Disney Month IV: D3: The Mighty Ducks

D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996)
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Joshua Jackson, Jeffrey Nordling
Directed by: Robert Lieberman


With the success of the previous two Mighty Ducks films, naturally a third one was given the green light. By the time D3: The Mighty Ducks was released, I'm sure a lot of moviegoers were asking how they were going to make this movie stand out from the others. The formula can only go so far in a movie franchise before the audience catches on and goes "we've seen this crap before." You have to keep rolling with the punches and produce something that keeps the characters firmly planted within their roots, but also allows them to launch towards something that fits a natural progression. To do this, they took the Ducks and put them somewhere they had never been before: separated from their coach. It puts the now high school level kids in a position where they have to make decisions for themselves. Some will get along with the new coach, and one will have to try harder than the rest to accept the changes the coach is bringing to the team. How does the film hold? Not as strong as the second film, but it still finds a solid way to end the Mighty Ducks trilogy on a memorable note.

About 95% of the Ducks from the last movie return for this film. The only one who didn't come back with the character Jesse and as a result, a lot of the material that was probably meant for him was given to the character of Russ Tyler, played by Kenan Thompson. Maybe it's Kenan's popularity on Nickelodeon at the time, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much they did with his character in this one. But the best character in the film is Charlie Conway, played by Joshua Jackson. This is before his role on Dawson's Creek, but you can really detect the teenage angst just pouring out of him. He does a great job of making the problem of having a new coach feel like life or death. It's the first time we've had Charlie, who has been a memorable supporting character, be at the forefront of the film's plot, and Jackson is able to make the most of his opportunity.

Emilio Estevez doesn't spend a whole lot of time in the film, so I'm not going to say much on Coach Gordon Bombay in this. Instead, I want to take a moment to talk about the awesome new coach Ted Orion, played by Jeffrey Nordling. I know that one of the big conflicts in the movie is how the Ducks are able to cope with the different coaching methods Orion brings to the team, but I honestly side with Coach Orion on this one. Sure, he's a bit strict, but he has a reason behind it that doesn't just make him heartless. Far from it. The more you find out about this guy, the more you like him. I honestly could've seen these series go one more movie with Coach Orion leading the team. Maybe they could've taken the Ducks to a collegiate level. Anyways, I wasn't too upset with Bombay not being a huge part of the film because Coach Orion was introduced and developed very well.

One thing I'm not really able to wrap my head around when it comes to D3: The Mighty Ducks is how contained it feels. Taking place in one major location, having the least amount of hockey games played, and feeling like it had a reduction in budget makes this film look like it was made for an initial release on television or home video, instead of theatrical. That might make you feel cheapened out, but then the movie goes somewhere they wouldn't normally be able to in earlier installments because of the team's age. We have the touching backstory of Coach Orion, the angst and tension that is existing within the team as they are unable to get on the same page with Orion's coaching strategies, and we even get *SPOILER ALERT* a major character death that really triggers the proper emotions if you've been a fan of the three movies. All in all, the movie is a suitable finale to the trilogy, but suffers from a few noticeable, but harmless, flaws.


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

D3: The Mighty Ducks is a worthy enough finale to the trilogy. It might seem a bit repetitive at this point, but there's a number of highlights to make it watchable. If you're hoping to spend the film with Emilio Estevez, however, you will be very disappointing.

D3: The Mighty Ducks and movie images are copyrighted by Walt Disney Pictures