This Ducks series is the same level of entertaining as the original movies with a pretty solid cast of kid actors. And I did thoroughly enjoy it even with its campiness.
It's got all the usual cliches about teamwork and inspiration, with a variety of players who discover their random talents that of course translate to instant success on the ice and often equate one-for-one with a victory. Including the one who can't skate at all until the last regular season game - hey look he learned to skate and in the next game he scores the winning goal! And of course it's all versus the evil arch enemy Ducks team headed by a coach that makes command decisions without even consulting any of his players. They do throw in some comical middle school teenager drama with some more cliche romance troubles just for fun, but fortunately they didn't let those distract much from the main hockey story.
It is complete in its silliness with the downtrodden terrible team that goes about a half dozen games without a win before rallying to become a powerhouse that embraces fun...JUST IN TIME to get enough victories to claim second place in the league to go to the postseason and then comes within one busted knee of winning a championship all in the same single season of their team formation! I find that to be a metaphor for our society today where everyone expects instant results to go along with their two day free shipping, where they get to skip the hard work and years of toiling and instead all get to do their lap in the winners circle without even playing a game or often even lacing up. I know it's a movie, and disney at that, but seriously how unrealistic of a message can they send to people that they could start up their own "just play hockey for fun" team and instantly compete against all the other teams within less than 10 games and almost instantly cancel all those bad guys.
It's got all the usual cliches about teamwork and inspiration, with a variety of players who discover their random talents that of course translate to instant success on the ice and often equate one-for-one with a victory. Including the one who can't skate at all until the last regular season game - hey look he learned to skate and in the next game he scores the winning goal! And of course it's all versus the evil arch enemy Ducks team headed by a coach that makes command decisions without even consulting any of his players. They do throw in some comical middle school teenager drama with some more cliche romance troubles just for fun, but fortunately they didn't let those distract much from the main hockey story.
It is complete in its silliness with the downtrodden terrible team that goes about a half dozen games without a win before rallying to become a powerhouse that embraces fun...JUST IN TIME to get enough victories to claim second place in the league to go to the postseason and then comes within one busted knee of winning a championship all in the same single season of their team formation! I find that to be a metaphor for our society today where everyone expects instant results to go along with their two day free shipping, where they get to skip the hard work and years of toiling and instead all get to do their lap in the winners circle without even playing a game or often even lacing up. I know it's a movie, and disney at that, but seriously how unrealistic of a message can they send to people that they could start up their own "just play hockey for fun" team and instantly compete against all the other teams within less than 10 games and almost instantly cancel all those bad guys.