Willow

Yesterday, the TV show Willow, a sequel to the 1988 film of the same name, released its season finale on Disney+. The series follows Willow and a series of misfits from the Kingdom of Tir Asleen who venture out into the unknown to rescue the kidnapped prince. I watched the original Willow film for the first time shortly before this show came out. I really enjoyed the world-building and characters of the original film and was hoping to see more of that here.

I had a good time with this show. I thought it was a solid fantasy adventure series and was very well-focused. I also liked how the season was all about a singular quest yet still allowed each episode to have its own story arc. No episode ever felt like an "in-between" or "transition" episode as so many other Disney+ shows have been guilty of. I also thought the pacing was very well done in the show. No episodes ever felt like they were dragging or just there to pad the run time. The world established in this show was also really fun to explore. We got to see part of it in the original Willow movie, but this show really allowed the world to truly be expanded. Finally, I really enjoyed all of the main characters in the show. They were all really likable and had great chemistry with one another. I also felt that both Kit and Elora and great character arcs throughout the season that were really well done.

However, a few things are keeping this from being a great show. One of the issues is that I felt the show was too contemporary. All of the characters acted and talked like they were modern-day teenagers instead of acting as if they lived in this medieval world. It felt more like people who were from the modern world playing pretend in this fantasy land instead of feeling like they actually lived there. Along the same lines, the tone is completely different than that of the original film. It felt like Willow got Disneyfied. Everyone got a lot funnier, everyone was quipping, and there was just a general lack of seriousness to what was happening around them. This is something that we've come to see from Marvel, Star Wars, and other Disney properties but just feels weird when done to Willow. Because of this, I felt that the series really failed to capture the magic of the original film.

Overall, this was an entertaining show that I want to see more of. However, it just went too far in the Disneyfication of the property that it doesn't compare at all to the original film.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+ Recommendation: Check it out if you like Willow or fantasy