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D2: The Mighty Ducks

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D2: The Mighty Ducks
Two ice-hockey players head to head, both blowing bubblegum.
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySam Weisman
Written bySteven Brill
Based onCharacters
by Steven Brill
Produced byJon Avnet
Jordan Kerner
Starring
CinematographyMark Irwin
Edited byJohn F. Link
Eric Sears
Music byJ. A. C. Redford
Production
companies
Walt Disney Pictures
Avnet-Kerner Productions
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release date
  • March 25, 1994 (1994-03-25)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$45.6 million[1]

D2: The Mighty Ducks (also known as The Mighty Ducks 2) is a 1994 American family sports comedy-drama film directed by Sam Weisman. It is the second installment in The Mighty Ducks trilogy, and a sequel to the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks produced by Walt Disney Pictures, The Kerner Entertainment Company and Avnet–Kerner Productions. Emilio Estevez, Joshua Jackson, Elden Henson, Shaun Weiss, Brandon Adams, Matt Doherty, Garette Ratliff Henson, Marguerite Moreau, Vincent Larusso, Brock Pierce, Robert Hall, and Bob Miller reprise their roles in the film with Michael Tucker, Jan Rubeš, and Kathryn Erbe joining the cast. It was followed by the final film of the series, D3: The Mighty Ducks, in 1996.

Plot

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Former Pee-Wee hockey coach Gordon Bombay is a star in the minor leagues, expected to reach the National Hockey League. However, a career-ending knee injury brings him back to the Blukeville[a] district of Minneapolis. Bombay is offered a chance to coach a team representing the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games in Los Angeles. He manages to reunite most of his former Ducks players, including Charlie Conway, Jesse Hall, Les Averman, Connie Moreau, Guy Germaine, Greg Goldberg, and Adam Banks while the Hawks see the former Ducks rollerblading in the park, and try to enact revenge for their humiliating loss two years earlier. Their plans are foiled by Fulton Reed, who leaves them tied up in their underpants, and joins the other Ducks. Team USA consists of many of the old Ducks, in addition to five new players from across the country, with special talents: Luis Mendoza, from Miami, Florida, a speedster, Dwayne Robertson, from Austin, Texas, an expert puck handler with a cowboy edge, Julie "The Cat" Gaffney, from Bangor, Maine, a championship Goalie, Ken Wu, from San Francisco, California, a junior Olympic figure skater, and Dean Portman, from Chicago, Illinois, a tough enforcer. Under Bombay's coaching, the Ducks and their new teammates quickly become unified, and head out to L.A.

In Los Angeles, the lure of celebrity distracts Bombay, who begins to neglect the team for a luxurious lifestyle. The team wins easy victories over Trinidad and Tobago and Italy in the double-elimination tournament. Fulton Reed and Dean Portman gain recognition for their enforcer skills, and are dubbed the "Bash Brothers". Backup goaltender Julie Gaffney asks Bombay for a chance to play, but is told to wait as goalie Greg Goldberg is on a hot streak.

However, the team suffers an embarrassing 12–1 defeat against Iceland, coached by ex-NHL player Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson. USA plays badly, Dean and Julie are ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct, and star center Adam Banks is slashed in the wrist, after scoring Team USA's only goal. Frustrated, and realizing one more loss will mean elimination, and the end of his celebrity status, Bombay drives his players even harder, but they begin to suffer from complete exhaustion. Realizing the children are too tired to complete their school work or even stay awake in class, the team's tutor Michelle McKay intervenes, cancelling practice and confronting Bombay over his thoughtlessness. Once better rested, the players encounter a street hockey team, led by frequent game attendee Russ Tyler, who teaches them to play like "the real Team USA". Russ impresses the team, with his unique play: the "knucklepuck" – which rotates end over end rather than spinning around its centerline.

Bombay continues to suffer from the pressure until Jan, brother of Bombay's mentor Hans, visits and reminds him of his love for the game. In their match against Germany, Bombay fails to arrive on time, forcing Charlie to tell the referee Michelle is the team's assistant coach. The team struggles, entering the third period tied, until Bombay arrives and apologizes to the team for his behavior. Inspired by the true return of their coach, the players win the game with their signature "Flying V", and advance to the next round.

The renewed Bombay finally realizes Adam's wrist injury and benches him despite his complaints. To fill the open roster spot, Charlie recruits Russ Tyler, with his knucklepuck, which secures USA's victory over Russia, advancing them to the championship game for a rematch against Iceland. On the day of the game, Adam returns, his injury healed, only to find Team USA with a full roster. Knowing the team needs Russ's knucklepuck and Adam's skill against Iceland, Charlie gives up his own spot, cementing his leadership as true team captain. Bombay recruits Charlie to assist in coaching.

In the final game, the physically imposing Iceland initially dominates as the Ducks incur penalties: Ken picks a fight with an opposing player, after scoring a goal, the Bash Brothers fight the entire Iceland bench and Dwayne lassos an opposing player before he can check Connie. An annoyed Bombay observes, "this isn't a hockey game, it's a circus." as the second quarter ends, with Iceland ahead 4-1.

After a rousing locker room speech from Bombay and new Duck jerseys from Jan, the team emerges rejuvenated. The Ducks tie the game with goals from Connie, Banks, Luis, and finally Russ, who was targeted by Iceland but disguised himself as Goldberg to pull off a successful "knucklepuck". The game is forced to go to a five-shot shootout. Jesse, Guy, Fulton (with his signature slapshot), and Banks successfully score. With a 4–3 score in favor of the Ducks, Gunnar Stahl, the tournament's leading scorer, is Team Iceland's final shooter. Bombay replaces Goldberg with Julie, who has a faster glove. Gunnar fires a hard slapshot, and Julie falls to the ice. The entire stadium waits in breathless anticipation as she opens her glove and drops the puck, revealing the game-winning save and the Ducks’ triumph over Iceland to win the tournament. Despite his disappointment, Stannson congratulates Bombay, and Gunner congratulates Charlie stating "Good work, Captain Duck."

The team returns to Minnesota, and sing Queen's "We Are the Champions" around a campfire.

Cast

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There are several cameo appearances in D2: The Mighty Ducks. Kristi Yamaguchi, Greg Louganis, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Cam Neely, Chris Chelios, Luc Robitaille and Steven Brill were spectators at the party. Wayne Gretzky, Darren Pang and Mike Emrick also made cameo appearances in the film.

Departures

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Mighty Duck players that were in the first film but not this one:

  • Tammy Duncan (Jane Plank; her figure skating skills were replaced with those of Ken Wu)
  • Tommy Duncan (Danny Tamberelli)
  • Terry Hall (Jussie Smollett, despite the continuation of the character's brother, Jesse)
  • Dave Karp (Aaron Schwartz)
  • Peter Mark (J.D. Daniels; his street punk goon image was replaced with those of Dean Portman)
  • Phillip Banks (Hal Fort Atkinson III)
  • Hans (Joss Ackland; Bombay's mentor was replaced by his brother, Jan, though Ackland reprises his role in the third film)

Production

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The Mighty Ducks spawned a sequel and Iceland was chosen instead of Russia as enemies.[2][3][4]

The filming of the final game was the very first event to take place at the then brand new Arrowhead Pond, which attracted approximately 15,000 people. As the filming would span over several days, the production team was aware that the crowd would not be as consistent. To accommodate the dwindling crowd, cardboard stand-ups were brought in and moved around to fill-in shots.[3]

Reaction

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Critical reception

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Like its predecessor, the film received negative reviews.[5][6][7] It has a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 15 critics with an average rating of 4.2/10.[8] Desson Howe of The Washington Post wrote: "D2: The Mighty Ducks reaches an extraordinary low – even for a Disney sequel. This unctuous barrage of flag-waving, message-mongering, counterfeit morality, which contains the stalest kiddie-team heroics in recent memory, makes the original, innocuous 'Ducks' look like one of the Great Works."[9]

Audiences polled by CinemaScore an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[10]

In 2024, Team Iceland's Assistant Coach played by Reykjavík native Maria Ellingsen returned the Team USA beach ball deflated by head coach Wolf Stansson prior to slashing Gordon Bombay's kneecap. The international diplomacy efforts were lead by Twin Cities Live photojournalist Seth Holst, and reporter Kelli Hanson which ended 30 years of rivalry, strife, and turmoil between Minnesota and Iceland.

Year-end worst-of lists

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Box office

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In its opening weekend, the film grossed $10,356,748 domestically.[12][13] It earned a final domestic box office total gross of $45.6 million.[1]

Home media

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The film was released on VHS on August 17, 1994, on DVD on September 3, 2002 and was also released on Blu-ray Disc on May 23, 2017 as Disney Movie Club exclusive.

Soundtrack

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  1. Queen – "We Will Rock You"
  2. Poorboys – "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" (Bachman-Turner Overdrive Cover)
  3. Gary Glitter – "Rock and Roll"
  4. Martha Wash – "Mr. Big Stuff"
  5. David Newman – "Mighty Ducks Suite"
  6. Tag Team – "Whoomp! (There It Is)"
  7. The Troggs – "Wild Thing"
  8. Gear Daddies – "Zamboni"
  9. Queen – "We Are the Champions"
  10. John Bisaha – "Rock the Pond"

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ A fictitious name for the fifth district created for the trilogy, just like how the Junior Goodwill Games, not to mention the Eden Hall Academy from D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996), were fictional.

References

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  1. ^ a b "D2: The Mighty Ducks". Box Office Mojo.
  2. ^ "How Iceland Became The Mighty Ducks' No. 1 Villain". WNYC. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  3. ^ a b Dodds, Eric (9 June 2014). "Quack, Quack, Quack: An Oral History of the Mighty Ducks Trilogy". Time.com. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  4. ^ Lee, Amber (28 July 2014). "25 Things You Never Knew About the Mighty Ducks Trilogy". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  5. ^ "D2: The Mighty Ducks". EW.com. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  6. ^ Johnson, Malcolm (25 March 1994). "THIS QUACKED-'DUCKS' SEQUEL IS ALL WET". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  7. ^ "MOVIE REVIEW : 'D2 the Mighty Ducks' Takes On a Mighty Big Challenge : Underdog peewee hockey players take another slap at glory--but slip up in pursuit of the original's success". Los Angeles Times. 25 March 1994. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  8. ^ "D2: The Mighty Ducks (1994)". Rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2010-11-03.
  9. ^ Howe, Desson (1994-03-25). "D2: The Mighty Ducks". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  10. ^ "Home - Cinemascore". CinemaScore. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  11. ^ Lovell, Glenn (December 25, 1994). "The Past Picture Show the Good, the Bad and the Ugly -- a Year Worth's of Movie Memories". San Jose Mercury News (Morning Final ed.). p. 3.
  12. ^ Fox, David J. (28 March 1994). "Oscar Winners Pick Up at the Box Office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  13. ^ Fox, David J. (12 April 1994). "Weekend Box Office: A Good Turnout for Four Weddings". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
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