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I watched willow last night for the first time in....a while.
I remember enjoying it when I was younger, but it seemed a bit cheesy and when compared to LOTR had some major plausibility flaws. (I hope that makes sense considering it's a fantasy story)
I still thought it was an ok movie. The little "brownies" were the Jar-Jar binks of the film (and there were TWO of them!) so I see where George Lucas get's his "cookie cutter" character types from.
Anyone seen this lately, or revisted it after not seeing it for a while?
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posted
It just screamed "Failed Star Wars import into Fantasy" for me. You had the rogue hero (Han Solo), the Evil Queen (Darth Vader), the Unlikely Hero (Luke Skywalker), C-3P0 and R2-D2 comic relief (the brownies) and the strong, yet feminine female (The Princess). You even had the stolen battle plans (the baby).
It was hard not to compare it to Star Wars as a standard for me.
I still enjoyed it, but some parts were just a little too "out of place" or inexplicably "over the top".
I'm nitpicky though, so that probably explains it.
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I saw the Star Wars link when I first saw it, but I had the Queen being the Emperor, the General being Darth Vader (minus any redemption, of course).
You also had a Ben and Yoda (the fairy lady and the old sorcerous).
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Joseph Campbell - Hero with a Thousand Faces
There's a reason it reminded you of Star Wars, but it's not because it ripped off stories. This is an old, old story.
If you want to know about it, here's a place to get started.
Both Willow and Star Wars are examples of the archetypal hero story, described best by Joseph Campbell in the 1940s. It wasn't that it was trying to copy Star Wars, but it was pitcher of water from same spring from which Star Wars was drawn.