Elves, dwarves, an abandoned baby, and an evil witch? Why it must be "Willow", born from the mind of George Lucas and now polished-up for a new special edition DVD release.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture As this transfer has been supervised by Lucasfilm, we can assume it to be correct, but it's surprising how pale the colours are. It's a slick smooth effort though that knocks a few years off the film's appearance.

Sound The all-new 5.1 sound mix is an impressive achievement, creating a soundstage of staggering depth.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Audio Commentary Lead dwarf star Warwick Davis takes us on an audio trip back in time to a film production that required 245 dwarves. He seems to know them all as well, for he's able to rattle off their names and give you a filmography to boot. Davis talks us through the audition process he went through, including meeting a red-faced Val Kilmer (he'd driven to the studio in an open-topped convertible, as we later find out). Scarier than a red-faced Kilmer though is watching the scene of the death dogs chasing dwarves, with Davis coolly relating the fact that these were angry Rottweilers, wearing head gear, tearing after some clearly terrified dwarves.

Willow: The Making of an Adventure "In a time of sequels and spin-offs, where many movies have numbers after their titles, "Willow" is truly one of a kind", declares the voiceover for the most self-delusional featurette ever committed to DVD. The tone of the earnestly dull cast and crew interviews is amusingly cheesy, but nothing eclipses this closing line: ""Willow" proves that one committed person can make a difference, and the making of "Willow" proves that if enough people share a creative passion, they can make a very special movie". Oh dear.

From Morf to Morphing For anyone interested in special effects, this is a featurette worth watching, as experts like Dennis Muren talk through the all-new computer effects created for this film. The process of 'morphing' was invented for the movie, although the one problem was whether to spell it 'morf', or 'morph'. They went for the latter, and there's some interesting archive footage of the technicians at work on ancient computers, perfecting the process.

Additional Extra Features Also included on the DVD are TV spot and trailer galleries, and a photo gallery with plenty of behind-the-scenes shots.

Region: 2
Chapters: 36
Ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Technical Features: Scene selection, multiple languages and subtitles.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.