D2: The Mighty Ducks Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

D2: The Mighty Ducks Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 3, 2017

Take any good movie, even plenty of not-so-good movies, and a sequel is bound to follow. One exception sometimes seems to be sports films, particularly the more dramatically oriented ones or the one-off tales of sporting greatness. Sports Comedies, on the other hand, tend to offer a little more opportunity when it comes to following up (or remaking) the original. Major League and Caddyshack immediately come to mind as genre classics that now enjoy the company of a sequel (or two or three), and another is The Mighty Ducks, the 1992 Comedy about a band of misfit peewee hockey players and the man who finds personal redemption in coaching them to success. The sequel is everything one would expect: it returns much of the core, introduces a few new players (and a new love interest for the coach), and otherwise repeats the formula: the team must overcome adversity, and a much more talented team with a mean streak, to win a tournament on an even bigger stage than last time.

Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) has left the Ducks behind on amicable terms to take a return shot a professional hockey on a minor league invite. He's playing well and close to breaking into the NHL as an aging rookie when a vicious hit knocks him off his skates and knocks him out of the game. He returns home to Minneapolis in search of a purpose. One arrises, unsurprisingly, to coach the U.S. team in the Junior Goodwill Games, a global competition featuring the most talented kids the world has to offer. He reassembles most of the core from his champion Ducks squad while also bringing on a few more players from around the country. The team jets off to Los Angeles, but endorsements, distractions, and a new bitter rival -- Iceland -- threatens to throw team USA off its game and sink the Ducks for good.

With established characters and a history of teamwork, coming together, and success under the movie's belt, it has the opportunity to spend more time playing and less time organizing. D2 finds a nice balance in having fun with its returning cast while also quickly and effectively introducing the newcomers, all of whom bring some unique (and some not so unique) talents to the team. New Ducks include a Texas roper, a second big man to play alongside Fulton, a goalie looking for her shot to shine, a diminutive figure skater, and a skilled skater who's only weakness is stopping. The villainous Icelandic team isn't any different than the Hawks from last film; they're bigger, but that's about it. They're essentially the same collective villain as before, the difference being that Bombay has no history with them. Yet the movie makes everything revolve around Bombay yet again. D2 explores how the spotlight changes him. He becomes less a coach and leader and more an authoritarian concerned not with the players having fun but rather the team winning at any cost, essentially transforming into his old nemesis, Coach Jack Reilly. So disconnected he becomes that, at one point, the team must regain its confidence and composure by playing street hockey against a ragtag bunch of kids who are twice the motivator as this iteration of Gordon Bombay. Good thing, too, because it leads to a key acquisition (and one of the film's goofiest and completely unrealistic scenes) who helps the team excel on the ice. Ultimately, Bombay returns to the fold under the guidance of an old friend and mentor.

D2: The Mighty Ducks Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

D2: The Mighty Ducks' 1080p transfer offers a nice uptick in overall quality from its predecessor. The image is notably firmer, crisper, more organic. It's far less flat, and while detailing isn't extraordinary, it's stable and well defined. Basic facial features are strong, hockey uniforms are adequately complex in close-up, and various environments around L.A., whether Rodeo Drive or a run-down street hockey play area, offer enough textural goodness to please. Grain is firmer and more organic with only few occurrences of spike into a sloppier morass. Colors sparkle. Red and blue hockey jersey primaries are a little harsh at times and lacking nuance, but more often than not the platte is pleasantly neutral but aggressive in delivering its brightest shades. The much more visually fun Ducks jerseys that make an appearance at the end, the same sweaters the NHL team would wear for a while, look particularly great. Black levels and flesh tones leave no room for complaint. No major print wear or encode issues are readily apparent. This is a pleasing image from Disney.

D2: The Mighty Ducks Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

D2: The Mighty Ducks features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It's a fairly good track, its only real problem coming early on when dialogue is a bit shallow and hard to hear, even at reference, when the team is reassembled during a montage. Falling rain is also empty and barley registers, front or back, when Bombay returns to Minnesota. Otherwise, it's a solid overall listen. Music is adequately clear and well defined, nicely spaced along the front. Surrounds pick up some light atmospherics but are most effectively used on several occasions. An airplane powers back to front in one shot. Quality dialogue reverberation and the coach's whistle echo through the soundstage inside a mostly empty hockey rink. A puck ricochet effect sends sounds zipping and zooming all through the stage with good, crisp fluidity. Crowd applause swells through the entire stage when team USA takes the ice for the final game. The track is mostly nuts-and-bolts beyond those few examples of extracurricular goodness (and a couple of shortfalls). The basic outweighs the fun and the bad, resulting in a solid enough listen.

D2: The Mighty Ducks Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of D2: The Mighty Ducks, exclusive to Disney's online movie club, contains no special features.

D2: The Mighty Ducks Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As far as sequel go, this one's pretty solid. And as with most films like this, predictability isn't exactly the movie's strong suit, but it offers good lesson reinforcement on having fun in team sports and not allowing success to get into one's head. It's a fun movie with good hockey action, though the goalie swap at the end is patently ridiculous. Disney's Blu-ray release of D2: The Mighty Ducks offers stable and pleasing video and audio. No extras are included. Recommended.