A fantasy movie with two races, "Big Ones" (=us) and smaller ones, about saving a newborn baby from a cruel queen

Question

I watched this movie on French TV about 30 years ago. It was in French, but obviously dubbed from English.

There were two races (in the sense of Tolkien), Big people (us) and smaller people whose collective name I forgot. I am almost sure the name was not "dwarves", but something more original. But there were no special effects, these small people were played by actors affected with dwarfism.

The story was about a newborn baby who was heir of some country, and the cruel queen wanted of course to have him killed. I am not sure whether the queen herself had magical powers or not, but some people on her side certainly did.

The baby was eventually saved by an improbable alliance of priestesses, "big" fighters, at least one of which was an outlaw who joined the alliance more by necessity than good will, quite a few "dwarves" and a wizard. The latter reminded me of Gandalf from my memory of reading The Hobbit and LOTR, but that was before the movies were made for these works.

Answer 1

This is Willow (1988).

A young farmer is chosen to undertake a perilous journey in order to protect a special baby from an evil queen.

The story takes place in a medieval fantasy-style world populated by a variety of races, including Daikinis (average-sized people), Nelwyns (dwarf-sized people, portrayed by actors with real world dwarfism) and Brownies (Lilliputian-sized people), who each live in separate communities.

The plot revolves around the efforts of the evil Queen Bavmorda to capture and eliminate Elora Danan, a baby girl prophesied to dethrone and usurp her one day. Bavmorda is a sorceress and commands an army of soldiers, including her daughter, Sorsha, whom she sends to hunt down Elora.

The protagonist is Willow Ufgood, a young Nelwyn farmer who aspires to become the apprentice of his village's head sorcerer, the High Aldwin. Early on in the film, Willow rescues Elora from a river near his village, but soon realises she won't be safe there, and embarks on a journey to take her to the Daikini crossroads, accompanied by a few other Nelwyns.

Along the way, he gains more allies, including a rogueish swordsman named Madmartigan (the deuteragonist of the film), a pair of Brownies named Franjean and Rool, and a good sorceress named Fin Raziel.

The High Aldwin's role in the film is relatively small, as he stays behind in the Nelwyn village and isn't directly involved in Willow's quest.

A TV series set over twenty years after the events of the film aired in 2022, but was cancelled after one season.