Warwick Davis is great as a Willow, an Everyman thrown into a world rather bigger than he feels able to cope with. Great fun with a clever script and Ron Howard's ability to give characters depth and plausibility, even small cameos. I've seen the film many times and the whole family still love this tale of a little guy in a big world. Some people slate the film, I think just because of its naive charm, but I think it's a gem.

Little feller Willow has to protect a baby from the depredations of witch Bavmorda, with the help of disgraced warrior Madmartigan and some pixies.From a story by George Lucas, and directed by Ron Howard, this sword and sorcery adventure fantasy introduced the world to 17-year old Warwick Davies. It's great fun, full of action, adventure, humour, magic, dirt, and what were at the time cutting edge special effects. It's interesting to see the first cinematic use of morphing, and the last major use of stop-frame animation (Phil Tippett, who took over the mantle of premiere stop-frame man on Ray Harryhausen's retirement).Some parts might be a bit worrying for the tinies but, generally speaking, this is a pretty enjoyable ride for the family.

Now the Lord of the Rings film trilogy came out long after this film, but the books were written long past, and in its wake influenced a lot of people. In the 80s there were plenty of medieval fantasy movies, some good mostly bad. One of them in this genre is 'Willow' which had a huge backing in George Lucas.Strictly this is a big homage to Lord of the Rings, and doesn't seem to mask that point. For its time the special effects were kind of new and progressive, although now seems very retro, but it helps the adventure along.Its the heart-warming story that takes it along, and Warwick Davies played his central role wonderfully.We're spoilt now with CGI etc having created almost perfect screen depictions of fantasy movies, back then it was still bit ropey. Don't let that put you off this. It has its flaws but as a Sunday afternoon movie with family & kids it's good.Shame there were no further sequels done, would have been fun to see how they could have expanded on this one.

Plot: Willow, a small farmer/apprentice magician, meets Madmartigan, a great swordsman, and together they journey through a war-torn land of magic and monsters, to save a baby princess from death at the hands of an evil queen.This is easily my favorite fantasy film. The reason why I call it my favorite is because of the simple story that it creates, the movie doesn't try to over explain what's going on like they did in the Lord of the Rings films. Warwick Davis does a great job playing a farmer who has abilities that he never explored before. His character is very well-developed, likable, and interesting. Val Kilmer gives the best performance based on his wits, charm, and overall vulnerable traits that make his character stand out the most. Joanne Whalley, Jean Marsh, and Billy Barry all give great performances and are never overshadowed unlike in other fantasy films.My only problem with the film is the two comic reliefs played by Kevin Pollak and Rick Overton who get very annoying and are only there for the kids. Besides that, this is my favorite fantasy film of all time. I hope you give it a chance, I believe it is worth your time especially if you love these types of films.