D2: The Mighty Ducks

D2: The Mighty Ducks (also known as The Mighty Ducks 2 or The Mighty Ducks: Part 2) is a 1994 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Sam Weisman. It is the second and penultimate installment in The Mighty Ducks trilogy and it is a sequel to the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks and produced by Walt Disney Pictures, The Kerner Entertainment Company and Avnet–Kerner Productions. In the United Kingdom and Australia, the film was titled The Mighty Ducks (the first having been titled Champions and subsequently, on home releases, as The Mighty Ducks Are the Champions).

Plot

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 his hometown of Minneapolis. Bombay is offered a chance to coach a team representing the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games in Los Angeles. He and Charlie Conway manage to reunite most of his former Ducks players, while the Hawks try to enact revenge on the reunited Ducks for their humiliating loss 1 year earlier. Their plans are foiled by Fulton Reed, who leaves them tied up in their underpants. Team USA consists of many of the old Ducks, in addition to five new players with special talents.

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.

The team suffers an embarrassing 12–1 defeat against Iceland, coached by ex-NHL player Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson. USA plays badly, and star center Adam Banks is slashed in the wrist. Frustrated, 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 scrimmage against a street hockey team that exploits -- then teaches them to overcome -- their individual weaknesses, giving the team insight into how to address the larger, faster Iceland players.

Bombay continues to suffer from the pressure until Jan, brother of 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 is struggling, 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 street hockey player Russ Tyler, whose unique "knucklepuck" – which rotates end over end rather than spinning around its centerline – secures USA's victory over Russia, advancing them to the championship game for a rematch against Iceland. Adam's injury is 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, and Bombay has Charlie help coach.

In the final game, the physically imposing Iceland initially dominates as the Ducks incur penalties: Ken picks a fight with an opposing player, 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."

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. 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 Wolf's disappointment, he congratulates Bombay, while Gunnar congratulates Charlie, stating "Good work, Captain Duck".

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

Cast

Cameo appearances

There are several cameo appearances in D2: The Mighty Ducks from famous athletes.

• Kristi Yamaguchi – Champion Olympic figure skater
• Greg Louganis – Champion Olympic diver
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Basketball player
• Wayne Gretzky, Chris Chelios, Luc Robitaille, Cam Neely – National Hockey League (NHL) players
• Bob Miller - play-by-play announcer for the championship game vs. Iceland
• Darren Pang - Color Commentator for the championship game vs Iceland
• Mike Emrick - Play-by-Play commentator
• Dennis Rodman - Car owner with broken windshield

Departures

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)

Production

Mighty Ducks spawned a sequel and Iceland was chosen instead of Russia as enemies.

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.

Reaction

Critical reception

The film received negative reviews. However, it was better received than the previous film, holding a 21% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 3.9/10 (actually making it the most well received entry of the series on the site).

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."

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $10,356,748 domestically. It was a financial success, with a final domestic box office total of $45,610,410.

Home video release

The film was released on DVD September 3, 2002 and also was released on Blu Ray in May 23, 2017.

Soundtrack

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"

External links

• Official website