This post is dedicated to our readers who grew up on 90’s Disney Movies. We’re kicking it back to the Mighty Ducks! If you have never heard of The Mighty Ducks, it was a film that came out in 1992 based on an underdog Ice Hockey team as they work together as not just a team but as a family to win their matches and to be the best. The movie was such a success that it resulted in two sequels: D2: The Mighty Ducks (1994) and D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996). The movies followed a similar format where the Ducks were the underdogs every time and we, the audience, became accustomed to a repeating trope within each of the films. Fast forward twenty-five years later since the last film came out to 2021 and we have begun the journey again with The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers on Disney+. The TV show premiered on 26th March with one episode dropping on Disney+ until the end of the season which seems to be ten episodes. I decided to wait until we had our first game changing cliffhanger to voice my thoughts as I wanted to give the series a chance to shine without trying to guess where the season was going to take us!
A New Team, A New Storyline But A Familiar Face
From the opening scenes of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changer, we are met with an atmosphere that feels rather different to what we know from The Ducks’ practice from the films. This is because the Ducks have changed dramatically. A line which will stick throughout the series about ice hockey is “If you haven’t made it by twelve, don’t bother.” This reflects the ethos of the now over achieving, win everything Mighty Ducks! Enter the main character of this series, Evan Morrow, who gets cut from the Mighty Ducks. This dramatic event leads Evan, his mother Alex and neighbour Nick to band together to create a new ice hockey team that focuses on having fun and not focusing on solely winning.
The first and second episodes are all about trying to form the team with enough members and survive through their first ice hockey match. Alex names the team ‘The Don’t Bothers’ in a clever moment that aims to change the negativity from the head coach of The Ducks to something positive. ‘The Don’t Bothers’ are made up of a group of kids who you know wouldn’t normally mesh together in their school setting, they are formed from different cliques and groups from the school cafeteria. One of the highlight moments of the series so far is Evan’s speech to the cafeteria highlighting that the team is for people who feel like “they don’t belong” and for people to just have fun. This reminded me of a trope used time and time again from the Disney Channel original movies, for example High School Musical, Descendants and Zombies, but as the saying goes: If it’s not broken don’t fix it. Despite it being over used within Disney programming, it works extremely well with the hope of supporting the underdogs.
Drum roll please for the best link between The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers and The Mighty Ducks Films: the return of Miracle Man, Mr. Gordon Bombay! Honestly, the series wouldn’t be half as good without the return of Emilio Estevez as Gordon Bombay. Gordon is now the owner of his own ice rink ‘The Ice Palace’ and has reverted to his hatred of Hockey in the first handful of episodes. But, fear not dear Mighty Duck fans, Gordon eventually begins to show his love for ice hockey again. One stand out moment is when the viewer realizes he took Alex’s notebook to write down a game play in it. This game play ends in The Don’t Bothers scoring their first goal! I would argue however was it really needed for Gordon to coach the parents of The Don’t Bothers for the parent event? But, then again, it did warm him up for what will hopefully turn him into the advisor to the coach of The Don’t Bothers. On the other hand it wouldn’t be Gordon Bombay without him falling for the lead adult female character. Watching the storyline closely between Alex and Gordon, however, for once I would have liked to have seen him take the best friend and mentor role.
The ideology of needing one good shooter becomes the main area of focus for the earlier episodes which fans of the film franchise will be all too familiar with as it mirrors a storyline in the first movie. However, just as Sofi joins the team, the rest of The Don’t Bothers seem to be advancing their ice hockey skills splendidly. The team now uses teamwork to set up goals and makes it a bit more about everyone.
Originally, up until episode four, one thing I would have thought was weak in the series was my lack of growing to like a number of the side characters that are on The Don’t Bothers team. I could just be being picky as a few hard hitting dilemmas face the team in the first few episodes, however, I am hoping before season 1 comes to an end that we are all able to name each member of the team and be able to relate to their characters better. I enjoyed the elements of bonding in episode four as we learned more about Koob and Nick. Also in episode five when we see Maya and Lauren putting the clique differences aside to be friends out on the ice!
The character who has been getting mixed reviews online is Lauren Graham’s character, Alex. Personally, I am enjoying Lauren’s portrayal of Alex (Evan’s mother). She plays the single parent extremely well and despite knowing nothing about Ice Hockey is making a huge effort to make sure Evan and his team mates are having fun. I look forward to seeing her bring the team closer together in the second half of the season as it seems that The Don’t Bothers are in for an interesting second half.
As of today, we are officially halfway through the season. Looking towards the second half, I am looking forward to what may turn into a massive character development for Evan if he does the right thing after the ending of episode five but the sneak peek of episode six has me sceptical. He will need to win over the audience again and his team mates it seems. I am looking forward to more of the side plot stories as I want to learn more about The Don’t Bother team as they improve their hockey skills. Here’s hoping their winning streak continues and they advance further up the table.
How are we going to end this review Might Duck fans? Simply… Keep your eyes peeled for episode six because that sneak peak has us on the edge of our seats! All we can say is “Ducks fly together!”
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