Fans not happy with Disney+ ‘Willow’ series

It’s another day, and it’s another day where fans aren’t happy with a Disney+ series, and this time it’s Lucasfilm’s Willow series.

The first two episodes are now streaming on Disney+, but according to early fan reactions, it’s not so good.

The Willow The Rotten Tomatoes results are now available where the critics seem to think it’s okay as the show currently has a critic score of 83%, but the fans don’t like what they’re seeing at all as the audience score is at a measly 58%.

Update: The audience score has fallen 29%.

Related: The series has the worst ratings on Disney Plus.

For comparison, interestingly, the score is reversed for the 1988 cult classic, as the critic score is at 53%, while the audience score is at 79%.

While I have yet to watch the episodes myself, Polygon points out, “Disney’s big surprise Willow show: queer romance is at the center, a decision creator Jonathan Kasdan says was “just organic” to make the sequel.”

Update: I caught the first episode and it’s just as bad as you can imagine. Willow isn’t even really in the first episode and per above, the episode is about a princess’ LGBTQ relationship and a prince that she’s going to marry who is a complete jerk. The princess’s twin brother is also kidnapped who is supposed to be one of the best swordsmen in the kingdom; so the princess, her partner, and the prince’s chef lover go to rescue him. It’s laughable at best, folks.

Then recently Disney’s LGBTQ Strange world animated film bomb at the box office that was also not marketed as having LGBTQ representation.

What do the fans have to say about Willow The Disney+ series?

Regarding what the fans have to say Willow The Disney+ series, the comments on Rotten Tomatoes offer the series does not feel like Willow.

– This is like a modern sitcom, not mid evil fantasy. Doesn’t feel like an arrow.

– Lost the charm. Not sure about the teen drama/sitcom script angle. Who is the target audience again? Modernized dialogue is always a terrible idea for fantasy shows. See if I can last the season.

– Only one episode in, but so far it feels like a cheesy Medieval Times series. Then you throw in a rainbow unicorn princess and a bunch of other very cliche poorly written characters/dialogue. Maybe it will get better. But if this is what you post as the premiere episode, the chances aren’t great.

– This was completely out of the question. I lasted about 15 minutes.. but the husband (a huge fan of the original as a kid) insisted we keep trying.. 20 minutes was enough even for him. This show is another good example of how not a single character is a fun and good person you want to hang out with. The two main girls can be assured, not Galadriel level, but very close. The scene where she’s on the phone to meet her handsome new husband and throws a tantrum is one of the worst scenes I’ve seen in a long time, and there have been some shockingly bad moments in TV and film this year. This show is absolute rubbish. What a pathetic waste of IP. Ready, get ready…. terribly.

– Pretty bad – I was excited to check this out as a fan of the original films. Devoid of any real magic unfortunately.

What do the negative reviews have to say?

The negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes offer similar sentiments to the fans.

“Willow is a prime example of the potential heartache of reviving IP. Disney has enough data to see that their Lucasfilm property has enough fans to justify a revival, but not enough creativity to understand why.” – UPI

“An underdeveloped legacy sequel that somehow stretches the source material to breaking point, while never reaching the same heights of good old-fashioned fun that a fantasy epic should have at its heart.” – Playlist

“Unfortunately, I think my childhood Willow nostalgia wore off a few episodes ago. While I enjoyed seeing Warwick Davis back in his Willow role, I think his whole mythic world came crashing down around me as the episodes went on…and on … and further.” – Raise Whasians

“A show that can’t decide exactly what it wants to be, nor who it’s intended audience is.” – Rolling stone