Story

When cutthroat lawyer, Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez), is arrested for driving under the influence, he’s given a community service sentence and told he’s the new ice-hockey coach of ‘The Mighty Ducks’. The Ducks is a ragtag joke of a team that doesn’t have a uniform or proper equipment and who haven’t won a game in a very long time. Discouraged by the players he sees, and haunted by the memory of his own failure, Gordon encourages the children to cheat and winds up alienating his team and infuriating the parents.

With some powerful advice from an old mentor, Gordon decides to give it another try, this time hoping to teach the children to love the sport like he once did. Making a connection with a fatherless player called Charlie (Joshua Jackson), who hopes that Gordon will fall in love with his mother, Grodon begins to get the team on track. When he inspires his boss to sponsor the team and they finally get proper equipment, they begin to make more progress. But will Gordon’s old coach Jack Reilly (Lane Smith) play by the rules? Will Gordon be able to face his demons? And do The Mighty Ducks actually have what it takes to win the championship game?

Themes

Guilt; pressure to succeed; cheating: winning at all costs

Violence

The Mighty Ducks has some violence. For example:

• A group of children put dog poo in a purse. The owner of the purse gets angry and chases the children. They escape when he falls on a log and hurts his genitals. He yells after them that he will use their eyeballs as hockey pucks.
• A child is hit in the legs and knocked over on the ice.
• A character pushes and punches another character.
• Players repeatedly knock each other over on the ice, shoving each other.
• One boy grabs another and knocks him over.
• A boy on rollerblades bangs into a woman in a shopping centre, knocking her and all her shopping into a fountain.
• Two boys shove each other and throw things during a science class.
• Two boys slam into each other. One character flips another over his shoulder.
• A coach tells his players that he wants them to target and attack another kid. He states they are to, ‘finish him off. I want him out of the game’.
• Two guys shove a girl and another boy tips one of the boys into a seating box.

Sexual references

The Mighty Ducks has some sexual references. For example:

• One character tells another, ‘Your mum is busy with the mailman’.
• About a sexy magazine, one boy says to another, ‘You don’t even know what to do with it’.
• Gordon asks Charlie what type of men his mother likes.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

The Mighty Ducks has some substance use – for example, Gordon is drinking while driving on an icy road. He is arrested for drunk driving.

Nudity and sexual activity

The Mighty Ducks has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

• There are brief glimpses of women in swim suits.
• A boy and a girl kiss.
• Gordon and Charlie’s mum kiss.

Product placement

The Mighty Ducks has some product placement. For example:

• Aspirin is taken and mentioned.
• Sports Illustrated magazines are shown and referred to.
• MTV is mentioned.

Coarse language

The Mighty Ducks has some coarse language. For example, ‘bastards’, ‘you suck’, ‘pissed’, ‘hell’, ‘crap’, and ‘for God’s sake’. Name calling and insults include, ‘idiots’, ‘moron’, ‘bitch’, ‘jerk’, ‘losers’, ‘scuzzy male-faced rat’, ‘spaz’ and ‘shut up’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

The Mighty Ducks is a sports-based drama from Disney, featuring a few well-known faces amongst the cast and a predictable plot. Although often referred to as a family movie, the language, violence, and sexual references in the movie make it better suited to children over 10 years and older audiences.

These are the main messages from The Mighty Ducks:

• Believe in yourself and try your best.
• It doesn’t matter what uniform you wear or who you play for, what matters is how you play the game.

Values in The Mighty Ducks that you could reinforce with your children are teamwork, cooperation, friendship, persistence and trust.

The Mighty Ducks could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like these:

• Making dangerous decisions, such as driving while intoxicated.
• Using violence or bribery to manipulate others.
• Cheating to get what you want.
• Blaming a child for things beyond their control.