REVIEW The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (Episodes 1-3)
The Disney+ series updates the hockey-centric franchise in the name of fun, with added Emilio Estevez snark.
Fifteen years ago, the Mighty Ducks franchise came to an end with the third film focusing on the hockey team of the same name (which in turn inspired an actual team sponsored by Disney) as well as a single season of an animated TV series starring anthropomorphic ducks from a planet called Puckworld, where everything revolves around hockey (annoyingly, the show is not available on Disney+ in most countries at the moment).
Now, courtesy of a certain new streaming service and every studio deciding to mine their back catalogues endlessly, the underdogs from Minnesota are back. Sort of. Despite the title, the actual Mighty Ducks are not the focus of the new show. In fact, they’re kind of the bad guys. At least, that’s how we’re supposed to feel when the coach kicks out young Evan Marrow (Brady Noon), whose sell-by date on the team has expired now that he’s in the 12-14 age range and his less-than-stellar playing has become a liability for the Ducks’ public image.
This doesn’t sit well with Evan’s mother Alex (Lauren Graham), who thinks kids his age should be allowed to have fun and not just focus on winning (and we’re not just talking hockey here – the show makes a point about some of these 12-year-olds having college advisors and a whole path set in stone). So, she decides to put together a new team, which she knowingly names the Don’t Bothers (because “Don’t bother” is what the Ducks coach said to Evan).
The team consists of kids who would not be accepted elsewhere, and this also applies to where they can practice: at the last minute, Alex finds a place and has to work around its “No hockey” policy. The Ice Palace – that’s the name of the building – is run by none other than Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez), the erstwhile coach of the Mighty Ducks. Needless to say, he’s not exactly thrilled when the new team shows up at his workplace.
Having watched the first three episodes, I have to say this is a rare instance where the weekly release schedule is partially to the show’s detriment, in that the first installment is fairly uneven and clumsy, as it tries to set up an updated take on a new universe, be reverential enough but also amusingly self-aware (Gordon does a bit of a Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi in terms of character evolution), and introduce the stakes.
All fine, except the showrunners kind of lose track of the characters in the process, and things don’t really start to come together until the second episode, where each player gets a chance to introduce themselves and establish their individual identity. It’s also where the show becomes aware of its own potential narrative hiccups, by calling out the logic of making the Ducks the bad guys (I mean, they are, but again, we’re talking about pre-teens).
There is also a bit of a disconnect between the core idea of the movies and the new show: back in the day, the kids were talented but held back by circumstance. In 2021, they’re all fairly terrible but should get to play anyway – it’s basically Participation Trophy: The Series.
And yet, setting aside the slightly uncertain premise, the first three episodes offer a healthy dose of fun, just like Alex promises the kids, and it’s refreshing to see a sequel show that actually tries to largely be its own thing (some of the original Ducks will appear in episode 6, but for the most part the fan service is kept at the bare minimum). Not quite the game-changer mentioned in the title, but fun enough for families and older fans who enjoy Estevez’s snarky side. Now, how about bringing the alien ducks back too, huh?
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (USA, 2021, 10 episodes, 3 watched for review)
Creators: Steven Brill, Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, based on The Mighty Ducks by Steven Brill
Cast: Lauren Graham, Brady Noon, Maxwell Simkins, Emilio Estevez
Distributor: Disney+