'Willow' Series Recaptures the Magic of the Original Movie
by EG
The 1988 fantasy movie Willow was not a giant hit when it was released, but it has collected a devoted fanbase over the years. Now Disney attempts to tap into the affection for the film with a new series based on the original characters and situations. Will the new adventure satisfy the fantastical cravings of long-time fans? Read on for details.
My new motto when approaching Disney+ originals is, “Look, they don’t all need to be Andor.”
It isn’t that Andor, which recently wrapped its first season, was necessarily the best Disney+ original, but it was the first Disney+ original to give the impression of doing something truly dangerous — or at least truly challenging — within the confines of the please-everybody media behemoth. Most Disney+ originals had tended to fold themselves in neatly with existing properties (even WandaVision was, at its heart, an overture for a big-screen Doctor Strange adventure) or to pander aggressively to fans of beloved titles, however mediocre. But Andor showed up and used its Star Wars framework for a serious-minded exploration of the banality of evil, the corrosive effects of capitalism and the encroachment of authoritarianism. It was off-brand and daring and not the sort of thing I’d even recommend that Disney attempt frequently.
Consider Willow, then, a return to the Disney+ pipeline that brought us shows based on The Mighty Ducks and Turner & Hooch, plus sequels to Hocus Pocus and Enchanted. Adapted by Jonathan Kasdan from Ron Howard’s 1988 fantasy favorite, Willow is solidly down-the-middle entertainment that aims to deliver mnemonic pleasures to an audience that already loves the property, with a few updated ideas and some buffed-and-polished special effects. It suffers mostly when it doesn’t quite grasp the voice and tone of the original film, but just as its successes aren’t really dazzling, its failures aren’t fatal.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.