POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW!!!!
OK, when Willow was first released, I loved it. Thought it was a great fantasy story. But when I watched it again just a few days ago, for the first time in almost a decade, I realized something...and that was, "Wait a minute... isn't this a Tolkien story?"
I didn't read Lord of the Rings until about 5 years after I first saw Willow. The other day when I watched the film, as I said, for the first time in almost ten years, my first thought was "Hey Lucas - get your own story!" There is just way too much in this film that seems pulled straight from LOTR. I mean, aren't the Nelwyns just Lucas's version of Hobbits? Let's see...little people, mostly farmers, who love food, drink and celebration, don't like to leave home or mix much with other races, and aren't much expected or called on to be heroic.
Then one of them finds a baby/Ring that needs to be taken far away to keep the rest of the Hobbits - oops, sorry, I mean Nelwyns - out of danger. Taking this baby/Ring away will make the whole world a better place. So the Nelwyn/Hobbit gets a group - or Fellowship, if you like - of other Nelwyns/Hobbits to go with him to take this baby/Ring where it must go. On the way, they meet a warrior named Madmartigan/Strider who at first they don't know if they can trust, but have no choice. There is an evil Sorceress/Wizard named Bavmorda/Saruman who wants the baby/Ring's power for her/himself, and a good sorceress/wizard named Raziel/Gandalf who is there to help the Nelwyn/Hobbit.
Does anyone else see where this is going? I don't know, but it sure sounds like a ripoff to me. It's a shame; I can't enjoy Willow anymore. Some of it is still fun, I suppose, but the lack of originality is a pretty big downer to me. Perhaps the fact that I've grown up since I first saw it has something to do with it as well. But all in all, I think that J.R.R. Tolkien told pretty much the same story first, and better. And that, I'm afraid, will always come to mind if I try watching Willow again in the future.
OK, when Willow was first released, I loved it. Thought it was a great fantasy story. But when I watched it again just a few days ago, for the first time in almost a decade, I realized something...and that was, "Wait a minute... isn't this a Tolkien story?"
I didn't read Lord of the Rings until about 5 years after I first saw Willow. The other day when I watched the film, as I said, for the first time in almost ten years, my first thought was "Hey Lucas - get your own story!" There is just way too much in this film that seems pulled straight from LOTR. I mean, aren't the Nelwyns just Lucas's version of Hobbits? Let's see...little people, mostly farmers, who love food, drink and celebration, don't like to leave home or mix much with other races, and aren't much expected or called on to be heroic.
Then one of them finds a baby/Ring that needs to be taken far away to keep the rest of the Hobbits - oops, sorry, I mean Nelwyns - out of danger. Taking this baby/Ring away will make the whole world a better place. So the Nelwyn/Hobbit gets a group - or Fellowship, if you like - of other Nelwyns/Hobbits to go with him to take this baby/Ring where it must go. On the way, they meet a warrior named Madmartigan/Strider who at first they don't know if they can trust, but have no choice. There is an evil Sorceress/Wizard named Bavmorda/Saruman who wants the baby/Ring's power for her/himself, and a good sorceress/wizard named Raziel/Gandalf who is there to help the Nelwyn/Hobbit.
Does anyone else see where this is going? I don't know, but it sure sounds like a ripoff to me. It's a shame; I can't enjoy Willow anymore. Some of it is still fun, I suppose, but the lack of originality is a pretty big downer to me. Perhaps the fact that I've grown up since I first saw it has something to do with it as well. But all in all, I think that J.R.R. Tolkien told pretty much the same story first, and better. And that, I'm afraid, will always come to mind if I try watching Willow again in the future.