User reviews

Howard the Duck is literally one of the first movies ever released about a Marvel character. And for that it really needs to be remembered. It's also a terrible movie and showed that maybe George Lucas was a little over rated but at the same time it can be rather entertaining if you stop and look at it a bit more closely.

This is based off the Marvel comics character called Howard who starred in his own comic book "Howard the Duck". The story goes that he's an anthropomorphic duck from a parallel universe where ducks are the dominant species who's transported to Earth against his will. Here he meets up with Beverly who eventually becomes his love interest and they go on lots of weird adventures together. The comic itself was a social satire employing parodies of genre fiction as well as using a bit of metanarrative to advance the story. So in other words he was meta before Deadpool took over that role.

And that's the problem. If you look carefully at the movie itself you can see that they were trying to recreate that world on the silver screen. The problem is movies of that type need to be a little more obvious because otherwise they get taken literally and that spells the death of the movie. Which is what happened here. A lot of things happen in the background and no attention is brought to them as they should. For example in the restaurant scene where Howard almost gets killed and grilled by the crazy cook. If you read the sign it was a place that specialized in Cajun and Sushi. Two foods that were considered very trendy in the 80's except they're being served together. It's a strange pairing and in the theme of the comic book it makes sense. Here? Most people miss it and the joke is lost.

That doesn't excuse it's many glaring faults however. The biggest of which is the costume. This was originally supposed to be an animated feature, at least that's what I've been able to dig up. And yet for some reason they just put a little person in a suit. Sure a case could be made that it gives Howard a true outsider aspect as nobody else looks like he does. But it doesn't excuse the fact that everytime I see him I just see a guy in a duck costume.

There are decent scenes, some good actors trying to put some life into this pile of whatsit and let's face it Lea Thompson looks great here. So while it's not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination it's not as bad as people make it out to be.

Though I knew of its infamy, I'd never actually sat down and watched "Howard The Duck" before, so noticing that it's currently available on Sky Movies, and with a spare evening, I thought now was the opportune time.

Howard (Jordan Prentice & Chip Zien (primarily)) from a planet where the duck, rather than monkey, was the dominate species, is transported across the Galaxy, to Earth, where, despite his appearance he connects with Beverly (Lea Thompson) a struggling rock singer. Their attempts to find a way for Howard to return to his own planet are assisted by Beverly's friend Phil (Tim Robbins), who brings in Dr. Jenning (Jeffrey Jones) but their research only results is something much worse being brought to Earth.

So, no. It's not good. Not good at all. Particularly for the first half. Tonally it's all over the place, with duck playboy magazine and the visit to the brothel feeling at odds with the PG Certificate. The plot takes an age to get going and the set pieces are dull or incomprehensible. The acting is terrible, from some pretty big names too - what is Tim Robbins doing? It's also not helped that time hasn't been kind to the very 80's sensibilities, from the awful band, to the massive hair, to the outfits that everyone wears to the weird Rock club, to the generic 80's street thugs.

But is its reputation as one of the worst films of all time actually warranted? Not really, of course it was a financial failure and essentially ended up costing Lucas Pixar, but those consequences shouldn't really be considered when appraising the movie. Does "The Shawshank Redemptions" initial financial failure affect people's opinions of that film? The second half of the movie is alright, when the plot finally starts. I actually quite like the effects for the evil overlords race, I'm a bit of a sucker for stop motion animation.

Whilst never approaching a level you would describe as "good" the film is, never the less, rather unfairly grouped in during the "worst of all time" conversations and Howard himself is overdue his full MCU reboot.

I was 16 years old when HOWARD THE DUCK made it to the screen in 1986, and I actually paid money to see it at my local theatre. (Judging from its famously-meager box office take, I was one of only a few dozen who did the same.) In the 20 years since, HOWARD has gone down in Hollywood history as one of the most expensive movie bombs EVER and it is generally looked down upon by "serious" film fans. I have to ask them: WHY? Howard the Duck KICKED ASS in 1986 and it still kicks ass today! It had everything: a talking duck for a hero, gigantic Dark Overlords from outer space, crashes, explosions, endless duck puns, remarkably decent special effects (most of which still hold up today), bad '80s synth-rock songs, and Lea Thompson at her most gorgeous in the role of Beverly Switzer, punk rocker and Duck-o-philiac. If it were not for this film I would not have developed my lifelong crush on Miss Thompson (which still persists to this day... if you watch her infamous tender love scene with Howard in which she's wearing only her underwear and you DON'T fall immediately in love with her, there's something seriously wrong with you!), nor would I say "Hey, there's Phil Blumburtt!" every time I see Tim Robbins in another movie. I'm sure the majority of the cast and crew involved with HOWARD would like to forget that the movie ever happened, but judging from the comments on this board, there are untold legions of bad-'80s-movie devotees out there like me who loved this movie then, still love it now, and are dying to own HOWARD THE DUCK on DVD. It absolutely astounds me, that with the amount of CRAP out there filling video store shelves, HOWARD has never achieved a DVD release. It's been 20 years, where's our 2-Disc 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, Mister Lucas? I'm still getting by with my taped copy of HOWARD that I recorded off of HBO back in the '80s, and it's about due for a replacement! Seriously folks, don't believe the hype. HOWARD THE DUCK is worth seeing, and it's nowhere near as bad as you've heard. Trust me. MetalGeek has never lied to you before.

When I was in college, I regularly laughed my butt off reading S. Clay Wilson's "The Checkered Demon" comics. You see, there was this demon who wore checkered pants, and he got involved in all sorts of gross situations, mostly involving scatological humor, severed limbs and organs, and sexual acts.

Doesn't translate very well, does it? The same thing must have happened when Lucas (or whoever) went to screenwriters Huyck and Katz and asked them to do a treatment of Gerber's "Howard the Duck" strip. H & K apparently had no idea of the type of humor the strip used, or at what demographic it was pitched. The result is a kiddie move that tries hard to be adult in all the wrong ways. The satire and keen observation of the original strip disappear completely. I keep expecting The Goonies to wander in at any moment.

A VERY bad movie, though probably made with good intentions.

There are certain movies you cannot die happy without having seen them at least once. "Casablanca", "The Wizard of OZ", the "Star Wars" Trilogy...

And, if you are a connoisseur of bad movies as I am, you must add to the above list the one, the only, "Howard the Duck".

Now this is, hands down, one of the stupidest ducking (groan) movies ever made. On the other hand, if you have a soft spot for bad movies, it doesn't get much better than this. It is absolutely insane. And it isn't nearly as bad as "Theodore Rex"!

I'll give it the benefit of the doubt by saying there is some funny moments and it never really takes itself seriously making this film miles more bearable than it could have been. This movie will forever be stuck in my head especially because of ... THAT scene ...

That's not to say this is a good film what so ever. It's probably exactly what you think it would be. Some not-good acting, cheesy, corny dialogue and jokes that become old very fast, some aged visuals, (Although the appearance of the villain at the end was pretty impressive for the time) and all of the characters including Howard become pretty annoying by the end of the film.

I can definitely see how this could be some peoples "guilty pleasure" movie though. It's overall light hearted, it doesn't take itself serious and I can see how some would find this fun, it's not for me though.

I need to erase the last 5 minutes of the movie from my mind.

Howard the Duck is a film that I grew up with, I was only a 1 year old when it was released, but my mom and I would watch it together all the time. I think that's the reason why this movie is just special to me. But still I watch this movie and honestly it's not as bad as most people exaggerate it to be, granted it's not Citizen Kane, but it's still awesome to watch. I think people take the movie too seriously, first off look at the title, if you're expecting a duck to deliver an Oscar worth performance, get your head checked, second people make fun of the "flirting" between the duck and Lea Thompson, which was meant to be a joke, not real. Third, the ending, people make fun of it and it's being over the top, I personally found it to be so funny and still a ton of fun to watch, how could you not get a kick out of Jeffrey Jones' performance? He was awesome! If you wanna know what the movie is about, read on before you see the movie so you can get a good idea and judge for yourself.

The film begins late at night in "Duckworld," which is a version of planet Earth, but with talking ducks living there in place of human beings. As Howard tries to relax, his armchair begins to vibrate violently, and Howard and the chair are promptly yanked through outer-space, all the way to Cleveland on planet Earth. After ending up in an oil drum, Howard hears a fight involving a woman and two thugs pretending to be her fans. Howard uses his skills of "Quack Fu" to defend her. Intimidated by a talking duck, the thugs scamper. The woman, Beverly, thanks Howard and, feeling sorry for him because he has no warm and dry place to sleep, invites him to her apartment. The next day, Beverly takes Howard to see Phil Blumburtt , who she believes is a scientist that can help Howard get back to Duckworld. It turns out Phil is actually a janitor at a museum and Howard, infuriated with Phil's charade. A few days later, Dr. Walter Jenning , and Larry who explain to Howard that they were doing a routine procedure at the lab, only for the experiment to go out of control, causing the laser to hit Howard's planet instead. Howard suggests he can be sent back to Duckworld if the laser can be put into reverse. He is taken to the Dynatechnics lab alongside Beverly, only to find out on arrival that the laser is seriously damaged due to another explosion. The explosion brings down a "Dark Overlord" who is not seen by the audience at the time, and takes over Jenning's body. Howard and Beverly see Dr. Jenning, but he is in the process of being taken over by the Dark Overlord. With Howard and Beverly both unaware of this, they escape in Jenning's car onto the freeway with him driving dangerously due to his worsening possession. They stop outside a diner just before he is fully taken over. Inside the Diner, the Overlord explains his attempts to call forth his fellow aliens from the Nexus of Sominus so that they may take over the world.

Honestly, yeah the plot is a bit much to grasp, but cut the movie some slack, it's about a duck for goodness' sake! For me, it still makes me laugh and I have a ton of fun watching it. I loved seeing Tim Robbins and Howard trying to get to the factory to destroy Jeffrey Jones before he could take over the world, Tim was absolutely hilarious! Yes there are a few things about this movie that are over the top but I still think that this movie is just mindless entertainment. Hey how many movies do we have where a duck saves Planet Earth? Hmm, I guess this is the only one; but give the movie a fair chance, it's a cute one.

7/10

This movie was made the way George and others wanted it to be!! It's a fun loving funny movie that was meant to be just that!! Just watch this movie with an open mind and looking for a laugh. I'm not going to give anything way so those that never saw this gem will see it not knowing what happens.

Let me tell you something about film critics. It's easy to pick faults in someone else's work, even if you do not have it in your power to create an equal work of art. The average film critic, by his very nature, is just a pretentious know-it-all who is quite frequently talking from the wrong end of his alimentary canal. When HTD came along in 1986 it was the first true victim to the pop culture critic.

For 22 years it has been called 'the biggest flop of all time' and other such terrible labels. Well, it cost $30 million dollars (nothing compared to today's budgets) and took $37 million worldwide and that's not even counting the higher-than-you-think rental revenue. Add it altogether and HTD is most definitely NOT the flop it is accused of being. But since it was a rather eccentric family comedy (an easy target) and one of the first films to significantly under-perform at the domestic box office (George Lucas expected the returns to be astronomical) it became a scapegoat for bad studio spending and taste.

I guess that the world needs something or someone to blame when pop culture goes wrong and the jackass critics I mentioned already seized upon Howard's failings to make a name for themselves. Derogatory soundbites are easy to come up with and everyone who hated the film used some kind of duck-themed insult to put it down and make themselves feel clever. But, when you think about it, these are basically the same people who will deliberately give a bad film a great review just to see their own name on the poster (yes, I am talking to you Paul Ross).

The film also suffered a further bad rep when George Lucas publicly disowned the film. It's under-performance forced him to sell off a part of his company which went on to become Pixar (think of how much he could have earned if he didn't) and it really made him quite angry. Wouldn't you be? Me? I am a huge fan of the late Steve Gerber's comic-books. HTD was basically the first BIG comic-book movie and came surprisingly soon after he found success in his own series. Howard first appeared in an issue of Man-Thing and starred in a few other issues of Conan and even Spider-Man before getting his own wings in the late 70s. The comic-book stories are the most surreal, archaic and satirical I have ever read and it's a shame that they had to tone it down for the movie, but that's to be expected.

As an ordinary duck working for an advertising company on his home planet of Duckworld, Howard is blasted across the universe right out of his living room by an experimental laser developed by Dr. Jenning (Jeffrey Jones). He lands in Cleveland, where he meets Beverly Switzler (Lea Thompson) a singer who takes him under her wing...I mean arm. Now trapped in a world he never made the one attempt at sending him back home unleashes the forces of the Dark Overlord of the Universe on earth through the possession of Dr. Jenning and he intends to bring more of his demons through the portal. Yeah, that sounds pretty heavy.

I'm actually a sucker for duck-related stuff. I don't know why. Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, Duck Tales, Darkwing Duck, Duckman etc. The list goes on and on. What I particularly like about the HTD movie is how most people seem to be completely at ease at talking to a humanoid bird.

Some of the fairer critics claimed that the film might have been a bigger hit if they had used CGI or traditional animation to bring Howard to life, but I must disagree. Part of the appeal of Howard is the fact that he is actually physically there and not some ghost who has been photo-shopped in afterwards. I love the duck suit, to me it is completely convincing and Chip Zien's voice work is perfect. I'd totally love to have Howard as a pal.

No joke, this film has a unfairly notorious history and a totally wrong perception by the general public or those who turned their noses and beaks up when it came out in 1986. Clear your head of any preconceptions that you might have and enjoy it on its own level. Though we really could have done without that silly narration over the opening title.

...an experience. So glad it's over.

I love Lea Thompson with all my heart and soul, and she's good even in this very bad, not good, quite terrible, pretty ducking poor film :-D

Watch. You might think it's funny.

3 stars because Lea is a goddess.

HOWARD THE DUCK is one of those movies you have to see to believe.

A whopping boondoggle of sheer notoriety that replaced HEAVEN'S GATE as The Most Embarrassing Miscalculation In Hollywood History, this flick immediately humanized George Lucas; it proved that even he could make a bomb. And that's one of the things that makes it so fascinating--you just sit there, wondering what on earth the man was thinking.

I'm not going to write this with any intent of sarcastically ripping it to shreds, though. I'm going to attempt to both be fair and to express my opinion of it at the same time, mainly because I know that there *are* some folks out there who enjoy it for various reasons.

I'll be honest with you, the moment I heard Lucas was doing this film months in advance (and even then I was convinced the guy telling me was kidding until I saw an article for it in the paper), I rolled my eyes with disgust and didn't see it in the theatres. I saw it when a friend later rented it out of curiosity after it was rushed to video.

So what was it that suddenly possessed me to watch it? Well, I found out that my cousin was in it. You see, my cousin's name is Debbie Carrington (a.k.a. Debbie Lee Carrington), who was an Ewok in RETURN OF THE JEDI as well as a slew of other things, including but not limited to MEN IN BLACK, CAPTAIN EO, TOTAL RECALL (where she got to get on a table in a blonde wig and blast people with a machine gun) and on THE DREW CAREY SHOW ("Mini-Mimi"). So, naturally, I wanted to see this one because I learned of her involvement in it after the fact.

Most people loathe this film, but some like it simply because it's *so* weird in its badness while others genuinely love it for whatever reason. And that's okay. Actually, I kind of got a kick out of it and all its silliness the first time I saw it. We tried to watch it a second time, though, and were bored by it half the way through.

I just now saw it again for the first time since then.

One of the most bizarre things about this movie is how cheap it looks. For all the gobs of cash wasted on it (a record sum), HOWARD THE DUCK looks terrible. And no, I'm not talking about just the duck costume; I'm talking about the overall film, which looks exactly like a low-budget special made for television. Seriously, that's exactly how it looks, and I have no clue as to where the budget went to. I once wondered if it was used to desperately convince the stars involved to be in it, but I doubt it.

And meanwhile... speaking of the stars, I've got to hand it to Lea Thompson. Despite all the oddness here and all the stuff she is asked to do, she handles it all like a real trooper. In fact, this may be the bravest performance she's ever done, especially the bed scene. It also apparently didn't kill her career, thank God. Even though her character isn't at all fitting for a Big City Punkette, critics have nevertheless pointed out that she's still appealing here in her role as Beverly, and I agree. Meanwhile, Jeffery Jones gives quite possibly the strangest performance he's ever done, which is also an oddly effective one.

The biggest problem with the film is its mechanically coy, self-conscious script that has commercialized to death all of the original comic's appeal out of the final result (so what ELSE is new, Hollywood? ;) ). The movie can't decide whether it wants to follow the original concept or sweeten it up to supposedly appeal to a wider audience, and it is badly confused as a result. The movie desperately wants to protect its investment, so much so that the life has been choked out of it. Also, it has a *huge* amount of blah, unimaginatively generic lines ("No more Mr. Nice Duck", "You'll never get away with this", etc.).

But these days, it does have a ridiculous kind of flaky charm, partially because it's such an unbelievable anti-achievement and because it's so incredibly Eighties that it serves as a strong time capsule. And for those reasons and more, HOWARD THE DUCK has earned a place in twentieth century culture.

Unfortunately the adult content in this movie makes it entirely unsuitable for the under fives. The only possible audience who might otherwise derive some enjoyment from it.

There are so many fantastic stories that demand a movie, so many actors dying for an opportunity, so many talented directors without the opportunity so how the hell did they end up with this?

Anyone associated with the making of this movie should hang their head in shame. It does not have a single redeeming quality.

Howard is a Duck from the planet Duckworld, who is accidentally brought to Earth by a laser beam. Finding himself in Cleaveland, he befriends singer, Beverly after saving her from a couple of thugs. Beverly puts him in touch with her scientist friend Phil, who in turn puts him in touch with Dr. Walter Jennings. Jennings reveals that it was an experiment that he was working on that was the cause of Howard being brought to Earth. However, just as Jennings is planning to return Howard to Duck World, an evil alien being arrives via the laser beam and possesses Jennings's body. Now Howard, Beverly, and Phil must work together to defeat it before it brings down more of its kind using the laser beam and takes over the Earth.

Based off of the adult comic of the same name, George Lucas's 37 million-dollar science-fiction adventure comedy would crash and burn at the box office, being both a commercial and critical flop. Initially intended as an animated feature it was swiftly changed to a live-action one due to contractual obligations. One could theorize as to why it bombed so badly. Its absurd and off-kilter premise may have alienated mainstream audiences, or perhaps it was simply just a case of it not being very good. The problem chiefly with Howard the Duck, or as it was originally entitled in the UK, Howard: A New Breed of Hero, is that it was marketed as a family-friendly summer blockbuster, which given the nature of some of its near-knuckle humor proved to be a major misstep. Not least of which makes references, and I kid you not, to beastality in a scene where the movie's main female protagonist Beverly played by Lea Thompson begins to get a little too up close and personal with our feathered hero.

The movie is essentially one of two halves, with Howard arriving on Earth, and deals with him trying to acclimatize himself to life on a planet with a population he refers to rather frankly as "hairless apes". We see Howard getting a job as a towel boy in a massage parlor. Like I said, how this managed to get away with a PG certificate is anyone's guess. Meanwhile, he becomes acquainted with Beverly who proves to be his only friend on Earth while also meeting the zany and eccentric Phil, which sees a young pre-fame Tim Robbins chewing half the scenery. The second half revolves around the attempt to return Howard to his home planet, Duck World which in doing so sees a monstrous alien being called The Dark Overlord arriving with designs on taking over the Earth. Pretty standard megalomaniacal alien villain stuff really.

The problem with Howard the Duck besides its misjudged humor, is its inane screenplay and some highly uneven acting. Thompson who was so much of a more appealing screen presence in Back to the Future looks positively embarrassed, as if she wants to be somewhere else while Robbins gurns his way throughout the movie. The one actor who comes out of the movie with any genuine dignity intact is Jeffrey Jones who steals every scene he is in, as he takes on two roles. That of Dr. Jennings and the malevolent Dark Overlord. It's to Jones' credit that he manages to bring some measure of credibility to his role, which in a movie like this is really quite saying something. I mean, this is after all a movie that boasts duck breasts. Yes, a topless female duck. It doesn't get any more ridiculous as that, oh wait did I forget about the beatality? Scratch that. It's the second most ridiculous thing in this.

What saves it from being completely awful, besides Jones' superb double performance is that on the odd rare occasion, I did laugh in spite of myself. And then there's John Barry's top notch score, which in the right movie would have set the tone for a rip-roaring science-fiction adventure comedy. Unfortunately, this wasn't that movie. I will say this much for Thompson though she displays her vocal talents in this, and she proves to be a talented singer. Acquitting herself very well in her musical scenes. This is about the last really good thing that could said for this Turkey. Although it would not be the worst thing that Lucas would inflict upon movie audiences with his god-awful Star Wars prequels. Nevertheless, there's a reason this got lumbered with the nickname Howard the Turkey. And it had nothing to do with Thanksgiving.

I was planning on just watching this movie as a joke, but then actually found myself enjoying this movie. Its not a cinematic masterpiece, but its definitely worth watching. I know that this is the type of movie that's bound to get some insults, but the amount of hatred towards it is honestly a bit surprising.

Sights and Sounds - The overall look of this movie is actually pretty decent, especially considering when it was made. The cinematography is just ok. Nothing spectacular, but certainly not boring. The audio was surprisingly good. I usually have a lot of trouble hearing what's being said in older movies, but I had no problems with this move. The costume (or puppet, I'm not entirely sure) for Howard is actually pretty good for the most part. Some of the effects are pretty bad, but for the time they're good.

Characters - The acting isn't that bad, but it isn't good by any means. Some of the line delivery is a bit iffy, but its not terrible. I mean, yes, some of the acting made me laugh through the "serious" parts, but its not as bad as it could be.

Tone - This movie is hilarious, especially when its not trying to be. There are actually a considerable number of scenes that are trying to be serious and dramatic, but they're way to funny. This movie is a comedy all the way through.

Plot - This movie probably shouldn't be rated PG. There's a lot of adult themes in this movie that could've been explored if they weren't trying to market this towards children. That being said, the plot is a bit simplistic for a lot of adults to enjoy. There are actually a lot of concepts in this movie that are actually pretty interesting. If this movie was remade with an R rating and a better script, I'd probably go see this. This movie isn't as bas as some people make it out to be, but that's not to say that it doesn't have potential.

There's a certain kind of hype and logrolling for movies both good and bad. You have to learn to think for yourself.

HOWARD THE DUCK is not a successful movie. It's also not "the worst movie ever made" -- by a long, LONG way.

Mainly, it's just disappointing. I came to it as a fan of Steve Gerber's original HOWARD THE DUCK comic book -- which itself was sometimes guilty of excesses. The movie was so disappointing to me because in some ways they came close to getting it right. But everything good in the picture is more than torpedoed by what's bad about it.

First of all -- the Duck himself. Howard should have been an animatronic puppet of the sort that the Henson Studio specialized in. He should have been voiced by Frank Oz. Instead, he's a series of midgets in a really crappy, ugly costume, voiced by the wrong actor for the job.

Second, its attempts at "adult" humor are actually sophomoric, adolescent and tasteless.

Third -- all the social and cultural and topical satire is Gone.

The SHAPE of the story is right, the characters are close enough to being right, but the devil is in the details, and the details are all wrong. It's a misfire that didn't have to be a misfire.

But to call it the worst movie ever made? That's just an exaggeration and reverse hype. You HAVE seen other movies, right?

While watching TV, the humanoid duck Howard (Ed Gale) is dragged from his planet to an alley in Cleveland through a mysterious force. He befriends the rock-'n-roll singer Beverly Switzler (Lea Thompson), who introduces him to the clumsy scientist assistant Phil Blumburtt (Tim Robbins). Howard gets in many troubles until Phil brings his colleague Dr. Walter Jenning (Jeffrey Jones) that explains him that he was accidentally pushed through a laser beam of his experiment in Alpha-Centauri, and he proposes to revert the beam to return Howard to his planet. However, Dr. Jenning is possessed by the demon Dark Overlords that has also come from the outer space. When Beverly is kidnapped by the Dark Overlords that needs energy to bring other demons to Earth, Howard and Phil join forces to rescue Beverly and save our planet.

The underrated "Howard the Duck" is a cult silliness from the 80's. The anti-hero Howard is cool and it is funny to see Tim Robbins in the beginning of his career performing a clumsy scientist and Lea Thompson in a sweet role singing many songs in her early career. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Howard, O Super-Herói" ("Howard, the Super-Hero")

Going into this film after watching the Honest Trailer of it, I knew it was going to be bad, but I still wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt because some films are so bad, they are good. Right away, the duck puns are pretty tongue in cheek and kinda dad joke-ish, but passable. WARNING: There a duck breasts and nipples, which noone needed to see. One positive note is that there is plenty of action and the music soundtrack is catchy and enjoyable enough to keep you entertained through this whole ordeal. The effects are pretty good for the time period, but the plot is kinda all over the place, but what do you expect for a movie like this? All i can say is, Im glad i got to experience it, but its really only something I would like to experience once, and as a forewarning, you will never be the same again after watching it.

A sarcastic humanoid duck is pulled from his home world to Earth where he must stop an alien invader.

Although several TV adaptations of Marvel characters had aired during the preceding 21 years, this was the first theatrically released feature film, coming after the serial "Captain America". Now, there is an interesting story about how and why that came together, and how this film indirectly created Pixar... but that is all history.

I first saw this film as a child, maybe 12 years old, thanks to my babysitter. It stuck with me pretty well, as even now 25 years later there are scenes that are familiar and jokes that were lodged in my brain. This has "cult film" written all over it. Not good, not bad, but bad enough to be good in a bad way.

This is a terrible movie on multiple levels. It's an awful adaptation of the source material, completely missing the satirical tone that made the comic book so much fun to read. It can't even settle on it's own tone. It seemingly wants to replace the adult atmosphere of the source with a kid-friendly tone, but then there's Lea Thompson in sheer underwear threatening to have sex with a duck. (I'm not complaining about the former, but the latter sure adds a sour taste to the proceedings.) Seemingly completely unaware of what it wants to be, it substitutes terrible overacting and loud effects laden action for entertainment. Absolutely wretched.