Rating: PG | Runtime: 126 minutes
Release Date: May 20th, 1988 (USA)
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Director(s): Ron Howard
Writer(s): Bob Dolman / George Lucas (story)

‘I dwell in darkness without you,’ and it went away?!

This holds up really well. Yes, the adventure stuff (Val Kilmer was always a standout here) and hero’s journey (Warwick Davis is unforgettably pure and sweet) stand the test of time, but so too does the production design, special effects (my partner yelled “Phil Tippett!” when his name popped up in the opening credits), and script.

I don’t think I realized how good Billy Barty’s High Alden was when watching it as a child, though. The way he coyly manipulates situations to fit the people thrust into them rather than force them to fit his vision or desire is so much fun. He’s not necessarily a charlatan since he does possess magic and power. It’s more that he’s a master of improvisation as a means of augmenting both.

The score started playing and I was instantly humming along as if it had been hiding in the recesses of my mind, waiting to be unearthed again. Never reading The Hobbit until Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films released makes rewatching this so interesting now since it is obviously an homage (Did Ian McKellen use Patricia Hayes’ Raziel as inspiration for Gandalf?). And you know Jean Marsh’s devilishly great performance would have been the genre turn everyone wanted to earn an Oscar nomination had it come out this decade.

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Joanne Whalley, Val Kilmer, and Warwick Davis in WILLOW; © Lucasfilm Ltd./MGM, photographer: Keith Hamshere.