliest nostalgia-revival in the post-Disney-acquisition Lucasfilm canon; playing wizened mentor to a thoroughly Gen-Z questing party on a mission in a fantasy realm that swings cheerfully between earnest youthful freshness with unapologetic old-fashioned High Fantasy template-respect to unexpectedly charming results.

#willow #Disney #disneyplus

[UchihaKat]

"The only thing YA likes more than sword lesbians is disaster lesbians" HOW COULD YOU CALL ME OUT SO HARSHLY LIKE THIS?

[dwsparks]

The "making of Willow" 30 minute documentary on D+ is basically the cast making a mockumentary about working with Warwick Davis - it's very funny and worth checking out!

[Wraithfighter]

I'm a little surprised that Bob didn't mention Amar Chadha-Patel's amazing run with Boorman. Even in the weaker early episodes, he was a constant bit of outright hilarity, doing a Madmartigan-esque character damn near perfectly. Dude has some amazing action-comedy chops, would love to see him in more things.

[BleachFan]

Some suggestions on the new setup: there's artifacting on the top right, possibly caused by a wrinkle in the screen, and it interacts oddly with your hair. It also creates a weird pale spot on your head.

I'd recommend shifting your screen off to the right - with your glasses on you can just look to the side without anyone noticing. At the moment, the reflected screen is rather distracting.

[rodawallace]

"Hawk, The Slayer" name check. You really get us, Bob. Also: "sword lesbians/disaster lesbians". Yes, I want my Madame Vastra/Jenny Flint fix!

[joncarroll]

"Middle School D&D Campaign" is the perfect description of this show for both good and bad.

[samanthaquinn]

I had some trouble getting into the series, but by the mid-point it had me and I'm really hoping they actually make the second and third season planned by the filmmakers.

[Rubberman]

I'm still just blown away that they made a continuation to Willow at all.

[BrianGeers]

The only thing I took issue with were the covers of modern songs peppered throughout. My wife, who is a huge Springsteen fan just went “Nope!” when they did the melancholy slow-tempo redo of “I’m On Fire” during the wedding scene.

[thetribunaloftheimaginatio]

"The only thing YA likes more than sword-lesbians is disaster-lesbians."

*stares in "The Owl House"* Brother, you ain't whistlin' Dixie. And I love this series... I need to finish the first season, but I love it to bits.

[notreallythere]

Personally, I loved the modern music cues they used throughout the series, which lent it this very fresh, youthful energy compared to other fantasy series like Rings of Power. Combined with the writing using more modern vernacular, the whole thing felt very different and very new, which is how the original Willow felt, clearly marking the D+ series as a worthy successor, even while it's very much doing its own thing.

[williamking]

"Kit and Jade are both just delightful." How? Kit is insufferable from the first episode on, has no redeeming qualities, throws fits at the most inopportune times, and then magically in the last episode is "worthy" of the mcguffin armor? Jade and Boorman both had more growth as characters and made more sense to wear that armor. And its not the Kit actress's fault: the writing for her is just so unapologetically bad it makes her the most unlikable member of the party and she's supposed to be the lead!

I'm all for more LBGT representation in stories (and like I said, Jade was fine), but if Kit was written the same way with the same dialogue and was cast as a male, you'd be one of the first people calling them "a toxic man".

[channelsofash]

Kind of reminded me of the TV era when we had things like Hercules and Xena. A bit of fun was a nice break from the trend of fantasy has to be serious because the studio is throwing around serious money.

[SarahJohnson-quzx]

I'm so glad to see this - I felt exactly the same about this series, in fact I'd even go so far as to give it 8/10 given how well the last 2 eps stuck the landing (inability to do decent finales being the curse of 'grab the clicks and trending early frontloading' that modern streaming has). Plus as an old fandom lesbian I love how well the same sex romance was done. I hope Disney gives it a second season for many reasons but also so I can continue to wonder at how they cast two actors as Kilmer and Whaleys kids who somehow look more like them than their actual real life children!

[Wintermute]

I loved this show. Fantasy and historical properties are either trying to be LOTR or trying to be GOT so it was refreshing to have something that's not chasing either trend.

[Lrbearclaw]

As someone who grew up a fan of the original movie (my parents were LotR and gaming nerds), I was so excited for this series. My ONLY complaint was it wasn't the Shadow ___ books... but then again I love that they didn't do that and let the books be their own thing.

[digitaljanus]

It's so weirdly uneven but I kind of admired its give-no-fucks attitude. Mixing Gen-X nostalgia with contemporary YA fantasy and light profanity (apparently you can say "shit" on Disney+, who knew) and the cast is pretty solid even when they're constantly let down by the writing. Boorman was my favourite; I couldn't help smiling any time he was on screen.

[benthomson]

Your thoughts pretty much mirror my own exactly. I won't claim that it's an objectively "great" show, but I found myself smiling and enjoying it, mostly because the main cast are all charming and frankly adorable (in sometimes a somewhat doofy sort of way, but adorable nonetheless).

I legitimately want to see more despite whatever minor quibbles I may have. It's not what I expected but I generally had a fun time, and I think the cast certainly deserve to come back. I hope it was an enjoyable project for them, it definitely has a "pluckier" feel to it than a lot of bigger name shows, it has a sort of underdog-esque aspect to it that I wasn't expecting and I'm honestly rooting for it.

Anyway, thanks for your thoughts, I was hoping to see others give it a chance!

[patrickscanlon]

Hey, people under 40 do like/care about this! I don't turn 40 for 6 months.
Seriously though, I agree with pretty much all your points. As someone who grew up watching Willow, I think they did a good job straddling the line between reverence for the original & actually developing a story that isn't just a checklist of revisiting the original 's plot points.

[Oddlogical]

"middle school D&D game with no notes" hits it on the head. It was fun. Not everything they tried to do worked, but it wasn't cringe, so that's a win. If they do more, I'll watch it!