On M List of Movie Reviews

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The Mighty Ducks (1992)

Rate: 6
Viewed: 9/25

MDucks1
9/25: Everybody was lucky to have Emilio Estevez on board for The Mighty Ducks.

Otherwise, it would've been much, much worse. I'm sure Steven Brill thought of The Bad News Bears on ice before finishing the rest of his terrible script. The formula is painfully obvious as well with too many illegal hits for a kid's game. He's also guilty of overwriting in the first ten minutes, and I didn't understand what everybody was saying.

After the basic premise is set up, the worst is brought out by the child stars, most especially Brandon Adams as Jesse. With the exception of Joshua Jackson and Vincent LaRusso, they're all irritating and not funny. When Emilio Estevez takes control of the situation, the show begins to improve and gets into the groove before finishing predictably. Lane Smith is also helpful.

By the way, what was the mascot before the team got renamed as the Ducks? The movie doesn't say, so is everybody telling me it was nameless the entire time? Oh, the championship game at the end? That means it cost $15,000 to earn the trophy, thanks to Mr. Ducksworth who actually held total power over the team, no matter which direction Gordon decided on. But this is pee-wee hockey which means...who cares?!?!?

When Hans told Gordon that he scored 198 goals in one season, I did some math in my head. If the team played 50 games, that would be an average of four goals per game. But 50 games is quite a lot for a little kid. How about 25? That'll be eight per game. Ridiculous numbers. When Hans showed the standings on the chalkboard to Gordon, it turned out to be 12 games so far.

Back to the child stars, it'll be easy to mistake Jussie Smollett for Jesse, but he plays his brother. In 2019, Jussie Smollett made up claims that he was attacked by two men and that they used racial and homophobic slurs against him. After being outed for it, his reputation absolutely went into the shitter, and he never acted again. The Hispanic kid who plays the goal is Shaun Weiss, and he was arrested a year later for burglary while high on drugs. Then, his mugshot was released, resembling a full-blown meth head.

All in all, The Mighty Ducks may have been popular in the early 90's, but it hasn't aged well.