QUACK! They’re back!
In this charming sequel, The Mighty Ducks of Minnesota back, but this time they have their sights set on something bigger. That ‘something bigger’ is the World Cup of little league hockey, and they’re forming a Team USA to compete in California.
The writers of this movie did a fantastic job; they knew they needed to go bigger with this one. They played out the typical ‘bad team turns pro miracle’ schtick with their freshman movie, so it’s actually kind of cool to see a sports sequel so the viewer can see what happened to the kids afterwards. On that note, are there any other sports sequels other than the 86 Rocky movies? Let me know if there are because I can’t think of any!
You know what? D2 doesn’t have as much heart as the first one, but it was still charming, as I described above. The kids were all still likeable, and the new additions to the team all fit in super well – there’s a Texan cowboy, a brilliantly talented girl goalie, and Kenan Thompson was hilarious even at age 13. (Note: I don’t know Kenan’s actual age at the time of filming, but you can bet that this is what caught the eye of Kenan & Kel creator, Kim Bass).
One improvement was made on this second visit to the Ducks, at least. I was extremely glad so see that they didn’t take Coach Bombay (Emilio Estevez) on a stupid romance whirlwind. There were subtle hints to suggest that he was going to fall into that unnecessary story line with the new tutor lady played by Kathryn Erbe, but the writers were smart enough to realise that romance is not what brought audiences to The Mighty Ducks in its initial state, so bringing that aspect back for the sequel would have been mightily pointless. (See what I did there? Heh.)
Overall however, the plot wasn’t as refined this time round. It was kind of all over the shop and there were sequences that just needn’t have made the final cut. For instance, there’s a scene where some of the kids go to a clothes shop, mainly to perv on some of the models there. It was not integral to any of the movie, and served as a mild (yet definitely morally questionable) attempt to create a few laughs.
That scene aside, this still got a fair few laughs from me! I particularly loved the addition of the friendship between the duo affectionately nicknamed ‘The Bash Brothers’, and they absolutely provided some of the funniest moments in the film.
After this sequel, I’d have to say it was quite successful, all things considered. Although I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first (hence my rating), I still want a Ducks jersey. Quack.
D2: The Mighty Ducks is available to stream on Disney+ and NowTV in the UK.
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