ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

If you've seen Willow and didn't like it, my advice is to watch if again — this time while under the influence of some mellowing agent like . . . beer or mushrooms or recreational marijuana.

I say this because sometimes we all need a little help seeing the merits of a creative effort which is so packed with talent that it just has to be appreciated.

Willow is a perfect example.

It's based on a story by George Lucas, and it was directed by Ron Howard. The music is by James Horner. The FX were by Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic.

With those kinds of genes in it's cinematic DNA, how could this movie not be a hoot-and-a-half for any audience who saw it?

After all, it's a full-blown Sword-and-Sorcery tale, with wizards and dragons and action galore!

Admittedly it's a bit too "family friendly" for those of us who crave bare-chested barbarian warriors and bare-chested slave girls, along with sword fights that hack off body parts.

But this movie substitutes charming characters in the form of actual "little people" in the roles of Hobbit-like citizens in this mythological realm. And the required "quest" for the heroes involves the safety of a pint-sized princess played by an infant actress who's so adorable I just couldn't help remembering how much I loved my own red-haired daughter when she was born in 1980!

She's now 44 years old, and she's All Sci-Fi member Ticket2theMoon — a talented audio-visual writer/director who lives in Atlanta with my two equally creative grandchildren.


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Gentlemen, this movie is the brain-child of George Lucas, and as such I can't help but like it. I hope the rest of you folks can find the same kind of emotional connection.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)