by Ms P. K. Styles

Created on: August 01, 2008

I've loved the movie Willow for years, and it's always been at the top of my favorite fantasy films.

The plot of this film is the same classic plot that you will see again and again in stories like Harry Potter and Jim Henson's "The Luck Child" and even MacBeth. A child has been born who will destroy an evil tyrant, and the evil tyrant sets out to destroy the child, thus inadvertently fulfilling the prophetsy. It's the same case in Willow, only the evil tyrant is Queen Bavmorda, the baby of the prophetsy is Elora Dannon, and the hero/protagonist is Willow.

What I love about Willow (Warwick Davis) is that he's the least likely hero one could think of. He's not quite exactly what he believes himself to be. He believes he's the greatest sorcerer in the world, meanwhile he can't even make a pig disappear.

With him on this quest to save Elora Dannon and their world is one of my favorite characters Madmartigen (Val Kilmer). Like Willow, Madmartigen believes he's something that he's not quite yet: the greatest swordsman in the world. Just thinking about it makes me laugh because I remember the part in the film when Madmartigen is fighting off some guys and Willow goes "You ARE the greatest (swordsman in the world)!" at which point Madmartigen flips his sword and falls like a clown in the snow.

Yet another character who believes themself to be something they're not is Queen Bavmorda's fiesty daughter Sorsha. Sorsha is a kick-but no nonsense chick who packs alot of punch. She seems fixated on pleasing her mother, which is evident in her struggle to be a greater warrior than her mother's male servants. But she learns, like the other characters in the film, that there's something different inside of her that makes her step away from her crazed mother and her evil army. That "something" is her sudden love for Madmartigen, a man who she's kicked in the face, insulted, and threatened to kill on several occasions.

The two warriors hate each other, and yet when one of Willow's brownie companions sock Madmartigen in the face with a sack of fairy love powder, Madmartigen falls head over heels in love with Sorsha. (Or at least his love is intensified by the powder, because it's always been my personal opinion that he had feelings for her at first sight.)

These goofy misfits prove themselves in the end when they rally an army for a last stand against Bavmorda (who is also not quite as powerful as she believes). This movie is action-packed, hilarious, and short and sweet (like Warwick!) and I guaratantee that Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter fans will be pleased (and are!).

Above anything else, this story teaches you to believe in yourself and to keep believing, even when it seems all hope is lost.

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