As IMDB tells the tale, in the late '80s George Lucas decided to make a movie featuring the talents of a young Warwick Davis, whose claim to fame up to that point was the role of the Wicket the Ewok in Return of the Jedi.
That movie would be Willow (1988), the story of farmer-turned-sorcerer Willow trying rescue a baby (generally held to be the cutest McGuffin ever) prophesied to defeat the evil queen and honestly just doing his best in a world that doesn't respect him. It's a fairly classic sword and sorcery movie out of the '80s and a pretty fun one. It also, accourding to Davis, represents the largest casting call for little people actors at the time (Aside: shame on Lord of the Rings for using big people to play hobbits... Willow proves there are plenty of excellent actors of small stature.) I highly recommend the movie.
Fast forward to today and Disney+ has brought us Willow the series... an eight episode streaming series that returns us to the world of Willow and seeks to answer the question (which frankly no one asked) what happens when the baby of prophecy, who defeated the evil queen before she could sit up, grows up to be a young woman.
Ok, honestly, I liked this series.
Frankly, to me it totally feels like what might have happened if a D&D roleplaying group decided to hold their next campaign in the world of Willow... and that isn't a bad thing. The characters are bright, snarky, and more than a little cliche but in a good way. The dialogue doesn't quite break the 4th wall, but it certainly breaks the pseudo-medieval tone fairly often... aided and abedded by each episode closing with a classic 80's 'Rock song which somehow works.
We have romance, battles and magic. We have cliche villains, funny villains, villains who turn out to not be villains and upend our entire idea of who the actual villains are... and just plain scenery chewing evil villains. We have heroes and rogues... and we have Willow the Great Sorcerer, still just trying to do his best in a world that has made him a legend but still doesn't actually respect him.
It shouldn't work but, for the most part, it does.
If you've got access to it, it's worth a watch.
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