D2: The Mighty Ducks Reviews

More of the same, along with hypocritical moralizing and plot holes aplenty, didn't keep audiences from flocking to this formula sequel. Emilio Estevez returns as coach of a ragtag kids' hockey team, now playing as Team USA in the Junior Goodwill Games. D2 picks up where D1 left off. The Mighty Ducks have scattered for the summer, and coach Gordon Bombay (Estevez) has abandoned his law practice to try for an NHL comeback. Thwarted by an injury, he's approached by sports clothing huckster Tibbles (Michael Tucker), who offers to give the Ducks star treatment on the way to the Junior Goodwill Games--in return for endorsements. Bombay bites, and regathers his team. After a promising start, however, Bombay's head gets turned by the big-money sports milieu. He's soon spending more time hyping his idea for an "Air Bombay" coaching shoe (to no less than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) than coaching his team. The last straw falls when team members catch Bombay fraternizing with the comely trainer (Maria Ellingsen) for the Iceland team, who then bury the Ducks in an early-round match. The loss shocks Bombay and his team into taking stock and recapturing their old Duck spirit, enabling them to come back against the fearsome Icelanders in a hard-checking game that goes down to the wire in a one-on-one shootout. Generically titled, D2 is also generically plotted. Its by-the-numbers script, patched together by original writer Steven Brill (who actually drew on his experiences in little league softball for inspiration), is a less coherent and much slicker rerun of the original, overlaid with self-serving moralizing that could have been written by the front office of Disney's Anaheim Mighty Ducks NHL franchise. The scenario takes great pains to show the team, and Bombay especially, being "corrupted" by endorsement money. When the Ducks' spirits are lowest, however, along comes a kindly small-time sports outfitter (Jan Rubes), who designs all-new uniforms to give them a lift. Unsurprisingly, those new uniforms bear an uncanny resemblance to those worn by the NHL Ducks. Hence, in D2, hype is bad--unless it's Disney doing the hyping. Dapper ex-Lakers coach Pat Riley is held up for sartorial ridicule and as a prime example of a "bad" coach who takes endorsement money. Strange then, that Lakers superstar Jabbar should put in a cameo appearance as a superstar pitchman. But logic isn't much in evidence anywhere in D2. Speaking of payoffs, it's never quite explained how Tibbles manages to get the Ducks a free ticket to the Goodwill Games. Nor is it ever made clear why the Icelanders get away with boarding, tripping, and cross-checking with nary an official's whistle, while Ducks earn game misconducts for the slightest shows of temper. The Icelanders themselves look like they were recruited from the World Wrestling Federation, making Bombay liable for reckless endangerment when he sends in slight, pretty Connie (Marguerite Moreau)--the movie's stand-in for Bambi--as a guard against the goons. Bombay also keeps porky, puck-shy goalie Goldberg (Shaun Weiss) in net even after he gives up 12 goals to Iceland, even though the Ducks have an ace backup (Colombe Jacobsen). The coach makes up for his apparent incompetence by giving solemn inspirational speeches at every plot turn--seemingly twice as as many as in the original film. Also more frequently in evidence are repeated shots of wildly cheering extras in the stands--and it's a good thing, too, since Sam Weisman's flashy slice-and-dice direction only gives occasional clues as to what's actually happening on the ice. For all that, D2 pushes all the right buttons with its time-tested underdogs-triumphing plot. Estevez plays the schlock with grace and humor, and the kids are as likable now as they were then. But it all leaves a slightly icky taste afterwards.