Last year I posted an editorial about the 2017 DuckTales reboot. Originally I wanted it to build up to this review, however, because I wanted to review Into The Spider-verse in December, and I normally take January off, the actual reveal that I was going to review this movie would have been really clunky. Still, DuckTales 2017 is one of my favourite TV Shows of all time, and the original 1987 series remains a fun, iconic, and significant piece of Animation History, being one of the kickstarts to the Disney Renaissance, which a lot of people forget was also a huge television thing as Disney was producing hit series after hit series around the same time in the Disney Afternoon. While DuckTales has aged, its impact cannot be overlooked, being one of the most beloved Disney cartoons, and having one of the most beloved licensed video games. Which makes it curious that not a lot of people really talk about the movie. Does that mean that the movie is the weakest entry in the DuckTales franchise?
Our favourite treasure hunting ducks find the lost treasure of Collie Baba, but an evil sorcerer steals the treasure and sends them to their supposed doom. However, because this is the Duck family, they survive and escape with a single oil lamp. Unfortunately, this is what the sorcerer, Merlock (Yes that did make me think of World of Warcraft a lot), was after, for this oil lamp contained a genie. So, Merlock and his henchman, Dijon, hunt down the lamp as Scrooge, the Nephews and Webby all make their own wishes. Plot wise, I don't think movie has a lot of surprises, you can probably guess that the henchman is gonna turn on the villain for his own selfish wishes, and the villain will get his hands on the McGuffin somehow, and do I even need to spoil what the Genie's arc is? Still, the plot wasn't sloppy, and it flowed very well. Much like Klaus, the plot is not bad, just predictable.
That being said, sometimes it is fun to watch characters you love going through a familiar plot, probably why so many of these movies based on TV shows are road trip movies... Anyway, these are the same characters we know and love from the original TV show, Scrooge and The Nephews and Webby and Launchpad and Mrs. Beakley. I do wish we got some cameos from other favourite characters, like Gizmoduck, Gyro Gearloose, and hey, the villain was an evil sorcerer, why couldn't we have Magica DeSpell here as well? To be fair, they do add the new characters of Genie, Dijon and Merlock. Dijon, who would in the reboot become Faris Djinn, is not the greatest character. In a post "Trouble with Apu" world I can see this character not sitting well with some viewers, as for me, he wasn't too bad, but I am not in much of a position to make a fair call. I think it might have been that he was not as bad as I thought he'd be, but when you imagine the worst, anything is an improvement. As for the other two, they were pretty fun. Genie is voiced by Rip Taylor, and that is as fun as it sounds. Merlock is voiced by Christopher Lloyd, and it is a Christopher Lloyd performance. He's one of those voices that immediately makes a great villain, up there with Vincent Price and Tim Curry. I will say that Merlock does have his dumb moments, like trying to press an elevator button as a cockroach, when he was alone. Still, he was a fun villain, but maybe not as good as Magica DeSpell or the Reboot's Flintheart Glomgold.
The technicals of the movie are really good, although Disney obviously handed this movie off to a smaller studio, DisneyMovie Toons to be exact, and it does not look as good as Disney's more cinematic movies. Honestly, it is kind of a shame, I would have loved to see this movie be given the same budget and time as something like The Little Mermaid or Rescuers Down Under, but looking at what we got, this movie still looks great. It was released theatrically, which does mean that the animation does have to look cleaner and of a higher quality, but I think it works well enough here, the characters don't look too clean or too well animated to throw anyone off. The music was done by David Newman, who worked with Disney before on Tim Burton's short film Frankenweenie, and also did the scores for The War of the Roses, The Brave Little Toaster and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. It was a pretty solid score done here, well enough that I might pick up the soundtrack if I happen to find a copy.
So with all that you may think the movie is fine, if a little generic, and yeah, it can be. However, the key to any adventure story is the adventure, and I think this movie was a fun and often somewhat intense adventure. The scene where Merlock is transforming Scrooge's money bin to an admittedly absurd evil fortress (seriously Bowser is not that extra) is a scene I actually have a vague memory of one moment from that sequence as a kid, and it being oddly terrifying to me, maybe it was the harsh reds and dark greys. Even then, when the movie is having a thrilling scene, it can be rather thrilling, I can imagine young children would really get into the more intense moments. Even when the movie is not having a thrilling moment and is just having a more mundane and slice-of-life moment, it's still a charming watch. I enjoyed watching the Nephews and Webby interact with Genie, I enjoyed watching Scrooge interact with Genie, I enjoyed these characters in this scenario.
DuckTales The Movie can be a bit of a predictable watch. I will not hide the fact, however, if you can look past that you will find an exciting adventure, charming characters and some wonderful animation and music. I can definitely say that I enjoyed this movie, so if you love DuckTales, love fun adventures, or just want a fun movie to kill an hour and a bit, I can say check this movie out. It's fun, charming and enjoyable, if a little bit predictable. A definite Recommendation from me!
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