Submitted by brerRabbit81 t3_10abl4w in television
Just finished Willow and it wasn’t bad. The one thing I did hate was the speech and mannerisms are really fantasy but more a 2022 high school. Other than that a fun if a bit corny and predictable show. I will say the imagination and scenery are top notch
I watched the entire series just to complete it. I found the music choices and dialogue a bit jarring, and felt the story line could have been more coherent.
The original movie was a fun little adventure and the series tried to emulate that tone but fell short, but that’s just my take.
It wasn’t for me but the Willow subreddit sure loved it.
Watched the 1st ep and dialogue and line deliveries were YA-ish for me. Had no urge to finish it.
It's great for what it is! The show runner, Jonathan Kasdan, also wrote for Freaks & Geeks and script-wrote Solo. His goal with Willow was to create a low barrier of entry for people - they don't need to walk into the show knowing all the cadence and customs like one does with shows like GoT or Rings of Power.
Another goal was to capture a very particular 80s fantasy vibe that I think a lot of people on this sub just don't remember. Take Labryinth with David Bowie singing and dancing a song like "Power of the Babe" - it's ridiculous. Or Tom Cruise in Legend, or Ladyhawke, or Krull, or even the later Princess Bride, and then the camp classics like Xena, Hercules, and even Buffy. Even the original Willow is really silly; it has a ton of plot holes, lots of flat characters, plenty of its own bad acting...it's all fine.
Of course it's corny it's meant to be. The show has a ton of heart and that's what I loved about it.
It's a show full of young first time actors , and written to appeal to younger people.
I'm not defending the show I'm just providing some context to your point.
Oh ya the actors I dont mind, like overall I enjoy it
I remember the movie, I was a kid, but it left a deep impression. And the series is too fabulous and sugary, but I hope it appeals to the young.
Yeah, the fact the actors didn't seem to want to act as if it were a fantasy world and talk/act as if they are in the modern world really grated on me.
Did the directors/actors not realize the genre of the show?
It was a deliberate choice. Most high fantasy shows use the same type of dialogue to try to feel like another world. Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones as examples. That's good because they are serious action dramas.
Willow was written as a twist on some common fantasy tropes and the TV series expanded on that idea. The modern dialogue and music was part of the direction they chose.
It was a CW fantasy show
It was
It was cute. Not top tier fantasy, but still enjoyable. I will check out season 2 if it gets renewed, haven't heard anything on that front but the literal bookend after the series finale showed 3 volumes/seasons of the show.
I watched the show with the hope it would be as good as the movie was. I thought it started well - severely lagged - but I do think it ended strong.
I thought it was a definite slow burn with some pretty rewarding scenes in the last two episodes.
I just finished the show and I liked it enough. The one thing I didn't particularly care for, and I must be in the minority since I haven't seen it voiced elsewhere, was that it felt more of an ensemble, and that Willow was just a supporting character. I was really hoping for Warwick Davis to shine, and I think he can definitely carry a show. It's the same issue I had with Book of Boba Fett (ironically, another Disney Plus show).
A friend of mine got us tickets to see Bruce Campbell in a few months, and it made me think of his show, Ash Vs. Evil Dead. Ash Vs. Evil Dead had two really good sidekicks, El Jefe and Kelly. They were three-dimensional characters, with their own unique personalities and stories, but you also never forgot that Ash was the central character. I just wish that Willow had that. It was a lot of supporting characters, the prisoner was the only one that did anything for me, the actors were hit-or-miss and like I said, it felt like Warwick was relegated to the background more than a few times just to flesh them out and it didn't really suit the show well. I will watch the next season though.
Crater_Raider t1_j459m80 wrote
I liked the movie as a kid.
This was okay. It was fun. But some of it I just hated. The set up was painfully dumb. The prince is kidnapped by demons, so the queen sends the rest of the inexperienced royal children to rescue him-aided by a criminal. Couldn't spare one soldierntonsave her son. Really forcing the set up.
Some of the costumes were way too modern too. A couple people wearing Jean's. The brownies daughter wore a pajama onesie and a printed T-shirt.
And I did not like what they did with the Trolls. Movie was pretty ridiculous and slap stick, but it also had a bit more of an edge. This was a little softer.
I wish Cristian Slater stuck around more too, as he was the closest thing to filling that Kilmer sized hole.