I Didn’t Have ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Movies Growing Up. I Had ‘Willow’

And I loved it

I somehow managed to grow up a sensitive, weird, heavy metal-loving boy in 1980s America without ever reading any of JRR Tolkein’s celebrated fantasy adventure books. All of those references to Gollum and Mordor in Led Zepplin songs went right over my head. There was a 1977 animated movie version of The Hobbit novel directed by iconoclast Ralph Bakshi, a sort of underground Walt Disney whose movies were gritty and psychedelic and adult. I fell asleep during it when it was on TV once.

Instead, I had a movie called Willow. It was a story about a ragtag team of heroes on a quest to defeat the forces of evil. There is no magic jewelry but there are magic acorns.

When Peter Jackson’s Academy Award-winning The Lord of the Rings movies came out, I was mesmerized. They are tremendous feats of filmmaking, rare examples of near-perfect blockbusters — the acting, the special effects, the sweeping, romantic storytelling. I think Jackson’s trilogy is our Wizard of Oz, a timeless fable that future generations will discover, love, and pass on.

But when I first sat down to watch Fellowship of the Ring, I had two immediate thoughts, one after the other. First: “Oh no, this is Willow?” Followed by: “Oh no, Willow ripped off The Lord of the…