Willow - Premiere - Review
With its first few shows, Disney+ quickly became a home of extending movies that people loved, with shows like The Mandalorian, and Mighty Ducks giving viewers a new look into worlds we knew. Shows that are sequels to movies are a little rarer, but they do still happen, with Obi-Wan Kenobi being one such title. It seems that Lucasfilm are the folks that investing in more stories with the original actors, which brings us to Willow. The 1988 film staring Warwick Davis was not quite a strong box office performer, but easily found a cult following later. Is this sequel series off to a good start, or is some magic required to correct its course?
For those who have not seen the movie, the show does open up with a refresh of its events, all of it from a high level, so not all the characters are shown. Once that is done, it is time to meet the new characters that the show will follow. For this we first meet Kit who is practicing her sword play against Jade, all the while doing so at the edge of a cliff. While Kit is victorious, Jade doesn’t seem all that worried about the loss, but before long the pair are interrupted when the Queen requests the presence of Princess Kit. While that’s is happening, her brother Arik is spending time with Dove, one of the girls from the palace kitchen. While she is seemingly ok, she does question about if he is serious about her, as he has developed a bit of a reputation, while he does admit things are different with her, they are soon interrupted by guards requesting the prince’s presence. Both siblings return pretty soon to the castle when Queen Sorsha, who is once again played by Joanne Whalley, with her indicating that the pair must get ready for the dinner that is taking place, in order to celebrate the pending marriage between Kit and Grayson Hastur.
While the dinner does go well enough, the events afterwards do not do so and when Jade tells Kit that she is leaving to go get trained as a guard, the first woman to ever do so, Kit sort of loses it. After causing a scene and banished to her room, she decides to flee from the castle, finding a life away from forced marriages and other things expected of a princess, first magical world problems. While she does take a moment to say goodbye to Jade, before she can make her escape a fog rolls in and from it comes a force of evil that starts to kill all in their way. With most of the palace now fighting back against the group, Queen Sorsha retreats to the dungeon to release a man who has been locked up for some reason and with both of them in the fight, the evil retreats, but not before taking Airk with them. A party is formed with Kit leading the charge to rescue her brother, Jade joins up as well and the fiancé Grayson Hastur is forced along, with the unknown prisoner also, who we get told is named Boorman. From here the crew head out to get assistance from Willow, who can provide magic in the quest to save Airk.
Going into this episode I figured that they would spend more time introducing new characters, which I feel is a bit of a misstep. This is not an all-new show, but the sequel to a much beloved movie. While I can appreciate wanting to introduce those new folks, leaving the addition of Willow to the end is a bad decision, given the show is named after the character. The other issue I had with the story was the connection to the movie in Elora Danan, the movie was focused on this character and the show, seemingly ignores her, at least until the end. These decisions make it hard to connect to the events that take place, don’t get me wrong, the cast is sold and the characters are mostly interesting, but that matters not when the two connections to its source are ignored until he very end.
One thing I can give the show credit for is making a world that feels lived in, with the locations popping quite nicely on screen. The castle location is fairly easy to do in most soundstages, but the grander views that we get to see, those are hard to do and that is where location shooting comes in. All of the Star Wars shows that Lucasfilm have made, have used the Volume, their circular room filled with screens, though the shows filmed in England have expanded beyond that. Where Willow shines is in embracing the real world, when the crew are riding across the grassy plains, they are really on that location. All these locations could have been replicated in a soundstage, but the inclusion of real world locations makes the show come alive and it deserves to be acknowledged.
While the first episode leaves the inclusion of Willow until the very end, it does manage to introduce some interesting new characters. The overall threat seems a bit light at this point, but given how the world seems to run without relying on magic, a magical baddie seems a bit too hard for many to grasp. With the groundwork now laid, the series should pick up the pace, but for now its on track to deliver a magical adventure for all.
The Score
8.0
Review access provided by Disney
The Pros
+The new cast seems fun and interesting, with Boorman likely to steal scenes down the line
+A forgotten threat does wonders for bringing folks together and the minions of this threat fit the bill nicely
The Cons
-Leaving the introduction of the titular character until the end is just lazy
-Kit has potential to be interesting, but currently suffers from princess syndrome and that makes her unlikeable
