Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Ducks On Ice


Movies set on ice.

At first, I was thinking of featuring "Ice Princess" starring Michelle Trachtenberg. It's a movie about this nerdy girl who have found the perfect solution on how to land an extra triple jump, by studying the equations of physics. And that research project qualified her to compete at the US National Ice-skating circuit. Or maybe "The Day After Tomorrow"... But then, I suddenly remembered watching a movie about friendship, loyalty, respect, sportsmanship and hockey. I remember my brother playing the movie on VHS and we'd watch it over and over again. It truly is a wonderful movie.. funny yet inspiring. It is a box office hit in 1992 and was followed by two sequels. The movie I'm talking about is The Mighty Ducks, directed by Stephen Hereck under Walt Disney Pictures, Touchwood Pacific Partners 1 and Avnet/Kerner Productions, and distributed by Buena Vista International and Walt Disney Home Video.

The Mighty Ducks is a story about a hotshot lawyer who, after being charged for drunk driving, was ordered by the court to coach a peewee hockey team. Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) has been haunted by his childhood memories as a hockey player who had lost the winning goal for his old team, and so he was reluctant to take part in that said community service. And he doesn't like kids. "A hockey team - my own personal hell. I hate kids. They're barely human.", he says.


I love this movie trilogy. Sure, the scripts were predictable and they didn't offer downright laughout-loud comedy and lacked the usual twists. However, what it lacks in comedy and originality, it surely makes up for charisma and inspiration.

The movies also showed the individual stories of each kid on the team. Charlie Conway (Joshua Jackson) a lonely kid who lives with his mom, a klutz on the ice and is oftentimes seen landing on his butt than scoring a goal. Adam Banks (Vincent LaRusso) is a rich kid who played for the "Hawk" team and is considered as one of the enemies, but was then asked by Gordon to play for the Ducks. Greg Goldberg (Shaun Weiss) is afraid of the hockey puck, which is quite ironic because he's the team goalie. Foultun Reed (Elden Henson) has a powerful arm that can deliver a straight goal, but he doesn't know how to skate. This movies focused on each kid's weakness and Gordon took on interesting actions on turning these weaknesses into strengths.

I was about 12 years old when the first movie hit the movie screen. And it was such a big fad during those days, there were caps, mugs, towels and t-shirts for sale with the "ducks" logo on them. In fact, I had one. A lavender oversized tshirt, with a big logo in the front and the words "Ducks Rule!" printed in the back. I'm not sure where the shirt is right now, but I'm too lazy to go around the cabinet and search for it. Sorry. Anyway, here is what the ducks logo looks like..


Hell yeah! I'm so proud to be a duck!

The Mighty Ducks trilogy is a great trilogy. They showcased the camaraderie and joy of being part of a team, the feeling of triumph in overcoming the demons in one's self, and the lessons of humility, determination and sportsmanship. Stories about a stubborn coach who was able to face his own demons with the help of these rag-tag neighborhood kids, got his bearings together and finally understood that winning isn't everything and what matters most is how you play the game.



 


A short trivia:

When The Anaheim Mighty Ducks were added as an expansion team to the National Hockey League they were named after the movie because the team was owned by Disney.

The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California, USA. They are members of the Pacific Division of theWestern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). Since their inception, the Ducks have played their home games at the Honda Center.

The club was founded in 1993 by The Walt Disney Company as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, a name based on the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks. Disney sold the franchise in 2005 to Henry & Susan Samueli, who changed the name of the team to the Anaheim Ducks before the 2006–07 season. In their 17 year existence, the Ducks have made the playoffs seven times, winning one Pacific Division title (2007), two Western Conference Championships (2003 and 2007), and one Stanley Cup Championship (2007).




*Images from Google
*Trivia from Wikipedia



13 comments:

  1. whahaha i remember the movie mighty duck.. grabe ito ang dahilan kung bakit naadik ako sa ice skating para lang matututo ng hockey heheh :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. we have the same entry... go ducks!;)

    my TCP entry is up!

    ReplyDelete
  3. i love mighty ducks. natuto ako'ng magice-skating dahil dito. hehehehe

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like this movie to..:-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. grabe ayaw manuod ng movie :) minarathon mo ito?

    ReplyDelete
  6. like this movie too. i'm a fan of ice hockey.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dami pa palang on ice movies na hindi ko pa napanood. these sure are great movies to watch while couching potatoes

    ReplyDelete
  8. fan ka pala ng Mighty Ducks ah. Di ko napanood ang kahit isa dyan, hehehe..di kasi ako maka Emilio Estevez eh.

    http://www.alexajeanne.info/2010/11/tcp-ice-age.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. hello ate leag? Dropping a comment here. I really like mighty super power rangers haha kidding. I really like mighty ducks

    ReplyDelete
  10. ohhh! i so like this film. i fell in love with Emilio Estevez, lol!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. quack, quack.....Go Ducks!

    loved this movie, all three installments of it. the story, as well as the lessons behind the film is really good. A must-see movie for teens and young adults, pwede na rin sa young at hearts.

    here's my entry hope you'd check it out too:
    http://ilovedarly.com/2010/12/tcp-la-marche-de-lempereur-march-of-the-penguins/

    ReplyDelete
  12. i have seen Mighty Ducks 1 and 2; and I really enjoyed the film. Emilio Estevez was once adored by so many teenage girls at that time.

    my entry is up:
    http://maskinanu.blogspot.com/2010/11/tcp-entry-edward-scissorhands.html

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've watched all 3 movies! I was a fan of the Mighty Ducks back then too. I even bought a cassette tape of the soundtrack, even though it was full of hard rock music (and I didn't really like that genre). When I was in high school, I had posters of Joshua Jackson, Vincent LaRusso and Mike Vitar on my bedroom walls. Lol!

    ReplyDelete