#dizquels16

[the-plot-blog-thing]

(originally published on 10/15/20)

DTVA/DTS TAGTEAM TWEET-ATHON MOVIE #16: MIGHTY DUCKS THE MOVIE: THE FIRST FACE-OFF (1997) 

What in the name of all that is holy did I just watch with my eyeballs?

Well folks, if you ever wanted to watch a show that took the name “The Mighty Ducks” literally, have I got a show for you.

I’ve seen a lot of weird shows in my day, like A LOT of weird shows, but this is one of the strangest shows I think I’ve ever seen in my life. The whole time it felt like it was trying desperately to pitch itself to the audience, but it only left them confused and scared.

Ok, so get this, there are these big ass anthropomorphic ducks from another dimension who live on a planet called Puck World, and they happen to be obsessed with hockey!

Suddenly, evil dragon wizards appear and want to enslave these duck people for reasons I couldn’t explain if I needed it to save my life.

So, a resistance group of ducks forms to take down the dragons, but through shenanigans the heroes and villains end up on Earth in Anaheim, California.

The ducks convince the manager of the Anaheim hockey team to make them the team’s stars, because they love hockey and he loves money. Also, they negotiate in their contract that they can build a high tech secret lair under the stadium.

They spend their days playing hockey to a crowd of completely non-plussed humans, and their nights trying to kill dragon wizards. Oh, and I guess blah blah magic hockey mask blah blah missing leader blah blah.

These last tweets just highlight how high concept this show is, and also just how stupid it is. Like, this show is really, REALLY STUPID. It’s a really bad Ninja Turtles ripoff, and the characters are all just blank slates to make toys of.

And yet, I still find myself drawn to this show in a weird way. Nothing in this show works at all, yet I find myself wondering how to improve this show.

I wonder if it was aimed at a more adult audience if it would be better. Y’know, develop the characters a lot more, flesh out the world and make it less confusing, and either go all in on the hockey or take it all out.

The voice acting is pretty good though. The villains are played by Tim Curry, Tony Jay, and Clancy Brown, which sounds like the best villain team ever. It’s just a shame they have nothing to work with.

In the end, I can’t say I’ll ever forget Mighty Ducks, but I don’t know if I’ll say it’s worth watching. If you want to experience the sheer absurdity of it all, by all means go ahead. 

6.5/10: If you need me, I’ll be writing the gritty Mighty Ducks reboot.