There isn't a single major character in the film who is engaging.

If it evaporates from memory with the airiness of a bubble bath, at least it leaves a friendly glow and a sense of a magical world lovingly evoked.

Willow is not without its charms -- the effects are more than special, the set-pieces suitably epic -- but it just doesn't fulfill the promise of certain other fantasy films.

Good family fare, though it does get violent at times.