My son Carter is going to be nine soon and is at a great age to be introducing him to certain films. With his having already gotten bitten by the baseball bug earlier this year, (Angels In the Outfield is a fave), I’m naturally enough nudging him towards hockey. After having the Mighty Ducks and its sequel, D2: The Mighty Ducks languishing on my DVR for a few months, we finally got around to seeing them both. Having never seen either, it was going to be as new an experience for me as it would be for him. I liked the first movie fine enough. The usual tale of redemption for a former hockey prodigy turned unlikable lawyer, there were plenty of cool morals—teamwork, love between a father and son, playing hard, having fun and learning from losing—there was even a cool cameo from Mike Modano, who’s still tearing it up for the Dallas Stars. Sure, there were also unrealistic moments like how this one kid’s shot was so powerful it literally tore through the twine when he put the puck in the net; but overall, a pretty good little movie.
As for its sequel D2, calling it a horrible movie is an insult to bad movies everywhere. First and foremost, casting Kenan Thompson as some streetwise kid from Compton who gets recruited to play on the team during the Goodwill Games because of a gimmicky shot he possesses, (a knuckle puck….more on that later), was annoying beyond belief. (This is the same guy who redefines unfunny on Saturday Night Live….this is who we have to endure as the token minority guy on SNL following the departures of the infinitely funnier Tim Meadows, Horatio Sanz and Maya Rudolph? And the less said about Fat Albert, the live action film, the better.)
Ughh, suffice it to say there was more than a few glaring goofs. During the pivotal shootout scene, there were a couple of times where the shooter stopped to wind up….a blatant violation of the shootout rule that dictates there must always be forward movement of the skater towards the goal otherwise the shootout ends. Then there was a ridiculous plot twist that found Thompson switching places with the goalie in the midst of a time-out by the bench. Anyone who’s had to strap on gear, be it for street or ice, will tell you that it takes way longer than a minute to do this. As for the “knuckle puck,” yes when you shoot a puck on its side it does end up knuckling but given the speed of the game, you just don’t have the time to flip a puck on its side and tee off with any degree of accuracy, which is something any sniper worth his salt is striving for at any given time. Suffice it to say, D2 was a ridiculously disappointing movie. I understand there’s a D3, it can’t be worse cause Thompson isn’t in it.
In any event, here’s my quickie list of best sports movie, (and before anyone responds, no, I’ve never seen Bull Durham, Hoosiers, North Dallas Forty, Major League, Semi-Tough or Brian’s Song. And I’ve never sat entirely through Pride of the Yankees. As for Field of Dreams, wayyyy overrated).
Bend It Like Beckham
Victory
The Longest Yard (the original)
61
Bad News Bears (both the original and the remake)
Slapshot
The Natural
Friday Night Lights
Rocky
Raging Bull
Honorable mention: Hockey Mom
