D2: THE MIGHTY DUCKS
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
"Today it's Wheaties boxes," promises the promoter, Don Tibbles (Michael Tucker), to our young heroes. "Tomorrow it's video games and action figures. The sky's the limit!" Riches would soon be theirs (and Disney's too).
In 1992 Disney grossed fifty million dollars with THE MIGHTY DUCKS, the story of a kids' hockey team of losers who go on to win the big championship. In 1994, Disney had no fresh ideas, but they figured they could cast the same actors and make as much money in a sequel. They were right.
In the sequel, D2: THE MIGHTY DUCKS, Gordan Bombay (Emilio Estevez) has been injured in the minor leagues so he has to go back to coaching. He is asked to coach Team U.S.A. in the Junior Goodwill Games in Los Angeles. Although logic would dictate that he recruit the best players from across the country, instead he takes the old Mighty Ducks and adds an ethnic and a geographic cross-section of the country. They range from a street tough ghetto kid to a rope throwing Texas cowboy. There is even a scene in the championship where the cowboy gets a penalty for roping a player on the ice. I am not making this up.
All movies need bad guys, and this time they choose Iceland to find the villains. Dressed all in black, the Icelanders sneer at Team U.S.A. The Icelandic coach, Wolf Stanton (Carsten Norgaard), has dramatically slicked-back, oily hair. Coach Stanton played one season in the pros where he earned the moniker "The Dentist" for setting a record on the number of his opponent's teeth that he broke. Yes sirree, this is one bad dude. He even tries to break Coach Bombay's knee cap in a one-on-one challenge match with him. You do not even need to watch the screen to know when The Dentist is there, the music (Steven Brill) always moves into the deep registers when he is present.
Although beaten once by the Icelandic team, our heroes face them again in the finals. Make a guess how close the last game will be. Go ahead, take a really big risk and guess who will win.
All of the standard sports movie cliches are used and reused in the film. Easily the most ridiculous scene has Russ Tyler (Kenan Thompson), a member of the Goodwill Games's audience, challenge Team U.S.A. to leave practice and come to the ghetto to play street hockey. This event becomes the catharsis for rejuvenating Team U.S.A.
Still, when all is said and done, the show does have high energy even if few ideas. This is probably enough to satisfy The Mighty Ducks's fans.
D2: THE MIGHTY DUCKS runs 1:47. It is rated PG for reasons that escape me. The film is fine for all ages. My son Jeffrey, age 8, thinks the movie is "terrific," and it is his favorite of the three Mighty Duck movies. I find the movie unimaginative and uninteresting so I do not recommend it. I give it * 1/2.
**** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: June 5, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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