D2: The Mighty Ducks

Plot

Former Pee-Wee hockey coach Gordon Bombay is a star in the minor leagues, expected to reach the National Hockey League. However, a career-ending knee injury brings him back to the Blukeville district of Minneapolis. Bombay is offered a chance to coach a team representing the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games in Los Angeles. He manages to reunite most of his former Ducks players, including Charlie Conway, Jesse Hall, Lester Averman, Connie Moreau, Guy Germaine, Greg Goldberg, and Adam Banks while the Hawks see the former Ducks rollerblading in the park, and try to enact revenge for their humiliating loss two years earlier. Their plans are foiled by Fulton Reed, who leaves them tied up in their underpants, and joins the other Ducks. Team USA consists of many of the old Ducks, in addition to five new players from across the country, with special talents: Luis Mendoza, from Miami, Florida, a speedster, Dwayne Robertson, from Austin, Texas, an expert puck handler with a cowboy edge, Julie "The Cat" Gaffney, from Bangor, Maine, a championship Goalie, Kenny Wu, from San Francisco, California, a junior Olympic figure skater, and Dean Portman, from Chicago, Illinois, a tough enforcer. Under Bombay's coaching, the Ducks and their new teammates quickly become unified, and head out to L.A.

In Los Angeles, the lure of celebrity distracts Bombay, who begins to neglect the team for a luxurious lifestyle. The team wins easy victories over Trinidad and Tobago and Italy in the double-elimination tournament. Fulton Reed and Dean Portman gain recognition for their enforcer skills, and are dubbed the "Bash Brothers". Backup goaltender Julie Gaffney asks Bombay for a chance to play, but is told to wait as goalie Greg Goldberg is on a hot streak.

However, the team suffers an embarrassing 12–1 defeat against Iceland, coached by ex-NHL player Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson. USA plays badly, Dean and Julie are ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct, and star center Adam Banks is slashed in the wrist, after scoring Team USA's only goal. Frustrated, and realizing one more loss will mean elimination, and the end of his celebrity status, Bombay drives his players even harder, but they begin to suffer from complete exhaustion. Realizing the children are too tired to complete their school work or even stay awake in class, the team's tutor Michelle McKay intervenes, cancelling practice and confronting Bombay over his thoughtlessness. Once better rested, the players encounter a street hockey team, led by frequent game attendee Russ Tyler, who teaches them to play like "the real Team USA". Russ impresses the team, with his unique shot: the "knucklepuck" – which rotates end over end rather than spinning around its centerline.

Cast

Emilio Estevez as Gordon Bombay

Brock Pierce as Young Gordon

Michael Tucker as Don Tibbles

Jan Rubeš as Jan, Hans's older brother and Gordon's mentor

Kathryn Erbe as Michelle McKay, Gordon's love interest

Joshua Jackson as Charlie Conway

Elden Ryan Ratliff as Fulton Reed

Shaun Weiss as Greg Goldberg

Matt Doherty as Lester Averman

Brandon Adams as Jesse Hall

Vincent A. Larusso as Adam Banks

Marguerite Moreau as Connie Moreau

Garette Ratliff Henson as Guy Germaine

Aaron Lohr as Dean Portman

Ty O'Neal as Dwayne Robertson

Kenan Thompson as Russ Tyler

Mike Vitar as Luis Mendoza

Colombe Jacobsen as Julie "The Cat" Gaffney

Justin Wong as Kenny Wu

Carsten Norgaard as Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson

Maria Ellingsen as Maria

Scott Whyte as Gunnar Stahl

Departures

Mighty Ducks players that were in the first film but not this one:

Tammy Duncan (Jane Plank; her figure skating skills were replaced with those of Ken Wu)

Tommy Duncan (Danny Tamberelli)

Terry Hall (Jussie Smollett, despite the continuation of the character's brother, Jesse)

Dave Karp (Aaron Schwartz)

Peter Mark (J.D. Daniels; his street punk goon image was replaced with those of Dean Portman)

Phillip Banks (Hal Fort Atkinson III)

Hans (Joss Ackland; Bombay's mentor was replaced by his brother, Jan, though Ackland reprises his role in the third film)

Production

The Mighty Ducks spawned a sequel and Iceland was chosen instead of Russia as enemies.

The filming of the final game was the very first event to take place at the then brand new Arrowhead Pond, which attracted approximately 15,000 people. As the filming would span over several days, the production team was aware that the crowd would not be as consistent. To accommodate the dwindling crowd, cardboard stand-ups were brought in and moved around to fill-in shots.

Scott Whyte originally auditioned for the role of Dean Portman, but the role was given to Aaron Lohr instead.

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $10,356,748 domestically. It earned a final domestic box office total gross of $45.6 million.

Critical response

Like its predecessor, the film received negative reviews. It has a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 15 critics and a 59% rating from audiences, with an average rating of 4.2/10. Desson Howe of The Washington Post wrote: "D2: The Mighty Ducks reaches an extraordinary low – even for a Disney sequel. This unctuous barrage of flag-waving, message-mongering, counterfeit morality, which contains the stalest kiddie-team heroics in recent memory, makes the original, innocuous 'Ducks' look like one of the Great Works."

Audiences polled by CinemaScore an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Year-end worst-of lists

9th – Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News

Home media

The film was released on VHS on August 17, 1994, on DVD on September 3, 2002 and was also released on Blu-ray Disc on May 23, 2017 as Disney Movie Club exclusive.

Soundtrack

Queen – "We Will Rock You"

Poorboys – "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" (Bachman-Turner Overdrive Cover)

Gary Glitter – "Rock and Roll"

Martha Wash – "Mr. Big Stuff"

David Newman – "Mighty Ducks Suite"

Tag Team – "Whoomp! (There It Is)"

The Troggs – "Wild Thing"

Gear Daddies – "Zamboni"

Queen – "We Are the Champions"

John Bisaha – "Rock the Pond"