Willow is a 1988 American sword and sorcery epic dark fantasy adventure film directed by Ron Howard and produced by Nigel Wooll.

The film stars Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis, Billy Barty, and Jean Marsh.

Davis portrays the title character, an aspiring magician who teams up with a disaffected warrior (Kilmer) to protect a young baby princess from an evil queen (Marsh).

The majority of filming took place in Dinorwic quarry in Wales with some at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, as well as a small section in New Zealand.

Industrial Light & Magic created the visual effects and animation sequences, which led to a revolutionary breakthrough with digital morphing technology.

In a fantasy world, the evil sorceress Queen Bavmorda of Nockmaar hears of a prophecy that a child with a special rune birthmark will bring about her downfall.

After Nelwyn warriors kill it, Willow presents the baby to the village leader as a possible reason for the hound's appearance.

At a crossroads, they find Madmartigan, a mercenary trapped in a crow's cage, who offers to take the baby in exchange for his freedom.

They are captured by the brownies, but Fairy Queen Cherlindrea frees them and explains the baby is Elora Danan, the foretold Princess of Tir Asleen.

Willow accidentally turns a troll into a giant two-headed monster with the wand, and in the ensuing chaos, Kael kidnaps Elora.

Kael slays Airk, but Madmartigan avenges him, as Willow, Sorsha, and Raziel confront Bavmorda in the ritual chamber.

[5][6] During the production of Return of the Jedi in 1982, Lucas approached Warwick Davis, who was portraying Wicket the Ewok, about playing Willow Ufgood.

"[5] Lucas explained that he had to wait until the mid-1980s to make the film because visual effects technology was finally advanced enough to execute his vision.

[8] Dolman joined Howard and Lucas at Skywalker Ranch for a series of lengthy story conferences, and wrote seven drafts of his script between the spring and fall of 1986.

Various major film studios turned down the chance to distribute and cofinance it with Lucasfilm because they believed the fantasy genre was unsuccessful.

[11] Lucas initially visualized shooting the film similar to Return of the Jedi, with studio scenes at Elstree and locations in Northern California, but the idea eventually faded.

Willow recites what he thinks is the appropriate spell, but turns the goat into an ostrich, a peacock, a tortoise and, finally, a tiger, before returning her to normal.

[11] Muren found both stop-motion and optical effects to be too technically challenging and decided that the transformation scene would be a perfect opportunity for ILM to create advances with digital morphing technology.

He proposed filming each animal, and the actress doubling for Hayes, and then feeding the images into a computer program developed by Doug Smythe.

[11] The techniques developed for the sequence were later utilized by ILM for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

The harmonic draft of the Willow score, and most particularly its spiritual side, came from such a cycle, from such mythology and music history that I was taught, and that I myself convey with my own emotions and compositions.

"[20] Eclectic influences on the score include Leoš Janáček's Glagolitic Mass, Mozart's "Requiem", "The Nine Splendid Stags" from Béla Bartók, Edvard Grieg's "Arabian Dance" for the theater play Peer Gynt, and compositions by Sergei Prokofiev.

In June 2022, Intrada released an expanded score across two CDs (Special Collection Volume ISC 476), with this track listing:

The website's consensus reads: "State-of-the-art special effects and an appealing performance from Warwick Davis can't quite save Willow from its slow pace and generic story.

Desson Thomson writing in The Washington Post, explained "Rob Reiner's similar fairytale adventure The Princess Bride (which the cinematographer Adrian Biddle also shot) managed to evoke volumes more without razzle-dazzle.

It's a sad thing to be faulting Lucas, maker of the Star Wars trilogy and Raiders of the Lost Ark, for forgetting the tricks of entertainment.

"[35] Mike Clark in USA Today wrote that "the rainstorm wrap-up, in which Good edges Evil is like Led Zeppelin Meets The Wild Bunch.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment re-released the film on VHS and on DVD for the first time as a "special edition" on November 27, 2001, both of which were THX certified.

[41] George Lucas and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray Disc on March 12, 2013, with an all-new digital transfer overseen by Lucasfilm.

[60] That same month, it was revealed that Jonathan Entwistle had officially been hired to replace Chu as director, with filming commencing in Spring 2021[61] in Wales.