Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Clause. And he stopped off at Columbia Tristar on his way through Indiana and picked up a whole sack of laser discs and one of them is a shiny new widescreen edition of 'Willow'.
Yes, that's right. For the first time in my memory, a disc actually showed up without advance notice. As of last week, 'Willow' was not scheduled to ship but low and behold, it showed up anyway. So, the wait for a decent widescreen edition of George Lucas and Ron Howard's underrated and underappreciated fantasy epic is finally over. And the payoff is almost worth the wait.
The THX approved widescreen transfer of 'Willow' has moments of sheer perfection. Unfortunately, it also has moments of mediocrity. But, the excellence far outweighs the flaws so I won't dwell on the latter, except to point out that a few scenes are unacountably grainy. This may be video noise as its most noticable in dimly lit scenes and a couple of scenes lit with red light (notoriously difficult to render on NTSC video). Except for some questionable scenes, the majority of the transfer is gorgeous. Colors appear extremely accurate and perfectly saturated. Contrast is excellent and the sharpness and detail are simply as good as it gets. The Panavision frame is at long last restored with a transferred ratio about spot-on 2.35:1. It should also be noted (from an admittedly biased point of view) that seeing this film in its proper framing restores some degree of its epic scope and majesty sorely missing since its theatrical run.
The soundtrack may be even more improved than the video. While I admit to avoiding the cropped and scanned version for several years, I do not recall anything like the depth and impact heard here. There is some honest to goodness low end here that will tax the finest subwoofers and James Horner's wonderful score has an almost three-dimensional quality rarely heard, even in these days of digital soundtracks. Dialog is well balanced and clearly audible, even during the loudest effects or music cues. I did detect a bit of harshness in some of the upper frequencies, particularly in louder dialog passages, but I did not find this too objectionable.
'Willow' runs 127 minutes. The film is presented on three sides with side three in CAV. The disc contains 54 chapters. The jacket is one of those gate-fold type with a single sleeve opening on the inside used in the past on several other Columbia Tristar titles. Some folks have expressed dissatisfaction with these but, personally, I think they're great (less chance of your discs falling out on the floor). The side break from 1 to 2 is a bit abrupt but the platter break is terrible. No trailer or other extras are included, and here is the rub. In what can only be described as the most overtly greedy act in recent disc history, Columbia Tristar has opted to price this three sided title at $69.95. And this from a company that usually charges $39.95 for a three-sided title. Well, there's no use complaining. If you want this disc (and many of you will), you have to pay the price. At least the transfer is a good one.
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