Howard the Duck

Howard: "Please don't say 'rolling like water off a Duck's back'."
______________________________________

Howard the Duck

From 1986, this first Marvel comic book movie hasn’t age well. The special effects are bad and the one-liners aren’t that clever either. There are a few dark moments that make up for the goofy Lucas moments, such as the Dark Overlord killing a police officer in cold blood.

I will say that there are three good things that came out of this movie.

1. We get to see Lea Thompson in her underwear for an extended amount of time. It is probably the scene every young boy remembers growing up. I certainly do. I had a crush on Lea Thompson. She was really cute in this movie.

2. Pixar Animation Studios was born from the ashes of this flaming turd of a movie. The IMDB page states that George Lucas wanted this movie to be a huge hit. It wasn’t and Lucas had to sell a portion of his FX division to Steve Jobs and that company became Pixar. (That division also created the Genesis computer effects on Star Trek II.)

3. John Barry’s score.

The movie is a complete mess from start to finish. And, what probably is the worst aspect of this film is the acting. Oh, man, the acting is just terrible. The worst of the bunch, even though I hate to admit it, is Lea Thompson. For someone that was totally believable in the Back to the Future series, she is crap here. Her line readings are dull and stiff. Like I stated before, I hate to say this because I like Lea. I’m not sure why her acting is so stiff.

Tim Robbins is really annoying as the nerd character. Robbins is usually a good actor. Jeffrey Jones turns into the Dark Overlord and his performance is a demonic Ed Rooney.

Did I mention that I hated the suit for Howard the Duck? Then there is the voice acting by Chip Zien for the damn duck. All I’ll say is it was annoying. Seven people played Howard in the costume. Ed Gale was the primary actor, and I’ll say that his bodywork wasn’t too bad. He made me believe that a duck could walk around in the real world like that. He also couldn’t see in the costume and did most of the scenes without sight.

Composer John Barry has an amazing score. The score is even better than the movie. There are moments that sound like John Barry is playing a tribute to his James Bond scores. Listen to the cues during the lab scenes they’re basically James Bond cues. I’ve come to greatly love this score.

When they released the movie, many reviewers held George Lucas responsible for the failure of this movie. I personally blame director Willard Huyck for the utter lameness. Lucas helped make this movie bad, but Huyck helmed the sinking ship. After the first screening for the studio, they knew the movie wasn’t going to make money.

Even for the 80s cheese, Howard the Duck doesn’t hold up. Today, the flaws of this film really shine. I’m willing to see a remake though.

Grade: D+

________________________________________________Yes, he receives a guitar and starts to rock out with Lea. I can still remember that song.

___________________________________________________________________

Here is a very young Tim Robbins before he became a little bit too political. I’m no conservative, but they should use the “Howard the Duck” defense when they debate him.

“Yeah, well at least I didn’t co-star in Howard the Duck, sir.”

_______________________________________________________________

Lea: "It's okay, Howard. I don't think they can force us to make Howard the Duck II: Still Quacking. "
________________________________________________

No comment...