It’s hard to believe Warwick Davis was just a wee lad when he first appeared as Wicket the Ewok in Return of the Jedi. He was 12 during the filming of the movie and went he finally got the lead in Willow, he was only 18.
Unfortunately, there weren’t that many roles for dwarves in movies. And like a lot of other dwarves/little people actors, he had to take roles that made much use of his height and size. Most often they were used as the butt of jokes. When the first Leprechaun opened in the winter of 1993, it wasn’t a huge blockbuster, but it made a sizeable profit for the now defunct production company Trimark Pictures. Produced for only $1 million, it made about $8.5 million in America.
So a year later, Leprechaun 2 was released with Davis returning as a different evil leprechaun than the one in the original as it had been killed. Lead actress Jennifer Aniston didn’t return. She had been filming a pilot for some NBC TV show. Maybe you heard of it? It was called Friends and also starred the woman from Ace Ventura and the guy who played Kelly Bundy’s boyfriend at one time on Married…with Children.
In many ways, the first Leprechaun is more memorable for Aniston’s early in her career than Davis even though they were about the same age. But the sequel does improve more on the first movie as it gives Davis more room to have fun as the malicious creature. While the first movie kept most of the action to the rural countryside of North Dakota, Leprechaun 2 is set mostly in Los Angeles and the only movie in the franchise to be set on St. Patrick’s Day.
This time around, the evil leprechaun is looking for love in the City of Angels. In the opening prologue, we learn that 1,000 years in the past, the leprechaun was searching for a bride which was the daughter of man he had enslaved. The man twarted his attempts to force the woman to sneeze three times without being told “God Bless You” and killed the man. Apparently, if she had sneezed three times, she would’ve become the leprechaun’s bride. I never heard of that one before but there’s always something like this in these fantasy movies. But the leprechaun said on his next birthday, which is St. Patrick’s Day, in 1,000 years he will find a descendant as his bride.
The descendant is Bridget Callum (Shevonne Durkin) who has a rocky relationship with the young Cody Ingalls (Charlie Heath) who works his his sleazy uncle, Morty (Sandy Baron), an alcoholic and grifter who preys on tourists giving them sham tours around the L.A. area in a refitted hearse. Called “Dark Side Tours,” they give false tours of where many celebrities have reported died. This is actually a great idea that is poorly wasted.
There’s more of a plot this time around even if the special effects and style don’t hold up as well. The leprechaun’s lair looks like it was decorated with an abundance of swag brownish-tan curtains meant to look like rocks and boulders. And neither Heath nor Durkin are really that much likeable in their main roles. Heath seems to have one of the most stereotypical hairstyles that thousands if not millions of young men had in the era. Neither one of them appeared to have much of a career past the 1990s.
The more interesting character is Morty, who we all know is going to try to go after the leprechaun’s gold and get suckered in by a violent trick. I find it interesting that even though he wasn’t a main character, Baron had a recurring role as Jack Klompus on Seinfeld. He lived in Del Boca Vista in Florida with Jerry’s parents and was kinda their Newman. Unfortunately there were no other actors from NBC’s Must See TV who appeared in the Leprechaun movies to the best of my knowledge.
Other interesting characters in the movie are Clint Howard (who also appeared in a memorable Seinfeld episode) as a tourist suckered in by the tour. His wife is Kimmy Robertson who played Lucy Moran on Twin Peaks and its revival series. Tony Cox appears in a memorable scene dressed as a leprechaun passing out gold chocolate that will become useful later. I would preferred seeing either of these three more in the movie. Since it is St. Patrick’s Day and L.A., most people just presume the leprechaun is an actor.
This is mostly Davis’ movie this time around and he has fun with the role as much as the script and budget will allow him. As word has come out this past week, Disney is not going to produce a second season of Willow, I have to say it’s the right choice. I didn’t really care for the series, which seemed to copy too many better fantasy movies. It also reduced the titular character to a supporting character in his own series and most action scenes were so poorly lit, you really didn’t know what happened until later. They should’ve also waited until Val Kilmer could’ve appeared in it.
This was the last of the Leprechaun movies to get a theatrical release. And considering it made about a fourth of what its predecessor made, I’m not surprised. Davis would go on to make several more movies each becoming worse in tone and style. Thankfully, Davis was cast as Professor Filius Flitwick in the Harry Potter movies and continued to find work in the Star Wars prequels, sequels and spinoffs.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 