The Mighty Ducks is a series of three live-action films released in the 1990s by Walt Disney Pictures. The movies revolve around a Twin Cities ice hockey team, composed of young players that stick together throughout various challenges. Despite its negative reviews by movie critics, the trilogy's commercial success paved the way for the creation of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (now the Anaheim Ducks) NHL team as well as a related animated series called Mighty Ducks.
A "Mighty Ducks" area, with related decor, is retained in Disney's All-Star Movies Resort hotel at Walt Disney World Resort. Basil McRae, Mike Modano, Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille, Chris Chelios, Cam Neely and Paul Kariya have made cameo appearances in the films.
Video The Mighty Ducks (film series)
Plot synopses
The Mighty Ducks
After being pulled over for drunk driving, attorney Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) is sentenced to community service, coaching hockey. There, he meets the "District 5" peewee hockey team, perennial losers who finish at the bottom of the league standings year after year. They are shut out every game and lose by at least five goals. The players learn Bombay was once a player for the Hawks, an elite team in the same league, but left hockey because of the embarrassment that followed after a failed attempt at a penalty shot at the end of regulation, causing them to lose in overtime, costing them a peewee championship. With the help of Coach Bombay, and a desperately needed infusion of cash and equipment, the players learn the fundamentals of the sport. Soon enough, the District 5 team (now christened the "Ducks", after Bombay's employer, Gerald Ducksworth) start winning games and manage to make the playoffs, reaching the finals and adding new player Adam Banks, an ex-Hawk who is a talented player and an asset for the Ducks. Bombay faces the Hawks, the team he grew up playing for, still led by Jack Reilly (Lane Smith), the same coach Bombay played for. Fittingly, the Ducks win the title game on a penalty shot by Bombay's protégé, Charlie Conway (Joshua Jackson). The movie was released in the UK, South Africa and Australia as Champions. It was directed by Stephen Herek.
Coach: Gordon Bombay
Team Captain: Charlie Conway
Rival Team: The Hawks
Moral Conscience: Hans
D2: The Mighty Ducks
Inspired by his own players, Bombay decides to try out in the minor leagues and becomes the star player for the fictional Minnehaha Waves, with an easy pathway to the NHL. After a career-ending knee injury, he is offered a chance to coach a team representing the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games. For this, he reunites his Ducks and introduces them to five new players from across the country to form Team USA. However, the lure of celebrity becomes a distraction to both Bombay and the players, and reality kicks in when they lose against Team Iceland in an embarrassing defeat. Frustrated, Bombay drives his players even harder, yet Team USA continues to suffer, until they come across a street hockey team who teaches them how to play like "the real Team USA". New player Russ Tyler (Kenan Thompson), who earlier mocked Team USA during its matches, is recruited into the roster. Bombay realizes the most important thing is to have fun and after a change in attitude, the Ducks redeem themselves by working up the playoff ladder to meet Team Iceland in the finals. Team USA proves to be a match for Iceland, but the game ends in a tie, resulting in a shootout, which resulted in Team USA winning.
Coach: Gordon Bombay
Team Captain: Charlie Conway
Rival Team: Team Iceland
Moral Conscience: Jan
D3: The Mighty Ducks
The movie shifts focus from Bombay to protégé Charlie Conway (Joshua Jackson). Charlie and his teammates are awarded scholarships to Eden Hall Academy (a fictitious name from crossing Southwestern suburb Eden Prairie, Cretin-Derham Hall, and Saint Thomas Academy), a prestigious Minnesota high school Bombay attended. Their arrival is met with hostility from the varsity team (mainly consisting of players who are members of rich families, whose younger siblings were cut from the junior varsity team to make room for the Ducks), as well as Bombay's hand-picked successor, Ted Orion (Jeffrey Nordling), whose emphasis on defensive two-way hockey irks Charlie. Not wanting to be on a team led by Orion, who he believes to be a washed-up former professional player, Charlie leaves the team, but rejoins as he learns the truth about Orion from Bombay. Charlie and Orion quickly bond in time for the JV-Varsity Showdown, and thanks in large part to the work of Charlie, the Ducks win on a shorthanded goal in the dying seconds of the game from unlikely goal scorer Greg Goldberg (who is converted from goalie to defenseman).
Coach: Ted Orion
Team Captain: Charlie Conway
Rival Team: The Varsity Warriors
Moral Conscience: Hans & Bombay
Common threads
Opponents
All three films cast an opposing hockey team representing the various obstacles to the team:
- The rival teams (always all-male) mainly consists of large players of a single ethnic or social background, which the Ducks, a team with smaller players of different races and genders, must overcome.
- All three rival teams in the three films (the Hawks, Team Iceland and the Varsity Warriors) wear black uniforms.
- All three rival teams inflict an early heavy defeat on the Ducks, who later win a second game by a much closer score. However, while the Hawks and Team Iceland beat the Ducks in official games, the Varsity Warriors defeat the Ducks in an unofficial scrimmage.
Team Name
All three films also had the Ducks start off with a different name, but reverts to the Ducks:
- In D1, they are "District 5", then changed to the Ducks because of Bombay's former boss, Ducksworth.
- In D2, the Ducks are known as Team USA. In the third period of the final game, the team changes their jerseys and become the Team USA Ducks.
- In D3, the team starts off as the JV Warriors. The team has an unsupervised scrimmage at dawn, where the team shows up as the Ducks. Orion comes in and breaks up a fight between the two teams, and makes the Ducks take off their jerseys claiming, "The Ducks are dead!" Prior to the JV-Varsity showdown, Orion returns their Ducks jerseys and with their victory over the varsity team, Bombay reveals a banner saying "Eden Hall Ducks."
Goals
Many of the goals the Ducks score are artistic or gimmicky in nature. One of their gimmicks is the Flying V, where all five players skate down the ice in much the same manner as a flock of ducks, the puck being passed around between the squad (the team manages to score 2 goals with this maneuver: one in D1 and another in D2; following this, opposing teams defend successfully against it).
In the end to each movie, the Ducks prevail over their opponents by a single goal.
NHL Cameos
Each movie showcases a cameo appearance by National Hockey League players:
- In the first movie, it is Mike Modano and Basil McRae.
- In the second movie, it is Chris Chelios, Cam Neely, Luc Robitaille, and Wayne Gretzky.
- In the third movie, it is Paul Kariya who, at the time, also had been captain for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
Maps The Mighty Ducks (film series)
Roster
The following is the roster of all players for the Ducks, along with jersey numbers, playing positions and appearances in the three films. Seven of the players appear in all three films (Germaine, Averman, Moreau, Goldberg, Reed, Conway, and Banks). Their coaches are Gordon Bombay (Estevez, D1 and D2) and Ted Orion (Nordling, D3).
Reception
Box office performance
Critical reaction
Lasting impact
More than 20 years later, the Mighty Ducks has become a cult classic for those who grew up in the 1990s. Houston Texans star J.J. Watt and Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper are among the trilogy's fans. A podcast dedicated to the trilogy, The Quack Attack, has more than 100 episodes.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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